Cyber Systems Exploitation Researcher

MIT Lincoln Laboratory•Lexington, MA

1d•$140,000 - $187,000

About The Position

The Cyber Systems Exploitation Researcher leads the development of cybersecurity tools and techniques, reverse engineering and exploiting software and hardware systems important to U.S. government operations and national defense. Research areas include cyber tool prototyping and technical analysis of offensive and defensive cyber tools and systems, automated vulnerability discovery, reverse engineering, software protection mechanisms, static analysis, and dynamic instrumentation. The researcher communicates findings to non-domain experts through written work, public presentations, and hands-on training. As a Level 5 Technical Staff member, the researcher leads projects or major technical workstreams, performs independent research on complex problems, and manages programs or teams working on technology prototypes. The role requires deep technical expertise, sound judgment, the ability to navigate ambiguity and technical complexity, and the ability to connect technical work with broader program objectives. The researcher collaborates across multidisciplinary, sponsor-driven efforts, prepares briefings and reports, interfaces with sponsors, and mentors technical staff while improving group practices.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline or other relevant technical field and typically 6 or more years of relevant experience; or a Master’s degree and typically 4 or more years of relevant experience; or a PhD with an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Diverse technical expertise and demonstrated ability to adapt that expertise to unfamiliar or emerging disciplines, systems, mission areas, or methods.
Ability to apply significant technical judgment to broad technical challenges requiring integration across related systems or methods.
Demonstrated ability to lead projects or major workstreams and deliver complex technical outcomes.
Experience evaluating trade-offs, recommending paths forward, and adapting technical approaches to evolving project needs.
Demonstrated mentorship and collaboration skills, and ability to communicate recommendations, risks, and technical findings to varied audiences.
Experience contributing to technical reports, papers, presentations, proposals, or other formal technical deliverables.
Must be able to obtain a Secret-level DoD security clearance and be eligible and willing to apply for a Top Secret SCI-level DoD security clearance and maintain it once obtained.
U.S. citizenship is required.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with version control systems such as Git.
Expertise in some of the following: disassemblers or decompilers such as Ghidra and IDA Pro; debuggers such as WinDbg and GDB; programming languages such as C/C++ and Python; infrastructure and container provisioning or orchestration tools such as Ansible, Kubernetes, and Docker; network protocol analysis tools such as Wireshark and tcpdump; and emulation or virtualization tools such as VMware and QEMU.
Knowledge of operating system internals.
Experience reverse engineering embedded systems firmware, malicious code, mobile applications, or similar systems.
Knowledge of vulnerability assessment, statistics and metrics, SAT/SMT solvers, symbolic execution, data-flow analysis for compiled binaries, binary intermediate representations, binary translation, compiler construction, anti-debugging or anti-instrumentation techniques, and network and host security products.

Responsibilities

Lead projects or major workstreams involving multidisciplinary design, development, data analysis, programming, prototyping, integration, testing, or transition activities.
Apply extensive technical expertise to complex problems, evaluating alternative approaches, trade-offs, risks, and mission implications.
Influence technical approaches to mission research, systems and subsystems, architecture design, and integration within assigned projects or mission areas.
Structure and manage ambiguous work by translating project objectives into actionable technical plans.
Mentor colleagues by reviewing work, providing constructive feedback and technical guidance, and helping develop their judgment and problem-solving skills.
Identify opportunities to improve tools, processes, methods, documentation, and execution practices.
Contribute to engineering or scientific papers, technical reports, presentations, and, where applicable, proposal or grant materials.
Reverse engineer and exploit software and hardware systems important to U.S. government operations and national defense.
Conduct research in cyber tool prototyping and technical analysis of offensive or defensive tools and systems, automated vulnerability discovery, reverse engineering, software protection mechanisms, static analysis, and dynamic instrumentation.
Communicate research to non-domain experts through writing, public presentations, and hands-on training sessions.
Develop and execute programs, prepare briefings and reports, and interface with sponsors.
Guide and mentor Associate Technical Staff, Assistant Technical Staff, and other technical support personnel.