I initially kept that option open, yes. However, there are surprisingly few available positions in formal methods outside of academia, and Coq is very very hard: my ability to prove things with Coq is quite modest.
Probably worth noting that I did have an PhD offer earlier, to work with Coq. However, since it was in a small village in Germany, I had to turn it down.
On a more general note, I don't know if formal methods is that promising today: proof assistants are very immature, and proving even little things involves a lot of trial-and-error and is very time-consuming.
Yes, I recall interacting with you!
