Principal Cyber Engineer — DoD Offensive Security

SAIC; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

SAIC is seeking a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer to support Navy communication systems within the DoD. The role emphasizes hands-on security engineering, offensive security, and securing high-security environments.

You will design and maintain secure identity and cryptographic infrastructure for large-scale enterprise environments and collaborate with government personnel to secure warfighter systems. This position is fully on-site in San Diego, CA with up to 10% travel.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, or Engineering with 9+ years of related experience.
• Active TS/SCI clearance to start (or ability to obtain).
• Hands-on experience designing, implementing, or supporting hardened IT systems in classified/high-security environments.
• Proven penetration testing/red-team experience against DoD/IC systems.
• Experience with air-gap architectures, data diodes, and secure offline transfer mechanisms.

Responsibilities

• Plan and conduct penetration tests and red-team exercises on classified systems and networks.
• Perform network traffic analysis and threat detection using Wireshark and related tools.
• Design, implement, and maintain air-gap architectures, data diodes, and secure offline transfer mechanisms.
• Harden IT systems and virtualized environments (VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, Docker) in secure contexts.
• Lead PKI, IAM, and Zero Trust initiatives across enterprise environments.
• Collaborate with engineers, program managers, and government personnel to deliver secure, resilient systems.

Skills

Penetration testing

Red team exercises

Network traffic analysis

Python

Bash

PowerShell

C/C++

Wireshark

Docker

VMware ESXi

Hyper-V

Education

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity/Computer Science/Engineering

Master's degree in Cybersecurity (desired)

Tools

Nutanix

VMware ESXi

Hyper-V

Docker

Job description

SAIC is seeking a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer to support Navy communication systems within the DoD. The role emphasizes hands-on security engineering, offensive security, and securing high-security environments.

You will design and maintain secure identity and cryptographic infrastructure for large-scale enterprise environments and collaborate with government personnel to secure warfighter systems. This position is fully on-site in San Diego, CA with up to 10% travel.