Researcher - Lean 4 & Formal Proof Systems
Alignerr · Boston, MA · 1 wk ago
RemoteRemoteAnalystContract
What You'll Do
- Translate informal mathematical proofs into Lean 4 (and related proof systems) with an emphasis on clarity, structure, and correctness
- Analyze domain-specific proofs to identify gaps, hidden assumptions, and formalizable sub-structures
- Create formalizations that test the limits of existing proof assistants — especially where automated tools struggle or fail
- Collaborate with researchers to design, refine, and evaluate strategies for improving formal verification pipelines
- Develop readable, reproducible proof scripts aligned with mathematical best practices and proof assistant idioms
- Provide 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 more
- Create Lean proofs that reveal deeper patterns or generalizations implicit in the original mathematics
Who You Are
- Hold a Master's degree or higher in Mathematics, Logic, Theoretical Computer Science, or a closely related field
- Have a strong foundation in rigorous proof writing across areas such as algebra, analysis, topology, logic, or discrete math
- Have hands-on experience with Lean (Lean 3 or Lean 4), Coq, Isabelle/HOL, Agda, or comparable formal systems — Lean strongly preferred
- Be deeply enthusiastic about formal verification, proof assistants, and the future of mechanized mathematics
- Be able to translate informal mathematical arguments into clean, structured formal proofs with precision
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, or AI evaluation systems
- Strong communication skills for explaining formalization decisions, edge cases, and reasoning strategies