Integrated Cyber Exploitation Researcher (Fort Meade, MD)

Come and help defend the nation in cyberspace! In the Cyber Operations & Analysis Technology Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, we research challenging technical problems in cyber security, develop new technologies, and prototype first-of-a-kind systems. We have particular focus on enabling human operators and improving operational systems, orienting our work toward strong practical impact.

We work across a variety of cutting-edge national-security applications:

• Enhancing the cyber security of critical infrastructure, weapons systems, and other operational technology
• Protecting and defending emerging U.S. systems for conducting command and control (C2) across multiple domains
• Helping the nation’s cyber operators do their jobs better, faster, and at greater scale
• Quantifying risk posed by adversary cyber threats to key national security missions
• Creating new analytics and processing techniques to create timely, actionable insights from cyber data
• Developing techniques to coordinate actions for emerging mission scenarios combining cyber and other mission domains such as air, land, sea, and space

As a diverse and interdisciplinary group, we innovate by drawing insights from computer science, software engineering, data engineering, data science, artificial intelligence/machine learning, electrical engineering, mathematics, physics, and allied technical fields. We collaborate with research partners across MIT, offering frequent opportunities to team and learn in new areas. If you want a career in R&D with the opportunity to have real impact on important problems, join us!

Job Description

Located onsite in Fort Meade, MD

From the MIT Lincoln Laboratory field office in Annapolis Junction, MD, you will be immersed in the missions of key government sponsors. We provide support across the full lifecycle of offensive cyber operations, from the reverse engineering and exploitation of software and hardware systems to providing technical subject matter expertise to operational planners. Your main areas of research will include cyber tool prototyping, technical analysis of offensive cyber tools, automated vulnerability discovery, reverse engineering, static analysis, and dynamic instrumentation. Once you’re on our team, you will communicate your research to non-domain experts through your writing, public presentations, and hand-on training sessions. Our field site positions in particular offer an opportunity to engage directly with our sponsors as trusted subject matter experts and shape key decisions in the defense of our nation.

Requirements

• PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related discipline or MS and 3+ years of directly related experience or BS and 7+ years of related experience
• Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must possess a current Top-Secret SCI level DoD security clearance. Preference will be given to candidates with a completed full scope polygraph

Desired Technical Skills

Familiarity with all, Expertise in some:

• Version Control Systems (Git)
• Dissassemblers/Decompilers (Ghidra, IDAPro)
• Debuggers (WinDbg, GDB) 
• Programming Languages (C/C++, Python)
• Infrastructure/Container Provisioning/Orchestration Systems (Ansible, Kubernetes, Docker)
• Network Protocol Analysis (Wireshark, Tcpdump)
• Emulator/Virtualization Technologies (VMWare, QEMU)
• Operating System Internals
• Reverse Engineering of Embedded Systems Firmware, Malicious Code, Mobile Applications, and More 
• 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/Anti-instrumentation Techniques
• Network and Host Security Products

At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, our exceptional career opportunities include many outstanding benefits to help you stay healthy, feel supported, and enjoy a fulfilling work-life balance. Benefits offered to employees include: 

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans
• MIT-funded pension
• Matching 401K
• Paid leave (including vacation, sick, parental, military, etc.)
• Tuition reimbursement and continuing education programs
• Mentorship programs
• A range of work-life balance options
• ... and much more!  

Please visit our Benefits page for more information. As an employee of MIT, you can also take advantage of other voluntary benefits, discounts and perks.

Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must possess a current Top-Secret SCI level DoD security clearance. 

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information; U.S. citizenship is required.

Requisition ID: 41105