Defensive Cybersecurity Engineer/SOC SME

The MITRE Corporation; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 159,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

The MITRE Corporation seeks a seasoned cybersecurity educator and threat hunter to join our Defensive Cyber Operations team. You will craft hands-on training, translate complex concepts into practical courses, and develop detections and dashboards.

You will apply MITRE ATT&CK to guide operations, explore AI-enabled techniques for daily SOC tasks, and tailor content to sponsor missions and resources. On-site 3 days/week with 25% travel and Top Secret clearance required.

Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s; or a PhD with 3 years’ experience; or equivalent combination.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field
• Experience leveraging common SOC tools to defend an enterprise environment
• Demonstrated experience conducting proactive cyber threat hunting across enterprise environments
• Experience developing technical training content, curriculum, courseware, or other learning materials for cybersecurity audiences
• Strong technical writing, presentation, and facilitation skills
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 25% to deliver training at customer locations, including international locations
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance
• This position requires a minimum of 3 days per week on-site

Responsibilities

• Provide subject matter expertise to government sponsors on enterprise security operations centers (SOCs), including daily operations, governance, and process improvement
• Translate complex defensive cybersecurity concepts into practical training tailored to sponsors’ network topologies, staffing, funding, and technical resources
• Develop hands‑on training scenarios and exercises that reflect real‑world defensive cyber challenges and sponsor mission needs
• Apply MITRE ATT&CK® to guide threat hunting and develop defenses aligned with adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)
• Design, develop, and refine security detections, analytics, and dashboards, and integrate new data sources into security information and event management (SIEM) platforms
• Develop, evaluate, and improve threat hunting methodologies to identify adversary activity and strengthen defensive cyber capabilities
• Research and evaluate emerging artificial intelligence techniques, including machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, and reinforcement learning, with an emphasis on practical, cost‑effective applications to daily SOC operations
• Assess SOC capabilities, identify operational and technical gaps, and recommend improvements aligned with sponsor mission priorities and available resources
• Validate detections and defensive workflows through testing and exercises, using results to improve detection coverage, reduce false positives, and refine operational procedures

Skills

Threat hunting

Training development

Technical writing

Presentations

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Cybersecurity/Data Science/Mathematics/Statistics

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 hunt, detection engineering, and cyber deception and adversary engagement with increasing emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support mission-driven cybersecurity initiatives for government sponsors.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Provide subject matter expertise to government sponsors on enterprise security operations centers (SOCs), including daily operations, governance, and process improvement.

• Translate complex defensive cybersecurity concepts into practical training tailored to sponsors’ network topologies, staffing, funding, and technical resources.

• Develop hands‑on training scenarios and exercises that reflect real‑world defensive cyber challenges and sponsor mission needs.

• Apply MITRE ATT&CK® to guide threat hunting and develop defenses aligned with adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).

• Design, develop, and refine security detections, analytics, and dashboards, and integrate new data sources into security information and event management (SIEM) platforms.

• Develop, evaluate, and improve threat hunting methodologies to identify adversary activity and strengthen defensive cyber capabilities.

• Research and evaluate emerging artificial intelligence techniques, including machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, and reinforcement learning, with an emphasis on practical, cost‑effective applications to daily SOC operations.

• Assess SOC capabilities, identify operational and technical gaps, and recommend improvements aligned with sponsor mission priorities and available resources.

• Validate detections and defensive workflows through testing and exercises, using results to improve detection coverage, reduce false positives, and refine operational procedures.

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. Must have a minimum of 3 years of operational experience.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field

• Experience in leveraging common SOC tools to defend an enterprise environment.

• Demonstrated experience conducting proactive cyber threat hunting across enterprise environments.

• Experience developing technical training content, curriculum, courseware, or other learning materials for cybersecurity audiences.

• Strong technical writing, presentation, and facilitation skills.

• Ability and willingness to travel up to 25% to deliver training at customer locations, including international locations.

• 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 per week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading technical training sessions for government, partner, or other technical audiences.

• Experience creating hands‑on cybersecurity labs, exercises, or scenario‑based learning materials.

• Experience with Splunk or Elastic/ELK

• Comfort presenting to non‑English‑speaking audiences with translation support.

• Experience applying MITRE ATT&CK to support cybersecurity operations

• Experience integrating AI‑enabled workflows with cybersecurity platforms such as SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, threat‑intelligence, case‑management, or cloud‑security platforms.

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:

$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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