Cyber Engineer Principal

SAIC • Reston, VA

1d • Remote

About The Position

SAIC is hiring a hands-on Principal Cyber Engineer to provide senior technical expertise across customer environments and cyber programs. The role is suited to someone who actively explores security tools and emerging capabilities, experiments with mixed operating-system environments, and develops practical scripts, queries, and other technical aids, including with AI. Areas of focus include Zero Trust, cloud security, AI platform security, and security data engineering.

The position is remote, but candidates must live within commuting range of Reston, Virginia. Work is primarily from home, with frequent work in customer spaces in Virginia or Washington, D.C., at the Reston proposal center, and at the Air Force Business Group in Crystal City. Occasional travel is required, sometimes on short notice; trips can last up to six weeks, while longer trips are planned in advance. Assignments may range from two days to 50 percent time for nine months.

The engineer will assess and improve customer cyber environments, deliver usable technical artifacts, and help drive teams in new or underdeveloped spaces before handing work back in a runnable state. The position supports cyber framework assessments, modernization and automation recommendations, Zero Trust and AI security efforts, SIEM/SOC architecture, security telemetry data engineering, incident response, and security and cloud architecture. The engineer also troubleshoots using command-line tools, teaches and presents to mixed audiences, writes job aids and white papers, and contributes technical input to proposals. An active Top Secret clearance and the ability to obtain SCI are required.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 9 years of experience, or a master’s degree and 7 years of experience.
• U.S. citizenship and an active Top Secret clearance, with the ability to obtain SCI.
• Residence within commuting range of Reston, Virginia.
• Current CompTIA Security+ CE or equivalent 8140 intermediate certification.
• Typically 8 or more years of hands-on cyber engineering, SOC/SIEM architecture, enablement, or equivalent experience at Senior Principal depth; ability to drive a team and advise a contract cyber lead.
• Experience assessing cyber programs and environments against frameworks and recommending solutions, modernization, and automation.
• Experience working in customer spaces, including mixed-classification environments, on a support-request cadence; occasional travel, sometimes on short notice, is required.
• Technical depth in Zero Trust and AI platforms, security telemetry data engineering, and SIEM automation or SOC tooling and architecture.
• Working familiarity with RMF, CMMC, ICD-705, incident response, security architecture, cloud security architecture, endpoint security platforms, DLP, IPS, and load balancers.
• Ability to explain the distinction and complementary role of time-indexed and stateful data, and how tools and vendors provide both for Zero Trust activity targets.
• Strong troubleshooting skills and current command-line skills on Windows and Linux, such as PowerShell and Bash or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience with AWS Console and AWS CLI, including IAM, CloudTrail, GuardDuty, Security Hub, VPC/flow logs, S3, and CloudWatch or equivalent.
• Clear communication and teaching skills, including writing job aids and presenting to technical and non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Current SCI clearance; TS/SCI with Poly is a plus for high-end Service Delivery customers.
• Splunk Certified Admin or higher, or equivalent security data engineering knowledge and experience not limited to one tool.
• CISSP or higher, such as ISSAP, ISSEP, or ISSMP.
• Current credentials in cloud, detection, architecture, or data, such as CCSP, CISM, GIAC, AWS/Azure security, CySA+, CASP+, or equivalent.
• Proposal or capture technical consulting experience, published or internal white papers, or prior enablement of mixed-skill cyber teams.
• Interest in AI governance and securing AI agents and tool gateways.
• Experience with SOAR, EDR/XDR, identity platforms, security data lakes, and securing AI/ML platforms, including Azure OpenAI, Bedrock, on-premises model hosting, and RAG/LLMOps controls.
• Splunk experience is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Enter customer spaces on short cycles, quickly learn the technology stack and stakeholders, and leave usable artifacts.
• Drive cyber teams in new, thin, or stalled customer environments, then hand work back in a runnable state while consulting rather than replacing contract cyber leads.
• Assess cyber programs and customer environments against applicable cyber and security frameworks; recommend solutions, modernization, automation, and next steps.
• Work on Zero Trust, AI platform security, security telemetry data engineering, and SIEM/SOC architecture and automation; support AI governance and securing AI agents and tool gateways.
• Apply RMF, CMMC, and ICD-705 in live environments and support incident response.
• Engineer and tune security and cloud architecture, endpoint platforms, DLP, IPS, and load-balancer and traffic paths.
• Use both time-indexed and stateful data, and work with platforms and vendors to support Zero Trust activity targets.
• Troubleshoot using Windows, Linux, security-tool, and AWS command-line tools and consoles; escalate issues with evidence.
• Teach, present white papers, write job aids for new and existing frameworks, and contribute technical expertise to proposals.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior