Senior Electrical Engineer, Chip-Off Forensics Lab Lead

Archer; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Archer and Nightwing seek an Electrical Engineer to establish and lead a Chip-Off Forensics Lab for a government client. You will guide hardware forensics, chip extraction, and low-level analysis on embedded devices with deeply embedded malware. Senior role requiring hands-on expertise and project leadership.

Responsibilities include lab setup, workflows, data recovery procedures, and collaboration with SMEs. Strong documentation and defense-industry experience are highly valued.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related field.
• Active TS/SCI clearance and U.S. citizenship required.
• 10+ years of electrical engineering or hardware design experience.
• Expert PCB design, circuit analysis and digital electronics knowledge.
• Proficiency with chip extraction and hardware forensics techniques.
• Experience with test equipment such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and setup of Chip-Off Forensics Lab at government facility.
• Provide guidance on chip extraction, PCB analysis and hardware forensics.
• Develop and document chip-off workflows and SOPs.
• Analyze compromised network-edge devices and embedded systems.
• Perform circuit board reverse engineering and component identification.
• Extract and analyze data from flash memory and storage components.
• Design safe chip removal and data recovery procedures.
• Specify and procure laboratory equipment and forensic tools.
• Collaborate with Nightwing SMEs on hardware and skill requirements.
• Train analysts on chip-off forensics techniques and procedures.
• Demonstrate chip-off capabilities in lab sessions.
• Analyze proprietary hardware systems targeted by threat actors.
• Support investigations where EDR is absent or insufficient.
• Document findings and forensic methodologies.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Hardware design

PCB design

Chip extraction

Forensics techniques

Electronic test equipment

Embedded systems

Memory technologies

Soldering/desoldering

Reverse engineering

Documentation

Federal cybersecurity experience

Firmware analysis

JTAG SPI I2C

EDR limitations in embedded

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering

Master's degree or PhD preferred

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Multimeters

Job description

Archer and Nightwing seek an Electrical Engineer to establish and lead a Chip-Off Forensics Lab for a government client. You will guide hardware forensics, chip extraction, and low-level analysis on embedded devices with deeply embedded malware. Senior role requiring hands-on expertise and project leadership.

Responsibilities include lab setup, workflows, data recovery procedures, and collaboration with SMEs. Strong documentation and defense-industry experience are highly valued.