Capabilities Development Engineer

CNSS • National Security Systems; Cooksville (MD); On-site; USD 105,000 - 197,000; Full time

Job summary

National Security Agency (NSA) seeks Capabilities Development Specialists to push cutting-edge hardware and software tools for national security missions at Fort Meade, MD. The role emphasizes deep system understanding, reverse engineering, and development across both software and hardware domains to defend the nation.

The CDS role requires rigorous problem solving, strong programming and hardware design skills, and the ability to operate within a high-security environment.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or related field.
• Experience in engineering hardware or software over lifecycle including requirements, design, development, testing and maintenance.
• Completion of JCAC or similar military training counts toward experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop exploitation capabilities and analytics for foreign target network collection.
• Design hardware components and systems to support signals intelligence missions.
• Analyze sophisticated malware.

Skills

C

C++

Assembly

ARM

Kernel development

Device driver development

Reverse engineering

Security analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Engineering

Master's degree or Doctoral degree (preferred)

Tools

Ghidra

OllyDbg

gdb

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

FPGA

Verilog

Job description

National Security Agency (NSA) seeks Capabilities Development Specialists to push cutting-edge hardware and software tools for national security missions at Fort Meade, MD. The role emphasizes deep system understanding, reverse engineering, and development across both software and hardware domains to defend the nation.

The CDS role requires rigorous problem solving, strong programming and hardware design skills, and the ability to operate within a high-security environment.