Principal Investigator: Leading the way

Leverage academic practices to tackle real-world problems.

Many Galois Principals are former professors. Ask any of them what they like about their day-to-day, and this is what you will hear: “The snack cabinet is awesome!” Okay, right. But you’ll also hear, “I get to do the research I want, supported by highly-skilled research engineers,” and “I get amazing support from professional proposal and project management teams!” 

At Galois, we aim to solve our client’s most challenging problems in creating trustworthy systems. In academia, publishing papers is everything. But after the first 50 or 60 papers, what’s one more? In contrast, we find that bringing our research vision to bear on real-world problems is deeply satisfying. It drives the research in unexpected directions and has a tangible impact at the same time. And we do write papers when that’s what we want to do.

The work we do at Galois has the hallmarks of research but also the hallmarks of solving real-world problems.

Internally, we have designed Galois to combine the best working practices of academia and industry (and remove the worst parts too.) Principal Investigators are freed up to drive their own research agenda, either solo or in partnership with others on collaborative research efforts. Do you have a vision? You’ll get all the support you need to pursue it!

Be part of a team while shaping your own research agenda.

Even though each Principal has their own research interests, we find that some of our best work happens when Principals find opportunities to work together. There are no departments or invisible walls that keep research programs apart. It is common to see Principals brainstorming the next big idea while making espresso, playing snooker, or drawing on a whiteboard. From there, the ideas often materialize into new projects that two (or more) Principals with seemingly unrelated research interests brought to life.

Principals shape Galois’s technical direction by working directly with clients to understand their problems, all the while bringing their technical chops and imagination to bear. If a Principal is interested in an opportunity and a client that has a problem that we can solve… Bingo! At Galois, that is all that’s needed to get going. No single decision-maker tells our Principals (or anyone else!) what they should do and how they should do it. Instead, each Principal decides for themselves which opportunities they want to pursue and with whom. That means Galois is not a static thing. It is always growing and always changing. And we love it that way! What we do today is different from what we will be doing tomorrow. And it is our Principals who propel us forward by building momentum behind what they are passionate about. 

Do you have an idea you want to pursue? Having the autonomy to build and create what you want might sound lonely. But at Galois, everything we do is a team sport, and there are likely two or three others excited to jump in with you. And not just technically. Whether finding and talking with interested clients, identifying new funding sources, writing proposals, negotiating contracts, or managing the day-to-day of running projects — whatever it is — others at Galois will be eager to team up with you both to help you win the work and to execute the research.

Is the Galois Principal role for you?

If all of this sounds too good to be true, talk to us! Because it’s what happens every day at Galois. Unfortunately, we don’t have a video of the snack cabinet yet. But it is awesome!