Senior Researcher/Expert – Mobile Operating System Security

Huawei; Helsinki; On-site; EUR 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Huawei Finland Research Center in Helsinki seeks an experienced Senior Researcher / Expert in Mobile Operating System Security to join the System Security Laboratory. You will research security technologies for Huawei smartphones, tablets, and devices, identifying threats, developing protections, and prototyping solutions for future HarmonyOS products.

The role focuses on OS security areas including kernel, hardware-assisted security, compiler/runtime security, and program analysis, with

Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related field, or equivalent industrial experience.
• Deep expertise in at least one of the research areas above.
• Strong knowledge of relevant system security technologies, such as Android, Linux, OpenHarmony, HarmonyOS, Armv8/v9, compiler/runtime security, or program analysis.
• Strong systems programming and prototyping skills; experience with Assembly, C, C++, or Rust is highly desirable.
• Experience in threat modeling, attack-surface analysis, vulnerability research, exploit mitigation, security architecture evaluation, or security testing.
• Experience taking technical ideas from research through prototype implementation and evaluation.
• Strong English technical writing, presentation, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Analyze prior work and emerging threats, and identify research opportunities for mobile operating systems and consumer devices.
• Develop security proposals based on clear threat models and product needs.
• Design, implement, and evaluate proof-of-concept prototypes, including security effectiveness, compatibility, and performance.
• Work with product and engineering teams to translate promising research into deployable technologies.
• Apply AI-assisted methods to security analysis, research, prototyping, and engineering workflows.
• Communicate technical findings and collaborate with researchers, engineers, academic partners, and decision-makers.

Skills

Mobile OS security

Systems programming (C/C++, Rust)

Threat modeling

OpenHarmony/HarmonyOS/Linux/Android

Prototyping

English technical writing

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Master's or PhD in CS/CE/Cybersecurity

Tools

Assembly

C

C++

Rust

Job description

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Senior Researcher / Expert in Mobile Operating System Security to join the System Security Laboratory at Huawei's Finland Research Center in Helsinki.

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Senior Researcher / Expert in Mobile Operating System Security to join the System Security Laboratory at Huawei's Finland Research Center in Helsinki.

You will research next-generation security technologies for Huawei smartphones, tablets, and other consumer devices, identify emerging system security challenges, develop protection mechanisms, build and evaluate prototypes, and help transfer successful research into future HarmonyOS products.

The role focuses on one or more of the following areas:

• Operating system kernel, driver, system service, privilege boundary, and access-control security
• Hardware-assisted security using Arm architecture and System-on-Chip security capabilities
• Compiler-based security, memory safety, control-flow protection, and runtime instrumentation
• JavaScript and other language runtime security, including interpreters, compilers, and JIT components
• Fuzzing, static and dynamic analysis, symbolic/concolic execution, binary analysis, and automated vulnerability discovery

What You Will Do

• Analyze prior work and emerging threats, and identify research opportunities for mobile operating systems and consumer devices.
• Develop security proposals based on clear threat models and product needs.
• Design, implement, and evaluate proof-of-concept prototypes, including security effectiveness, compatibility, and performance.
• Work with product and engineering teams to translate promising research into deployable technologies.
• Apply AI-assisted methods to security analysis, research, prototyping, and engineering workflows.
• Communicate technical findings and collaborate with researchers, engineers, academic partners, and decision-makers.

Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related field, or equivalent industrial experience.
• Deep expertise in at least one of the research areas above.
• Strong knowledge of relevant system security technologies, such as Android, Linux, OpenHarmony, HarmonyOS, Armv8/v9, compiler/runtime security, or program analysis.
• Strong systems programming and prototyping skills; experience with Assembly, C, C++, or Rust is highly desirable.
• Experience in threat modeling, attack-surface analysis, vulnerability research, exploit mitigation, security architecture evaluation, or security testing.
• Experience taking technical ideas from research through prototype implementation and evaluation.
• Strong English technical writing, presentation, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience applying large language models or other AI techniques to fuzzing, program analysis, vulnerability discovery, test/specification generation, crash triage, root-cause analysis, exploitability assessment, or mitigation development.
• Experience or innovative ideas in using agentic AI systems to automate multi-step security workflows, improve operating system defenses, identify weaknesses, or design and evaluate protection mechanisms.

Why Join Us

Our research combines software-based protection with hardware-assisted security mechanisms to develop practical defenses for real-world products. Many of our previous innovations already contribute to the security of Huawei's HarmonyOS devices, and Huawei continues to invest significantly in Open Harmony / HarmonyOS NEXT.

You will work across operating systems, compilers, hardware architectures, and runtime security, take research from concept to prototype and potential product deployment, collaborate with experienced researchers and engineers, and contribute to technical proposals, patents, publications, prototypes, and product security capabilities.

Location and Contract Type

Location: Huawei R&D office in Ruoholahti, Helsinki, Finland.

Contract type: This is a full-time position at Huawei's Helsinki R&D office

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains - telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services, we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.

At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. We invest heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. We have 207,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

We seek and reward talent! At Huawei Finland Research Center, you will have an outstanding opportunity to be part of the leading research and development of future smart devices. We offer a career in a forward-looking industrial research team with a solid track record in innovation and publication and delivering its result as factual contributions to on-the-market devices.