Cybersecurity Researcher / Engineer

About the Role

The Secure Resilient Systems and Technology group advances cybersecurity research to address critical national security challenges. We develop and evaluate technologies that enable mission systems to withstand cyberattack and continue the mission. Our goal is to design security in from the start and provide rigorous evidence that these systems can be trusted under attack. Research spans secure software and embedded systems, security architecture and threat modeling, applied cryptography, formal methods, and security evaluation, as well as the intersection of AI and cybersecurity.

Key Responsibilities

As an Assistant Technical Staff member, you will:

• Research, design, prototype, and evaluate new approaches to securing software, embedded systems, and communications against sophisticated cyber threats.
• Develop high-quality software and experimental systems using Rust, C/C++, and other languages appropriate to the research.
• Explore problems at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, including applications of AI to cyber analysis and defense, as well as the security and evaluation of AI-enabled systems.
• Collaborate with researchers and engineers across cybersecurity, cryptography, formal methods, AI, communications, autonomy, space, and other disciplines.
• Present results to Laboratory and government stakeholders and contribute to reports, publications, prototypes, reusable software, and the transition of successful technologies to operational use.

Requirements & Tech Stack

To thrive in this role, you should have:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Demonstrated proficiency in at least one of the following:
• Software design, development, and testing in Rust (preferred), C/C++, or another systems programming language.
• Secure software or systems security.
• Systems integration, testing, and evaluation of secure systems.
• Embedded systems analysis, design, and implementation.
• Secure software development, operating system internals, embedded systems security, and network protocols.
• Systems engineering, security requirements analysis, and threat modeling.
• Security evaluation and assurance, including adversarial testing, experimental methods, security measurement, and evidence supporting security and assurance claims.
• Static and dynamic software analysis and applied formal methods.
• AI-enabled software analysis, vulnerability discovery, security testing, threat analysis, and cyber defense.
• Security and evaluation of AI-enabled systems, including adversarial threats, robustness, and resilience.
• Substantial hands-on technical experience beyond academic coursework, typically equivalent to at least six months of full-time technical experience, gained through internships, co-ops, research appointments, employment, or comparable experience. A significant portion must be directly relevant to cybersecurity, systems security, secure software, embedded systems, or AI security.
• Strong problem-solving and technical communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in teams.
• Applied cryptography and protocols, including industry and government standards.

Desired Experience and Expertise

We particularly value demonstrated experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Secure software development, operating system internals, embedded systems security, and network protocols.
• Systems engineering, security requirements analysis, and threat modeling.
• Security evaluation and assurance, including adversarial testing, experimental methods, security measurement, and evidence supporting security and assurance claims.
• Applied cryptography and protocols, including industry and government standards.
• Static and dynamic software analysis and applied formal methods.
• AI-enabled software analysis, vulnerability discovery, security testing, threat analysis, and cyber defense.
• Security and evaluation of AI-enabled systems, including adversarial threats, robustness, and resilience.

We do not expect candidates to have expertise in all of these areas and welcome candidates interested in developing deeper expertise through hands-on research.

Security Clearance

• Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret level DoD security clearance.