Cyber Research and Development Engineer

The Pennsylvania State University • Reston, VA

13d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are searching for a self-motivated Cyber Research and Development (R&D) Engineer to join our Cyberspace Operations Research Department of the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State. The Cyberspace Operations Research Department provides technical expertise in adversarial tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to support system evaluation and provide security hardening support to various sponsors. ARL is an authorized DoD SkillBridge partner and welcomes all transitioning military members to apply. You will: Research cutting edge techniques and technologies for cyberspace operations Leverage expertise in reverse engineering, vulnerability research, and software development to address established needs and investigate solutions to emerging requirements Apply software engineering best practices to create proof-of-concept tools and configure test environments to perform demonstrations to sponsors and partners Assist the Cyberspace Operations Research Department Head in maintaining relationships with sponsors through on-site technical discussions, preparation and presentation of technical materials, and project-related correspondence Provide process enhancement for technical functionality evaluation, vulnerability analyses, cyberspace operations engineering, and penetration testing projects Apply project management principles and methods to the leadership of tasks or projects Provide guidance to lower level Engineers to foster professional growth Additional responsibilities for higher level position includes: Understand broad strategic objectives and contribute to them Nurture and maintain relationships with major customers/grantors of external research and development grant funding Identify grant/project follow-on work and persuade customers/grantors to fund Impact customer decisions and strategies Initiate new project concepts and seek funding Develop technical proposals and make presentations to customers/grant sponsors Mentor department staff in the development technical, project, and business development skills Your work location will be project-dependent ability for on-site/work from home, based out of Reston, VA (preferred), Annapolis Junction, MD, or State College, PA. This position will require periodic travel to remote locations in support of testing as part of a small team of researchers, engineers, and technologists. ARL’s purpose is to research and develop innovative solutions to challenging scientific, engineering, and technology problems in support of the Navy, the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Intel Community (IC).

Requirements

• Documented application of reverse engineering and vulnerability testing tools (e.g. Ghidra/IDA, Kali Linux, Angr/AFL++, QEMU/Unicorn, etc)
• Reverse Engineering, Vulnerability Research, Malware Analysis, or CNO Tool Development
• Computer Networking Fundamentals, Windows, and NIX Operating Systems, X86(64) and ARM or MIPS architectures
• Cyber Operations Architecture and Software Engineering Practices
• Software programming, programming languages, and development environments (to include at a minimum C, Java, or Python)
• Ability to express technical information clearly and concisely in documents and presentations for senior leaders to successfully comprehend and leverage for decision making
• Active government security clearance at TS/SCI level with eligibility for special accesses
• Bachelor's Degree - Engineering or Science
• 14+ years of relevant experience (Senior Professional)
• 5+ years of relevant experience (Advanced Professional)

Nice To Haves

• Experience in cybersecurity exploit development and test environment configuration
• Cybersecurity threat modeling, threat emulation, and penetration testing
• Experience with military cyberspace operations or computer network operations
• Demonstrated history of successful project initiation efforts
• Application of automation and autonomy (i.e. AI/ML) for cybersecurity testing workflows
• Use of Agile software development methodology and tools
• Experience working with Atlassian products (e.g., JIRA, Confluence)
• Master's degree

Responsibilities

• Research cutting edge techniques and technologies for cyberspace operations
• Leverage expertise in reverse engineering, vulnerability research, and software development to address established needs and investigate solutions to emerging requirements
• Apply software engineering best practices to create proof-of-concept tools and configure test environments to perform demonstrations to sponsors and partners
• Assist the Cyberspace Operations Research Department Head in maintaining relationships with sponsors through on-site technical discussions, preparation and presentation of technical materials, and project-related correspondence
• Provide process enhancement for technical functionality evaluation, vulnerability analyses, cyberspace operations engineering, and penetration testing projects
• Apply project management principles and methods to the leadership of tasks or projects
• Provide guidance to lower level Engineers to foster professional growth
• Understand broad strategic objectives and contribute to them
• Nurture and maintain relationships with major customers/grantors of external research and development grant funding
• Identify grant/project follow-on work and persuade customers/grantors to fund
• Impact customer decisions and strategies
• Initiate new project concepts and seek funding
• Develop technical proposals and make presentations to customers/grant sponsors
• Mentor department staff in the development technical, project, and business development skills

Benefits

• Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional well-being.
• In addition to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, employees enjoy robust retirement plans and substantial paid time off which includes holidays, vacation and sick time.
• One of the standout benefits is the generous 75% tuition discount, available to employees as well as eligible spouses and children.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees