Solutions Engineer

Carnegie Mellon University • Pittsburgh, PA

48d

About The Position

The Solutions Engineer works within the CERT Division of Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI), which researches complex software engineering, cybersecurity, and AI problems and transitions mature solutions into practice for the Department of War and federal government. The CERT Situational Awareness team helps organizations develop and maintain awareness of cyber hybrid environments, identify risks, and make informed decisions about cybersecurity, cyber resiliency, and cyber survivability.

The role provides strategic technical support to senior decision makers and leads or contributes to teams developing, evaluating, and improving security architectures. It involves systems-of-systems architecture, requirements and engineering analysis, technology evaluation and deployment guidance, and advanced analytical approaches such as AI, machine learning, behavioral analytics, and data-driven techniques. The engineer documents current-state architectures, identifies capability and coverage gaps, evaluates integration strategies, recommends security solutions, and develops mission threads and workflows.

The position also supports Zero Trust and cyber resilience planning and implementation; evaluates, pilots, and transitions technologies into operational environments; develops cybersecurity, technology, and architecture roadmaps; and assesses organizational capabilities, architectures, processes, and resilience. The engineer contributes to diverse project teams, may lead and mentor less-senior staff, and leads small to intermediate projects. The job includes moderate travel (20%) to locations such as sponsor sites, conferences, and offsite meetings. Candidates must undergo a background check and be eligible to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with eight years of experience, master’s degree with five years of experience, or an equivalent combination of training and experience.
• Willingness to travel to various locations in support of the SEI mission; moderate travel (20%).
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance and will be subject to a background check.
• Ability to present technical topics to audiences ranging from senior leadership to technical experts.
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders to promote practical solutions to difficult security problems.
• Strong understanding of networking, security, systems administration, programming, and/or cloud.
• Strong research and writing skills.
• Ability to work at the systems-of-systems architecture level and identify tradeoffs among approaches.
• Experience working with government or within a critical infrastructure sector.

Nice To Haves

• PhD in computer science and engineering, systems engineering, or a related discipline, with two years of experience in cybersecurity/network operations, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), or workflow/process analysis, or an equivalent combination of training and experience.
• Experience in enterprise, system-of-systems, system, or security architecture.
• Experience deploying or supporting large-scale network security monitoring infrastructures in security operations.
• Security research experience.
• Programming or software engineering experience.
• Networking experience.
• Testing experience.
• Prior responsibility leading a body of work involving numerous large-scale projects and multiple customers or external sponsors.
• Contributions to the broader industry or research community and experience in a variety of network security areas.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic technical support to senior decision makers.
• Lead or contribute to teams developing, evaluating, and improving security architectures.
• Develop and analyze systems-of-systems architectures, system requirements, engineering and analysis approaches, and technology evaluation and deployment guidance.
• Develop and evaluate analytical techniques, including AI, machine learning, behavioral analytics, and data-driven approaches for cyber operations.
• Document current-state architectures, identify capability and coverage gaps, evaluate technology integration strategies, recommend security solutions, and develop mission threads and workflows.
• Support organizations in planning, assessing, and implementing Zero Trust and cyber resilience strategies.
• Evaluate, pilot, and transition new technologies into operational environments.
• Develop cybersecurity, technology, and architecture roadmaps aligned with mission and business objectives.
• Assess organizational capabilities, security architectures, operational processes, and cyber resilience to identify strengths, weaknesses, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Contribute to interdisciplinary teams of colleagues, customers, and others to deliver projects.
• Occasionally lead, mentor, and motivate less-senior staff.
• Lead small to intermediate projects.
• Support government program offices in strategy, processes and policies, requirements elicitation, design and architecture, operations, outreach, and training.
• Enable the transition and appropriate focus of situational awareness analysis and engineering approaches and tools into operational environments.
• Design, prototype, and transition tactical analysis studies and tools for operational use in situational awareness.
• Become a respected domain expert among customers, commercial vendors, and the Internet community.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical insurance
• Prescription insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Retirement savings program with employer contributions
• Tuition benefits
• Paid time off
• Observed holidays
• Life insurance
• Accidental death and disability insurance
• Free Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus pass
• Family Concierge Team assistance with childcare needs
• Fitness center access

What This Job Offers

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