Security Researcher - 2024887

Software Engineering Institute | Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Software Engineering Institute | Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh seeks researchers to advance national security space through deep technical work on internet protocols, UNIX/Linux systems, software vulnerabilities, and RF/SDR technologies. Qualified candidates reformulate open questions, craft concise prototypes, and clearly present results in discussions, presentations, and formal reports.

Travel to customer sites and conferences is expected (up to 10%), and a DoD security clearance

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD with corresponding years of relevant experience.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites, conferences, and offsite meetings (10%).
• Must be able to obtain and maintain DoD security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Reformulate open questions; devise creative solutions; deliver concise prototype implementations.
• Communicate process clearly in discussions, presentations, and formal reports.
• Analyze network traffic, exploit development, and software implementation of novel file/format extraction techniques.

Skills

Internet protocols

UNIX/Linux

Vulnerabilities & mitigations

RF & SDR technologies

Education

BS in Computer Science or related quantitative discipline (8 years)

MS in the same with 5 years

PhD in the same with 2 years

Job description

Join a dynamic team of motivated individuals with deep collective experience throughout digital forensics, incident response, investigation, operations, and academic research. We seek individuals with strong interest in understanding and resolving technical challenges in the national security space.

Our group focuses on applied research into the functionality of emerging and already ubiquitous technologies at all constituent logical layers, from component-level aspects through system and software implementation to communication protocols. Concurrent with achieving this understanding, we examine the variation between expected and actual functionality that results from real-world implementation. Finally, in support of stakeholders throughout the US Government, we reason about and advise on the implications of our findings.

Qualified individuals will have a strong aptitude to reformulate open questions; devise creative solutions; deliver concise, rigorous prototype implementations; and clearly articulate this process in discussions, presentations, and formal reports. Recent examples of our work have included novel approaches to analyzing network traffic, exploit development, and software implementation of novel file and format extraction techniques.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Deep technical knowledge of and experience with fundamental Internet protocols and functionality
• Strong experience with UNIX/Linux
• Familiarity with current hardware and software vulnerabilities and mitigations
• Experience with RF and SDR technologies

Requirements:

• BS degree in Computer Science or related quantitative discipline, with eight (8) years of relevant professional experience, or MS in the same with five (5) years of relevant professional experience, or PhD in the same with two (2) years of relevant professional experience
• Willingness to occasionally travel to customer sites, conferences, and offsite meetings (10%)
• You will be subject to a background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance