Mfcttrf

I am in a weird situation that I don't really know what this means.
I had a postdoc interview on-site late May. It was two days long. I gave two presentations and a 6 hour long hands-on lab demonstration. Prof. seemed satisfied with the results and said "thank you for the successful demonstration."

Fast-forward to a month later, no news. So I send a follow up and get this reply "yes, we are positive on you for a position and we are still checking for some internal part for further official process." prof also send some questions about when is the earliest I could start and if I can abide by this and that lab rules, etc...

This was almost two months ago. Still no news. Did I get it, did I not? What's the hold up? I am very confused.

EDIT: I am located in Canada and this is a Canadian university.

One possible scenario is that they have a preferred candidate, who has not yet accepted or rejected their offer.

Another possible scenario is that there is an uncertainty about funding. For example, they may be trying to hire you using some complicated scheme in which your position is co-funded by a third body. It takes time to organize such things. Or they may be waiting for an announcement of the outcome of their grant application submitted long ago. They may have decided to hire you anyway, but may not yet know which grant to fund your position from. Or they may have been unable to hire you in the intended way and may be looking for an alternative method to hire you.

It is rather a bad sign that they did not take the initiative to contact you and keep you updated, and such a delay seems to be too long to be caused by any official process unless this process is related to an application for some funding.

If I were you, I would be rather pessimistic and would send a frank email expressing my concern. I would ask them to frankly explain what is going on and to tell me the probability of me getting an official offer. I would also ask them when I should expect to receive an official offer. If I did not receive a convincing and credible response, I would immediately start looking for another position.

The PI told you that you got the job, so you should contact them again. I'd suggest you start being more pressing, something along the lines of "I would like to know when the contract will start, since I have to make arrangements..."

It's quite common for the internal hiring process to take a long time so there's no reason to be alarmed, but you've been quite patient already. In case you have other opportunities available you can mention it, it might speed things up if they worry that they might lose you.