Cybersecurity Research Engineer

Peraton Labs delivers innovative solutions and revolutionary new capabilities to solve the most difficult and complex challenges for government agencies, utilities, and commercial customers. With a distinguished heritage tracing back to Bell Labs, Bellcore, DHPC, and Telcordia, we are a self-sustaining research center within Peraton that provides applied research and engineering to enable government agencies, utilities and commercial enterprises to fully exploit the future of communications, analytics and cyber security. Peraton Labs’ cybersecurity research protects mission-critical systems and national cyber infrastructure through a broad range of initiatives in computer network defense, cyber operations, secure-by-design techniques, and experimentation platforms.

 

Role and responsibility for this position:
The Cyber Research Engineer will work on full-lifecycle advanced cyber capability development, starting with research prototype all the way through to eventual deployment of operational capabilities over a three-year period.  You will be part of a large team of highly skilled engineers collaborating to develop, test, and field novel operational capabilities for the Department of Defense. Past experience with DARPA or the DoD/IC research community is a strong plus. You will perform one or more of the following tasks:

• Designing, developing, and testing software modules related to emerging embedded cyber capabilities, high-availability network protocols, cyber mission planning and reasoning systems, data analytics, processing and analysis of high-volume network data.
• Hardware and software reverse engineering activities against bespoke targets.
• Development of CI/CD-based testing strategies for developed software modules.
• Analysis and assessment of multi-dimensional network data to inform software development. 

We are hiring multiple engineers in this role. Individual job responsibilities will be tailored to each candidate’s background and experience drawing from the overall the scope listed above.

 

Education/Experience Required:

 BS 5-7 Years, MS 3-5, PhD 0-2

 

 Skills and Experience You Should Possess:

• Strong networking background
• Demonstrated software development expertise
• Computer Network Operations (CNO) background
• Experience with embedded systems
• knowledge of operating system internals (e.g., scheduling, data structures)
• Experience with both offensive and defensive cyber tools
• Technical skills in one or more of the following areas: binary analysis, malware analysis, reverse engineering, protocal analysis, vulnerability research, cyber threat hunting, multi-INT fusion, large-scale data analytics, automated reasoning systems

Additional Desired Skills

• Fluency in C/C++ or Python (ideally both); familiarity with other high-level languages in common use.
• Familiarity with the basics of x86 assembly language and the principles of modern computer architecture.
• Familiarity with modern agile development practices (Scrum and similar)
• Familiarity with modern development tools and testing frameworks (Git, CI/CD toolchains)
• Familiarity with container and orchestration solutions, including Docker, Docker Swarm, Kubernetes, Terraform

 Minimum Clearance Required:
Active Top Secret clearance strongly preferred. TS/SCI a significant plus (poly not required but also a plus).  Uncleared candidates who are able to get a TS will be considered.

 

Why choose us? 

• Variety: You will work on multiple programs.  You and your manager will have discussions to ensure your assignments are on track with your growth goals and interest areas.
• Flexibility: You will have the opportunity for a flexible work schedule.  Subject to program requirements, you can set your hours while fulfilling 80 hours every two weeks.  Additionally, while classified work requires onsite work, most staff can schedule about 20% of their time as work from home.
• Value: You will support interesting and challenging projects that are not repetitive or monotonous, but rather have novelty and innovation; and great people to learn from and work with – collegial, smart, inspiring.

 Who we’re looking for: 

• Cyber: We are looking for staff with a strong interest (and ideally a track record) in cyber security research and development w/ strong software development skills.
• Generalists:You’ll typically focus your work on the domain(s) of your specialty or preference, but a strong multi-domain awareness and ability is required.  You should have a curiosity to learn new technology.  
• Tangible: You’ll work on applied research program to conceive and develop prototypes to solve cutting-edge, complex problems

 

Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can’t be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers.

Salary Minimum: $57,500
Salary Mid: $115,000
Salary Maximum: $143,800

The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position, and is just one component of Peraton's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition, Peraton provides a variety of benefits to employees.

An Equal Opportunity Employer including Disability/Veteran.