Cyber-Physical Systems Reverse Engineer

Leidos • Columbia, MD

4d • $107,900 - $195,050

About The Position

Kudu Dynamics, a Leidos-owned company, is seeking a Cyber-Physical Systems Reverse Engineer to support a project researching and developing novel capabilities for maritime cybersecurity. The role centers on understanding the real-world behavior of complex embedded and cyber-physical systems through hands-on analysis in a laboratory environment. Work includes examining hardware, firmware, communications interfaces, and interactions between system components; reverse engineering and emulating embedded devices; creating automated methods to explore system behavior; and designing experiments to identify unexpected or emergent behaviors, undocumented features, bugs, and misconfigurations.

The position applies skills across embedded systems, firmware, software, hardware, and cybersecurity. The engineer may build test harnesses and automated workflows, instrument analog and digital systems, connect physical devices with software analysis and cyber-reasoning tools, and develop code. Responsibilities span real-time embedded firmware, simulation and emulation, automated testing, device and protocol analysis, laboratory experimentation, and communicating technical findings.

Requirements

• Experience developing embedded firmware in C/C++, including real-time systems, RTOS concepts, interrupts, concurrency, memory-mapped I/O, device drivers, and hardware peripherals.
• Experience with embedded hardware and common communications interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, USB, Ethernet, or wireless interfaces, including debugging hardware/software interactions.
• Experience developing simulation, emulation, automated testing, or hardware/software test harnesses for embedded systems.
• Proficiency with Python or similar scripting languages for automation, testing, analysis, and development of engineering tools.
• Experience using embedded development and diagnostic equipment such as JTAG/SWD debuggers, logic/protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, function generators, or similar instrumentation.

Nice To Haves

• Experience reverse engineering embedded devices and firmware, including tools such as Ghidra, Binary Ninja, IDA Pro, or similar, and the ability to analyze assembly for one or more processor architectures.
• Experience with program analysis and vulnerability research techniques such as fuzzing, symbolic execution, static/dynamic analysis, binary exploitation, and modern exploit mitigations.
• Experience with processor or full-system emulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), or development of custom models for processors, peripherals, sensors, or other embedded components.
• Experience with digital signal processing, RF systems, software-defined radio, wireless communications, audio/signal processing, or MATLAB-based modeling and analysis.
• Understanding of digital and analog circuits, hardware reverse engineering, low-level computer architecture, and the interaction between software, firmware, and physical system behavior.

Responsibilities

• Develop, integrate, and debug embedded firmware for real-time and resource-constrained systems, including RTOS-based applications, device drivers, hardware interfaces, and low-level system software.
• Design and implement simulation, emulation, and automated test environments for embedded and cyber-physical systems, including tools to explore system behavior, reproduce observed effects, and exercise hardware and firmware.
• Analyze and reverse engineer embedded devices, firmware, communications protocols, sensors, and other system components to understand intended functionality and real-world behavior.
• Develop production-quality C/C++ and Python software to automate testing, instrumentation, experimentation, and analysis, including integration with laboratory hardware and software-based analysis tools.
• Conduct hands-on laboratory testing using embedded debugging tools and analog/digital instrumentation; critically analyze, document, and communicate technical findings.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Education Level: No Education Listed