Formal Verification Scientist (Lean 4 & Mathlib)

About The Role What if your deep mathematical expertise could directly shape the future of AI reasoning? We're looking for Formal Verification Scientists to translate complex, human-written mathematical proofs into precise, machine-verifiable formalizations using Lean 4 — working at the absolute frontier of what proof assistants can express and automate. This is a fully remote, flexible contract role for mathematicians who are passionate about rigorous proof construction and the power of formal verification. If you find satisfaction in taking a dense, elegant argument and expressing it in a form a machine can understand, this role was built for you.

• Organization: Alignerr
• Type: Hourly Contract
• Location: Remote
• Commitment: 10–40 hours/week

What You'll Do

• Translate informal mathematical proofs into Lean 4 (and related proof systems) with a focus on clarity, structure, and correctness
• Analyze generic and domain-specific proofs, identifying gaps, hidden assumptions, and formalizable sub-structures
• Construct formalizations that test and extend the limits of existing proof assistants — especially where tools struggle or fail
• Collaborate with AI researchers to design, refine, and evaluate strategies for improving formal verification pipelines
• Develop highly readable, reproducible proof scripts aligned with mathematical best practices and Lean idioms
• Provide expert guidance on proof decomposition, lemma selection, and structuring techniques for formal models
• Investigate where automated provers break down and articulate why — complexity, missing lemmas, insufficient libraries, and beyond
• Create Lean proofs that reveal deeper patterns or generalizations implicit in the original mathematics

Who You Are

• Master's degree or higher in Mathematics, Logic, Theoretical Computer Science, or a closely related field
• Strong foundation in rigorous proof writing and mathematical reasoning across areas such as algebra, analysis, topology, logic, or discrete mathematics
• Hands-on experience with Lean (Lean 3 or Lean 4), Coq, Isabelle/HOL, Agda, or a comparable formal proof system — Lean 4 strongly preferred
• Able to translate informal mathematical arguments into clean, structured, machine-verifiable formal proofs
• Deep enthusiasm for formal verification, proof assistants, and the future of mechanized mathematics
• Mathematically mature and comfortable working independently at the edge of current knowledge

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with type theory, the Curry-Howard correspondence, and proof automation tools
• Experience contributing to large-scale formalization projects such as Mathlib
• Exposure to theorem provers where automated reasoning frequently fails or requires manual scaffolding
• Prior experience with data annotation, data quality evaluation, or AI training workflows
• Strong communication skills for explaining formalization decisions, edge cases, and proof strategies to cross-functional collaborators

Why Join Us

• Work on cutting-edge AI projects alongside world-leading research labs
• Fully remote and flexible — work when and where it suits you
• Freelance autonomy with the structure of meaningful, intellectually rigorous work
• Contribute directly to expanding what AI can understand, verify, and reason about mathematically
• Potential for ongoing work and contract extension as new projects launch

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