Senior Research Software Engineer in Sandboxing Agentic AI

University of Surrey; Guildford; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Surrey is recruiting a Senior Research Software Engineer for a project on formal verification, seL4 security, and AI-assisted theorem proving. This fixed-term role, funded for the ARIA project, invites candidates to contribute across research, development and deployment of AI tools and technologies.

Strong experience in Isabelle/HOL and interactive theorem provers is preferred, with opportunities to collaborate with partner institutions.

Qualifications

• Candidates with expertise in interactive theorem proving, formal verification, information-flow security, seL4, neurosymbolic AI, and AI-assisted reasoning.

Responsibilities

• Researching and developing software aligned to Work Package 2 of the Agentic-seL4 project.
• Work closely with team members on research, development and deployment of software tools and technologies.
• Pursue responsible and open AI research to ensure ethical, fair and inclusive advances in AI and data.

Skills

Theorem proving

Formal verification

Isabelle/HOL

AI-assisted reasoning

Security & seL4

Job description

Organisation/Company UNIVERSITY OF SURREY Research Field Educational sciences Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) First Stage Researcher (R1) Application Deadline 14 Oct 2026 - 00:00 (UTC) Country United Kingdom Type of Contract Other Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The University of Surrey is a global community of ideas and people, dedicated to life-changing education and research.

We are ambitious and have a bold vision of what we want to achieve - shaping ourselves into one of the best universities in the world, which we are achieving through the talents and endeavour of every employee.

Our culture empowers people to achieve this aim and to collectively, and individually, make a real difference.

The role

We are looking to recruit a Senior Research Software Engineer for a new project on formal verification, seL4 security and AI-assisted theorem proving, funded by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA): https://agentic-sel4.github.io/

Key responsibilities include:

• Researching and developing software aligned to Work Package 2 of the Agentic-seL4 project (see webpage above).
• Working closely with members of the team on the research, development and deployment of software tools and technologies.
• Pursuing and advocating responsible and open AI research and innovation to ensure ethical, fair and inclusive advances in science, technology and use of AI and data.
• Developing new concepts and ideas to extend intellectual understanding. Assessing, interpreting and evaluating the outcomes of research, and developing ideas for the application of research outcomes.
• Contributing to IP protection and/or open-source release of AI tools and technologies.

A full list of responsibilities can be found in the job description below.

This is a fixed-term position until November 2027, and we are looking for a candidate to start with us as soon as possible. We have substantial funding for access to state-of-the-art AI models and computing infrastructure.

About you

We are interested in candidates with expertise in one or more of interactive theorem proving, formal verification, information-flow security, seL4, neurosymbolic AI, and AI-assisted reasoning. Candidates do not need to cover all these areas: the researchers can focus on different parts of the project according to their expertise.

Particular preference will be given to candidates with strong Isabelle/HOL expertise (or substantial experience with related interactive theorem provers), and to candidates who are available to start as soon as possible. We would also be very interested in hearing from excellent Isabelle researchers who may be at an earlier career stage than would normally be expected for a Senior Researcher position.

There will also be closely related positions at our partner institutions. For opportunities at the University of Sheffield, please contact Andrei Popescu ( [e-mail] ); for opportunities at the University of Melbourne, please contact Toby Murray ( [e-mail] ).