Principal Security Researcher

Integration Innovation • Arlington, VA

2d

About The Position

i3 is building a security research team focused on rapid triage, reverse engineering, vulnerability research, and proof-of-concept exploit development. The Principal Security Researcher will serve as a hands-on technical lead, conducting difficult investigations while establishing the team’s research practices, tooling, and quality standards. Practical experience with LLMs and associated agent harnesses is required; the role will integrate these tools into the research process and define how their outputs are tested and verified.

The position requires an active Top Secret/SCI clearance and U.S. citizenship. The stated pay range is $142,000–$222,000; the company notes that the range is a general guideline rather than a guarantee, and that offers may depend on responsibilities, education, experience, skills, internal equity, market data, location, and applicable laws.

Requirements

• At least 7 years of experience in security research, reverse engineering, exploit development, or closely related work, including substantial direct vulnerability research.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field; additional years of experience may substitute for the degree.
• A record of independently completing complex investigations and producing reliable proof-of-concept exploits.
• Experience leading technical projects, reviewing research, or mentoring other researchers.
• Hands-on familiarity with LLMs and agent harnesses, including their limitations and methods for validating results.
• Strong programming, debugging, and technical writing skills.
• Good judgment in communicating what is confirmed, what remains uncertain, and what warrants further investigation.
• Active Top Secret/SCI clearance.
• U.S. citizenship.

Nice To Haves

• Experience building research teams.
• Experience extending agent harnesses.
• Experience developing fuzzing and analysis infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Lead investigations from initial triage through root-cause analysis, exploitability assessment, proof-of-concept development, and reporting.
• Reverse engineer unfamiliar software and systems to identify vulnerabilities and understand their impact.
• Prioritize research, manage technical uncertainty, and balance rapid assessments with deeper investigations.
• Review findings, exploits, and reports for technical accuracy, reproducibility, and clarity.
• Develop and improve LLM-assisted research workflows, including tool integration and evaluation.
• Mentor researchers and establish reusable tooling, documentation, and research standards.

What This Job Offers

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