Cyber Capabilities Development Engineer

National Security Agency; Fort Meade (MD); On-site; USD 105,000 - 197,000; Full time

Job summary

NSA is seeking a Capabilities Development Specialist (CDS) to join the nation’s premier team of computer science and engineering professionals. You will develop high‑priority offensive and defensive capabilities and apply your expertise to deliver critical information to national decision-makers.

Responsibilities include developing exploitation capabilities, designing hardware systems to support signals intelligence missions, and analyzing sophisticated malware competencies.

Qualifications

• Degree must be in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field.
• Relevant experience includes hardware/software lifecycle, vulnerability analysis, penetration tests, forensics, or systems engineering.
• Military training (e.g., JCAC) may count toward experience; entry levels specify degrees + years of experience.

Responsibilities

• Developing exploitation capabilities and analytics to enable foreign target network collection
• Designing hardware components and systems to further signals intelligence missions
• Analyzing sophisticated malware Competencies

Skills

C

C++

Java

Kernel development

Device drivers

Network programming

Embedded systems

Ghidra

Debugging tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Master's degree in CS/Engineering

JCAC training

Tools

Ghidra

OllyDbg

gdb

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

Verilog

VHDL

Job description

NSA is seeking a Capabilities Development Specialist (CDS) to join the nation’s premier team of computer science and engineering professionals. You will develop high‑priority offensive and defensive capabilities and apply your expertise to deliver critical information to national decision-makers.

Responsibilities include developing exploitation capabilities, designing hardware systems to support signals intelligence missions, and analyzing sophisticated malware competencies.