Cyber Operations Analyst

MITRE; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 104,000 - 155,000; Full time

Job summary

MITRE in McLean, VA is seeking a Cyber Analyst to join our Digital Investigations Department. The role focuses on transforming digital data into actionable understanding, using forensic analysis, OSINT, and data analytics to support national security missions.

You will collaborate with investigators, engineers, and sponsors to develop capabilities, evaluate tools, and produce clear findings for technical and non-technical audiences. Onsite work required; Top Secret clearance eligibility pursued.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent experience.
• Approximately 2 years of related cybersecurity/digital investigations experience.
• Foundational experience in digital investigations such as digital forensics, OSINT, data analytics.
• Ability to approach ambiguous problems and draw supportable conclusions.
• Ability to work with structured or unstructured data and identify patterns and anomalies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn unfamiliar technologies, tools, and mission areas.

Responsibilities

• Acquire and analyze digital evidence from endpoints, networks, cloud, and mobile devices.
• Conduct digital intelligence and OSINT analysis on publicly available information and online sources.
• Fuse and visualize data from multiple sources to identify relationships and patterns.
• Analyze targets and malicious activity to understand adversaries and campaigns.
• Support operational investigations and inform decision-making with technical findings.
• Develop and evaluate investigative capabilities, tools, and workflows for scalable analytics.
• Communicate technical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborate with investigators, engineers, data scientists, and sponsor stakeholders.

Skills

Cybersecurity investigations

Analytical thinking

Written & verbal comms

Problem solving in ambiguity

Independent and collaborative work

Education

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity or related field

Job description

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.

Department Summary:

MITRE is seeking a Cyber Analyst to join our Digital Investigations Department and contribute to challenging national security, law enforcement, cyber, and public-interest missions.

Our work focuses on transforming digital data into actionable understanding. We combine technical analysis, investigative tradecraft, data analytics, and mission context to answer difficult questions, reconstruct events, identify malicious activity, reveal relationships, and support operational decision-making.

Our staff work across a range of digital investigation specialties, including digital evidence and forensics, open-source and digital intelligence, investigative analytics, adversary and activity analysis, operational investigations, and the development of new investigative capabilities and tradecraft.

This position is well suited for a technical professional who enjoys solving ambiguous problems, working with diverse types of digital data, learning new technologies, and applying technical skills to real-world investigative challenges.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Acquire and Analyze Digital Evidence: Collect, preserve, examine, and interpret digital data from endpoints, mobile devices, networks, cloud environments, applications, and other digital sources.
• Conduct Digital Intelligence and OSINT Analysis: Collect and analyze publicly available and online information, which may include social media, online identities, digital infrastructure, cryptocurrency activity, dark web sources, and other internet-based data.
• Perform Investigative Data Analysis: Fuse, correlate, analyze, and visualize information from multiple sources to identify relationships, reconstruct events, resolve entities, discover patterns, and generate investigative insights.
• Analyze Targets and Malicious Activity: Examine people, organizations, infrastructure, software, and digital behavior to better understand adversaries, campaigns, malicious activity, and complex digital interactions.
• Support Operational Investigations: Apply technical and analytical methods to cyber, law enforcement, counterintelligence, insider threat, fraud, and other national security investigations and use findings to inform operational decisions.
• Develop Investigative Capabilities and Tradecraft: Prototype and evaluate tools, automation, AI-enabled approaches, analytical methods, standards, and workflows that make digital investigations more effective, scalable, and repeatable.
• Evaluate Investigative Technologies: Assess tools, platforms, datasets, and emerging technologies to understand their strengths, limitations, and applicability to investigative missions.
• Communicate Technical Findings: Develop clear analytical products, visualizations, briefings, and technical documentation that explain findings and their implications to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborate Across Disciplines: Work with investigators, analysts, software engineers, data scientists, researchers, mission experts, and sponsor stakeholders to solve complex problems.
• Explore Emerging Problems: Research unfamiliar technologies, datasets, and investigative challenges; develop hypotheses; test analytical approaches; and identify new opportunities for technical innovation.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Data Science, Digital Forensics, Information Technology, Engineering, Intelligence Studies, or a related technical or analytical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Approximately 2 years of relevant professional, academic, research, internship, military, or law enforcement experience involving cybersecurity, digital investigations, data analysis, intelligence analysis, software or systems analysis, or a related area.
• Foundational experience in one or more areas relevant to digital investigations, such as digital forensics, cybersecurity, OSINT, threat intelligence, data analytics, network analysis, malware analysis, software analysis, or investigative research.
• Demonstrated ability to approach ambiguous technical or analytical problems, evaluate available information, develop hypotheses, and draw supportable conclusions.
• Ability to work with structured or unstructured data and identify meaningful patterns, relationships, or anomalies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to explain technical concepts and analytical findings clearly.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn unfamiliar technologies, tools, data sources, and mission areas.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of multidisciplinary teams.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
• This position requires a minimum of 3 days onsite.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience or coursework in one or more of the following areas is preferred but not required:

• Digital forensics or digital evidence acquisition and analysis, including endpoint, mobile, network, cloud, or application data.
• Open-source intelligence, social media analysis, dark web research, online identity analysis, cryptocurrency or blockchain analysis, or digital infrastructure analysis.
• Cyber threat intelligence, adversary tracking, malware analysis, attribution analysis, incident response, or intrusion analysis.
• Data analysis, entity resolution, link analysis, graph analysis, statistics, data visualization, or analysis of large and complex datasets.
• Programming or scripting using languages such as Python, R, JavaScript, PowerShell, or similar technologies.
• Development of analytical tools, automation, prototypes, or repeatable technical workflows.
• Application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, or large language models to analytical or investigative problems.
• Familiarity with investigative, forensic, intelligence, data analytics, or security platforms and tools.
• Experience conducting technical research, experimentation, tool evaluation, or comparative analysis.
• Experience working with law enforcement, national security, intelligence, cyber operations, fraud, insider threat, or related mission areas.
• Previous experience working in a classified environment or possession of an active U.S. government security clearance.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):

None

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):

Top Secret

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

$103,600 - $129,500 - $155,400 Annual

Work Location Type:

Onsite

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

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