Defensive Cybersecurity Engineer/Blue Team

MITRE; Bedford (MA); On-site; USD 159,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

MITRE in Massachusetts is seeking a seasoned cybersecurity professional to join the Defensive Cyber Operations team. The role blends hands-on defensive operations with AI-enabled research to design, implement, and evaluate advanced security capabilities for government sponsors.

Responsibilities include threat hunting, detection engineering, malware analysis, and building security analytics dashboards in Splunk/Elastic, with on-site work required at least three days per week and a Top Secret

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 3 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience
• Knowledge of cyber security operations and cyber security principles and their application
• Experience in at least one of: security operations centers, threat hunting, detection engineering, malware analysis, or cyber deception
• Applicants selected for this position will be subject to a government clearance security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information
• Must have an active 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 a week on‑site.

Responsibilities

• Combining cybersecurity domain expertise and contemporary data science skills to enhance adversary detection, network defense, and Security Operations Center (SOC) process improvement.
• Developing AI-enabled cybersecurity tools for anomaly detection, behavioral analytics, malware analysis, and adversary emulation.
• Researching emerging AI techniques (e.g., machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, reinforcement learning) and assessing their applicability to defensive cyber missions.
• Using MITRE ATT&CK® to hunt the adversary and build TTP-based defenses.
• Using detection engineering to create security analytics and dashboards in Splunk or Elastic and integrating new data feeds
• Automating container environments via continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD)
• Acting as a trusted advisor to the Federal Government

Skills

Cybersecurity operations

Threat hunting

AI/ML techniques

Education

Bachelor's degree + 6 years experience / Master + 3 years / PhD + 3 years

Tools

Splunk

Elastic/ELK

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’s Defensive Cyber Operations department is seeking creative people to work collaboratively with our staff of cybersecurity engineers in the fields of defensive cyber operations, threat hunting, detection engineering, and cyber deception and adversary engagement with increasing emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support mission-driven cybersecurity initiatives for government sponsors. This role blends hands‑on defensive operations with advanced research and applied development in AI-enabled cybersecurity. The successful candidate will help design, implement, and evaluate next-generation defensive capabilities that leverage machine learning, large language models, autonomous systems, and advanced analytics to protect mission‑critical systems and national infrastructure.

Roles & Responsibilities

Our work responsibilities vary, but could include:

• Combining cybersecurity domain expertise and contemporary data science skills to enhance adversary detection, network defense, and Security Operations Center (SOC) process improvement.
• Developing AI-enabled cybersecurity tools for anomaly detection, behavioral analytics, malware analysis, and adversary emulation.
• Researching emerging AI techniques (e.g., machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, reinforcement learning) and assessing their applicability to defensive cyber missions.
• Using MITRE ATT&CK® to hunt the adversary and build TTP-based defenses.
• Using detection engineering to create security analytics and dashboards in Splunk or Elastic and integrating new data feeds
• Automating container environments via continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD)
• Acting as a trusted advisor to the Federal Government

Basic Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 3 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience
• Knowledge of cyber security operations and cyber security principles and their application
• Experience in at least one of: security operations centers, threat hunting, detection engineering, malware analysis, or cyber deception
• Applicants selected for this position will be subject to a government clearance security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information
• Must have an active 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 a week on‑site.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Splunk or Elastic/ELK
• Experience using MITRE ATT&CK®
• Experience using or developing AI tools and techniques for defensive cyber operations
• TS/SCI preferred

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

Top Secret

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

$158,800 - $198,500 - $238,200 Annual

Work Location Type

Onsite

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

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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