2026 Graduate - Engineer/Researcher - Cyber Warfare Systems

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory • Laurel, MD

74d • $85,000 - $155,000

About The Position

Do you want to apply your skills to real world problems and gain experience with cyber operations? Are you intellectually curious, seeking to understand and find loopholes in systems and processes? Do you love to always be building something new? Are you passionate about cybersecurity, national security, and public service? If these questions resonate with you, you may be a phenomenal fit for the Cyber Warfare Systems Group (QCR)! QCR team members apply their skills to offensive cyber operations and non-kinetic mission defeat. We are passionate about providing eye-watering cyber capabilities that will change modern warfare. We are a team built around trust, clarity, growth, and mission impact. Our primary focus is on supporting the U.S. military's efforts to execute cyber missions at scale in support of joint operations. We do this by helping the nation execute complex and challenging cyber operations, and then by augmenting our experience with systems engineering principles. Our research areas include analysis & targeting, cyber layer modeling, cybersecurity, and human systems modeling.

Requirements

• Graduating with or have recently completed a Bachelor's or Master's degree in: Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Cybersecurity, or a related field.
• Classroom or professional experience working closely in skills including networking, penetration testing, reverse engineering, open-source intelligence, data science, agentic systems, modeling and simulation, cyber threat intelligence, AI/ML, or similar technical fields.
• Enjoy creating and building projects that pose a challenge.
• Passion for applying analytical and technical expertise to develop innovative solutions by prototyping.
• Ability to effectively communicate information, concepts or ideas to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Able to acquire Interim Top Secret level security clearance by your start date and can ultimately acquire Top Secret with SCI level clearance.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated leadership of small or large teams to achieve excellence.
• Built projects using LLM-based agents to automate complex tasks, and understand the risks and benefits of operationalizing AI in mission-critical applications.
• Understanding of Department of Defense operations, or DoD processes like acquisition, sustainment, risk management, or test and evaluation.
• Proficiency in defense-critical foreign languages.

Responsibilities

• Providing technical support to projects related to cyber operations.
• Designing, developing, and fielding capabilities in support of cyber operations missions.
• Partnering with teams of government and/or contractor staff as they develop & deploy capabilities.
• Conducting research and analysis that supports capability development.
• Conducting analysis of novel publicly available data sources, mission vulnerability assessments, and/or cyber mission management.

Benefits

• Generous benefits including a robust education assistance program.
• Unparalleled retirement contributions.
• Healthy work/life balance.
• Comprehensive benefits package including retirement plans, paid time off, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, education assistance, and training and development.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Industry: Educational Services
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees