Capabilities Development Engineer (CDS)

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

Job summary

NSA seeks CDS professionals to develop groundbreaking capabilities for national defense. Strong software/hardware design, development, testing or reverse engineering skills are required. You will join a team that produces world-class tools to defend the nation.

Qualifications cover CS/engineering degrees and relevant experience. The role demands security clearance, citizenship, and readiness for DCIPS terms and a rigorous trial period.

Qualifications

• Degree in CS, Mathematics, Engineering, or related field with foundational CS coursework.
• Experience in hardware/software lifecycle, vulnerability analysis or systems engineering.
• Military training or JCAC counts towards experience when applicable.

Responsibilities

• Develop exploitation capabilities and analytics for target networks.
• Design hardware components to support signals intelligence missions.
• Analyze sophisticated malware and conduct reverse engineering.

Skills

C

C++

Assembly

ARM

Reverse engineering

Hardware design

FPGA

VHDL

Verilog

PCB

RF system design

Embedded systems development

Software vulnerability analysis and

exploitation

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Master's degree

Doctoral degree

Associate's degree

Tools

Ghidra

OllyDbg

gdb

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

Job description

NSA seeks CDS professionals to develop groundbreaking capabilities for national defense. Strong software/hardware design, development, testing or reverse engineering skills are required. You will join a team that produces world-class tools to defend the nation.

Qualifications cover CS/engineering degrees and relevant experience. The role demands security clearance, citizenship, and readiness for DCIPS terms and a rigorous trial period.