Onsite Formal Methods Cybersecurity Researcher

Sacbar; Livermore, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 281,000; Full time

Job summary

Sandia National Laboratories seeks a Computer Science researcher (R&D Cybersecurity) expert in formal methods to advance automated verification of hardware and software. You will contribute to exploring model checking, symbolic execution, and formal specifications within a multidisciplinary team on national-security projects.

The role emphasizes publishing results, collaboration, and developing novel verification tools, with on-site work required in a high‑security environment.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline and five years of directly relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of directly relevant education and engineering or scientific experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform independent research and development.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. DOE Q-level security clearance.
• Graduate degree in Computer Science/Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Computer Forensics, Mathematics or a directly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement.
• Experience in one or more of the following areas: reverse engineering, software vulnerability assessment, web application assessment, computer networking, computer architecture, compilers, or related computer security topics.

Responsibilities

• Develop formal verification capabilities that leverage domain-specific languages and support interfaces to model checkers and theorem provers.
• Solve practical software and hardware engineering problems with real-world data using symbolic execution and discrete-event simulations.
• Engage in capability development using languages and tools listed (Haskell, OCaml, Rocq, Python, C, Rust, Verilog, VHDL, NuSMV, TLA, binary analysis, assembly).
• Evaluate emerging AI approaches to accelerate construction of formal models and specifications from text sources without sacrificing verification rigor.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to address national-security–related digital assurance challenges.
• Onsite work is required for this posting.

Skills

Formal methods

Symbolic execution

Automated verification

Model checking

C programming

Python programming

Haskell

OCaml

Rocq

Verilog

VHDL

Rust

Binary analysis

Assembly languages

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline

Tools

NuSMV

TLA

Verilog

VHDL

Job description

Sandia National Laboratories seeks a Computer Science researcher (R&D Cybersecurity) expert in formal methods to advance automated verification of hardware and software. You will contribute to exploring model checking, symbolic execution, and formal specifications within a multidisciplinary team on national-security projects.

The role emphasizes publishing results, collaboration, and developing novel verification tools, with on-site work required in a high‑security environment.