Capabilities Development Engineer — Flexible Schedule

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

Job summary

NSA is seeking a Capabilities Development Specialist (CDS) to join a world-class team at Fort Meade. You will develop high-priority offensive and defensive capabilities, targeting adversarial networks and delivering critical information to national decision-makers.

The role emphasizes software/hardware design, development, testing, and reverse engineering, with opportunities to work across cutting-edge cyber domains in a national-security context.

Qualifications

• Degree in CS, Mathematics, Engineering or related field with relevant cyber experience.
• Experience in hardware or software lifecycle activities and vulnerability analysis.
• Knowledge of kernel, device drivers, and embedded systems is preferred.
• Military cyber training counts toward experience when applicable.

Responsibilities

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

Skills

C

C++

Assembly

ARM

Reverse engineering

Debugging tools

Kernel development

Device driver development

Software vulnerability analysis

Prototyping

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Master's degree in CS/Engineering

Doctoral degree

Associate's degree + 5+ years' experience

Tools

Ghidra

OllyDbg

gdb

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

Job description

NSA is seeking a Capabilities Development Specialist (CDS) to join a world-class team at Fort Meade. You will develop high-priority offensive and defensive capabilities, targeting adversarial networks and delivering critical information to national decision-makers.

The role emphasizes software/hardware design, development, testing, and reverse engineering, with opportunities to work across cutting-edge cyber domains in a national-security context.