Senior Solutions Engineer

Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Carnegie Mellon University’s SEI seeks a senior architect to lead security architectures within the CERT division. You will guide mission engineering, SoS analysis, and technology evaluations to enable cyber resilience across government and critical infrastructure sectors.

The role requires PhD or MS with extensive experience, strong leadership, and the ability to work across DoD and DoW sponsorships while mentoring junior staff. Some travel to sponsor sites may be expected.

Qualifications

• Ability to present technical topics to audiences from seni or leadership to technical experts.
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders to promote practical security solutions.
• Strong understanding of networking, security, systems administration, programming, and cloud.
• Experience at the SoS architecture level to identify tradeoffs and optimize designs.
• Experience with government or critical infrastructure work.
• Strong research and writing skills in technical domains.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic technical support to senior decision makers.
• Lead teams in the development of security architectures.
• Engage in mission engineering, SoS architectures, and system requirements development.
• Develop and evaluate AI/ML, behavioral analytics, and data-driven techniques for cyber operations.
• Document current-state architectures and identify capability gaps and integration strategies.
• Advise on Zero Trust and cyber resilience planning and deployment guidance.
• Evaluate, pilot, and transition new technologies into operational environments.
• Create roadmaps for cybersecurity, technology, and architecture aligned with missions.
• Assess organizational capabilities and security architectures to identify risks and improvements.
• Lead, mentor, and motivate staff; oversee multiple projects.

Skills

Presentation

Stakeholder mgmt

Networking & security

SoS architecture

Govt/critical infra exp

Research & writing

Education

PhD in CS/SE

MS in related field

BS in related field

Job description

Who We Are

You will work within the CERT Division of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). Carnegie Mellon University’s SEI researches complex software engineering, cyber, and AI problems; creates and tests innovative technologies; and transitions mature solutions into practice for the Department of War (DoW) and federal government.

What We Do

The CERT Situational Awareness helps organizations, particularly those within the DoW, federal government, and critical infrastructure sectors, develop and maintain awareness of their cyber hybrid environments (cloud, on-premises, mobile), identify risks, and make informed decisions concerning cybersecurity, cyber resiliency, and cyber survivability. The team applies cybersecurity, systems engineering, and operational analysis techniques to understand complex architectures and the relationships among systems, missions, workflows, data, and stakeholders.

Position Summary

As a member of the team, you will be responsible for:

• Providing strategic technical support to senior decision makers.


• Leading teams in the development of security architectures.


• Mission engineering, system of systems (SoS) architectures, systems requirements development, engineering, analysis, technology evaluation and deployment guidance.


• Developing SoS architectures, systems requirements, engineering, analysis, technology evaluation and deployment guidance.


• Develop and evaluate advanced analytical techniques, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), behavioral analytics, and data-driven approaches for cyber operations.


• Documenting current-state architectures, identifying capability and coverage gaps, evaluating technology integration strategies, recommending security solutions, and developing mission threads/workflows.


• Supporting organizations in planning, assessing, and implementing Zero Trust and cyber resilience strategies.


• Evaluating, piloting, and transitioning new technologies into operational environments.


• Developing cybersecurity, technology, and architecture roadmaps aligned with mission and business objectives.


• Assessing organizational capabilities, security architectures, operational processes, and cyber resilience to identify strengths, weaknesses, risks, and opportunities for improvement.


• Acts in a managerial capacity when needed by leading, mentoring, and motivating less-senior staff.


• Oversees multiple projects.


• Acts independently with general direction and limited guidance from SEI senior management while working in an environment where requirements are not well defined.

Requirements

BS with ten (10) years or MS with eight (8) years or equivalent combination of training and experience. Willingness to travel to various locations to support the SEI’s overall mission. This includes within the SEI and CMU community, sponsor sites, conferences, and offsite meetings on occasion. Moderate Travel (20%). You will be subject to a background check and must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to present technical topics to audiences from senior leadership to technical experts.


• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders to promote practical solutions to tough security problems.


• Strong understanding of networking, security, systems administration, programming, and cloud.


• Ability to work at the SoS architecture level to identify and understand tradeoffs.


• Experience working with the government, or within a critical infrastructure sector.


• Strong research and writing skills.

Desired Experience

PhD in Computer Science & Engineering, System Engineering or related discipline with two (2) years of experience in cybersecurity/network operations, Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), or workflow/process analysis; or equivalent combination of training and experience.

• Experience in one or more of the following areas: Security and/or enterprise architecture; Security operations deploying or supporting large-scale network security monitoring infrastructures; Security research; Programming or software engineering; Networking; Testing.


• Prior responsibility in leading a body of work consisting of numerous large-scale projects and multiple customers or external sponsors.


• History of contributions to the broader industry or research community and experience in a variety of network security areas.

Job Function Breakdown

• 75% Lead support to government program offices in the areas of strategy; process/policies; requirements elicitation; design and architecture; operations; outreach; and training.


• 15% Enable the transition and appropriate focus of situational awareness analysis and engineering approaches and tools into operational environments.


• 10% Design, prototype, and transition tactical analysis studies and tools appropriate for operational use in situational awareness.

Location

Arlington, VA, Pittsburgh, PA

Job Function

Software/Applications Development/Engineering Position Type Staff - Regular Full time/Part time Full time Pay Basis Salary

Equal Opportunity Employer

Carnegie Mellon University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran. Statement of Assurance: Always focused on the future, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) advances software as a strategic advantage for national security. We lead research and direct transition of software engineering, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence technologies at the intersection of academia, industry, and government. We serve the nation as a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and are based at Carnegie Mellon University, a global research university annually rated among the best for its programs in computer science and engineering.

Commitment to Accessibility

We are committed to providing an accessible experience throughout our recruitment process. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation at any stage of the application, interview, or hiring process, please contact Equal Opportunity Services by email at [e-mail] or by phone at 412-268-3930.

Contact

For technical assistance, email [e-mail] or call 412-268-5072.