Research Scientist – Cryptography

As a Research Scientist in Cryptography at Riverside Research, you develop, prototype, and evaluate formal methods techniques for software and systems security. You join the Secure and Resilient Systems group within the Open Innovation Center, conducting internally funded and contract-funded R&D on technologies with lasting practical impact. This role is ideal if you are a cryptographer interested in formal methods, programming language theory, compilers, computer architecture, or operating systems. If you have experience mechanizing cryptographic arguments in theorem provers such as Rocq or Lean, or verification tools such as CryptoVerif or EasyCrypt, this role is a strong fit. If you want to advance compositional, mechanized proofs of cryptographic protocol implementations, this is the role for you.

What you'll do

• Conduct formal methods and cryptography research, including developing models, specifications, proofs, and verification techniques
• Develop and evaluate research prototypes and tools that apply formal methods to software and systems security problems
• Collaborate on multidisciplinary research with colleagues in formal methods, cryptography, programming languages, systems software, and related areas
• Communicate research results through publications, reports, presentations, and briefings to technical and nontechnical audiences
• Support research planning and proposal development by identifying new opportunities and contributing technical approaches

What you bring

• A Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, cybersecurity, or a related field, plus 5 or more years of relevant research or engineering experience (an advanced degree is preferred)
• Research experience in cryptography and a strong interest in formal methods, programming languages, or a closely related area
• Experience developing or applying mechanized proofs or formal verification techniques
• Demonstrated knowledge of cryptography, including techniques for reasoning about cryptographic security
• The ability to formulate technical problems, evaluate alternative approaches, and conduct research independently and collaboratively
• The ability to communicate complex concepts clearly in writing and presentations, and to collaborate effectively with researchers from different disciplines
• The ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance
• U.S. Citizenship

Nice to have

• Experience with proof assistants or verification systems such as Rocq, Lean, Isabelle/HOL, EasyCrypt, F*, or similar tools
• Experience with formal reasoning techniques such as game-hopping, universal composability, logical relations, translation validation, refinement, or separation logic
• Experience formally verifying cryptographic implementations or protocols, compilers, operating systems, hypervisors, or other security-critical software
• Familiarity with computer architecture, including topics such as tagged architectures, hardware/software interfaces, or ISA-level reasoning
• Experience developing new formal methods tools or extending existing verification frameworks
• A publication record or other demonstrated contributions to research in formal methods, security, cryptography, or programming languages

About Riverside Research

Riverside Research is an independent National Security Nonprofit dedicated to research and development in the national interest, providing high-end technical services, research and development, and prototype solutions to some of the country's most challenging technical problems.