---
title: 'Research Engineer, Formal Methods at Harmonic'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-formal-methods-harmonic-palo-alto-kwng36gryxtz'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Research Engineer, Formal Methods at Harmonic

- **Company:** Harmonic
- **Location:** Palo Alto, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-08-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/harmonic/74f2ed85-b1cc-40b1-825d-fefd2fcf557c

## Job description

## About Harmonic

At Harmonic, we are building a mathematical reasoning engine that operates with absolute precision. While most AI makes maximum-likelihood guesses, Harmonic's Aristotle uses Lean4 and reinforcement learning to verify its reasoning and results.

Following our Gold Medal-level performance on the 2025 International Math Olympiad (IMO) and the successful resolution of long-standing open problems, we are proving that AI can master the most rigorous domains of human thought. Backed by some of the world’s most prominent investors, we are intentionally scaling an elite technical team.

Visit our [company blog](https://harmonic.fun/news) to learn more about what we are working on!

## About the Role

We are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Research Engineer to join our Formal Methods team. The initial focus of this position will be on pushing the limits of AI based theorem proving for verification of software and/or hardware. The successful candidate will play a key role in developing new approaches to express and prove important software and hardware properties, work with AI researchers to train and develop AI systems to reliably check them.

## Key Responsibilities

- Conduct research in formal methods for verification of software, hardware and mathematical domains
- Apply formal verification techniques using Lean or similar frameworks to formally verify safety critical systems
- Develop and implement algorithms and techniques to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of formal methods for AI systems

## Minimum Qualifications

- BS or MS in Computer Science, Mathematics, a related technical field, or equivalent industry experience
- Basic proficiency in python
- Proficiency and practical experience with at least one proof assistant (e.g., Lean, Coq, Isabelle, Agda) and a strong foundation in formal methods and mathematical logic
- Experience driving highly technical research projects from early concept to delivery

## Preferred Qualifications

- Expert level knowledge of Lean4
- PhD in Computer Science, Mathematics, or related technical field
- Experience verifying programs in safety critical fields such as; aerospace/defense, automotive, medical, cryptography, etc
- Proven track record in research or development of programming languages
- Proven track record of high-quality research demonstrated by publications, patents, or software contributions
- Contributions to open-source projects or development of software tools in the field

## What We Offer

- Unlimited PTO
- 401(k) matching
- 100% employer-paid health, vision, and dental benefits for employees and 50% coverage for dependents. Harmonic offers varied health coverage options to select what is best for you and your family.
- Health Savings Account (HSA) available for qualifying health plans

## Equal Opportunity Statement

Harmonic is committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

## About Harmonic

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Harmonic is an AI research lab building the world’s most advanced mathematical reasoning engine to achieve verifiable, safe, and superhuman mathematical intelligence.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C, $1.45B valuation)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Tudor Achim (CEO) and Vlad Tenev (Executive Chairman)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Artificial intelligence / AI research, with a focus on formal mathematical reasoning and automated theorem proving.
- **Target customers**: B2B, enterprise – safety-critical industries such as aerospace, chip design, industrial systems, and healthcare where software reliability is paramount.
- **Mission**: “To explore the frontiers of human understanding” and build mathematical superintelligence (MSI) – AI with mathematical capabilities superior to humans.

## Products & Services
- **Aristotle**: An automated theorem prover that achieved gold‑medal level performance on the 2025 International Mathematical Olympiad. It advances the state‑of‑the‑art on the MiniF2F benchmark (83% success rate with external computer algebra systems, 63% when restricted to Lean). [harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic](https://harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic/)
- **Yuclid**: An open‑sourced theorem prover that provides visibility into proof traces (announced alongside Aristotle’s IMO results). [harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic](https://harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: $1.45 billion (Series C, November 2025) [linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath](https://www.linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of $295M (Series A $75M, Series B $100M, Series C $120M). Revenue is not publicly available.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Sequoia Capital (lead Series A), Kleiner Perkins (lead Series B), Ribbit Capital (lead Series C), Index Ventures. [harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic](https://harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic/)
- **Growth Signals**: 41.9% year‑over‑year headcount growth (37 employees); three funding rounds in 14 months; first research model (Aristotle) achieving state‑of‑the‑art results. [linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath](https://www.linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Formal mathematical reasoning**: Models produce outputs that are guaranteed correct through verifiable, interpretable proof traces – fundamentally safer than current LLM‑based systems.
- **Full‑stack RL ownership**: The team owns the entire reinforcement learning stack – from low‑level environment simulators and custom communication primitives to distributed training loops and inference engines. [harmonic.fun/careers](https://harmonic.fun/careers/)
- **Founding team depth**: Co‑founders with deep AI and scale‑up experience (Tudor Achim co‑founded Helm.ai; Vlad Tenev co‑founded Robinhood), attracting top talent from Anthropic, Meta, and top research universities. [linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath](https://www.linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath)
- **Open ecosystem**: Open‑sourcing tools like Yuclid to build community and accelerate adoption of formal methods.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale Mathematical Superintelligence (MSI)**: Continue advancing Aristotle’s capabilities and integrate MSI into real‑world safety‑critical applications.
- **Expand research and engineering team**: 8 active job postings across research, infrastructure, product, and machine learning systems. [harmonic.fun/careers](https://harmonic.fun/careers/)
- **Bridge research and production**: Build robust, scalable infrastructure to turn research ideas into deployable systems. [harmonic.fun/careers](https://harmonic.fun/careers/)

## Why Work Here
- **Mission‑driven work**: Contribute to AI safety and fundamental science – building AI that can be trusted because its reasoning is provably correct.
- **Cutting‑edge technical challenges**: Work on low‑level RL systems, formal theorem proving, and distributed training at scale. The team operates like a commercial research lab with high ownership. [harmonic.fun/careers](https://harmonic.fun/careers/)
- **Strong talent density**: Team includes researchers and engineers from Meta, Anthropic, Perimeter Institute, UC Berkeley, Stanford – a fast‑growing, high‑caliber group. [linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath](https://www.linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath)
- **Location & flexibility**: Based in Palo Alto, CA (headquarters) with a second office in the UK. Job postings list “Palo Alto” as location – likely primarily in‑office. [harmonic.fun/careers](https://harmonic.fun/careers/)
- **Growth trajectory**: Rapidly scaling startup ($295M raised, 41.9% headcount growth) offering early‑employee impact and career growth.

## Sources
1. [harmonic.fun/about](https://www.harmonic.fun/about/)
2. [harmonic.fun/careers](https://harmonic.fun/careers/)
3. [linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath](https://www.linkedin.com/company/harmonicmath)
4. [harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic](https://harmonic.fun/news/intro-harmonic/)

## Other roles at Harmonic

- [Formal Verification Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/formal-verification-engineer-harmonic-palo-alto-nwvhgknaq1k5) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Software Engineer, Product](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-product-harmonic-palo-alto-1yff5aezv40e) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Software Engineer, ML Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-ml-systems-harmonic-palo-alto-0y91cwhwtxhx) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Research Engineer, Training & Inference](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-training-inference-harmonic-palo-alto-zwfvjpjbhw0b) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Software Engineer, Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-infrastructure-harmonic-london-cbrqy6dv7t0p) — London, United Kingdom
- [General Opportunity](https://feeny.ai/job/general-opportunity-harmonic-palo-alto-m52jhh18j8ps) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Research Engineer, Technical Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-technical-lead-harmonic-palo-alto-31amhf03p5wm) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Research Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-harmonic-palo-alto-ze9en6jgv6fs) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-harmonic-palo-alto-qvysrbna92cr) — Palo Alto, CA