Cyber Security Research Engineer

at Perspecta
Published October 16, 2020
Location Silver Spring, MD
Category Default  
Job Type Full-time  

Description

Business Group Highlights

Perspecta Labs

Perspecta Labs generates transformative applied research to fuel solutions for our customers’ unique challenges. We are a self-sustaining research center within Perspecta that provides applied research and engineering to enable government agencies, utilities and commercial enterprises to fully exploit the future of communications, analytics and cyber security.

Responsibilities

Perspecta Labs generates transformative applied research to fuel solutions for our customers’ unique challenges. We are a self-sustaining research center within Perspecta that provides applied research and engineering to enable government agencies, utilities and commercial enterprises to fully exploit the future of communications, analytics and cyber security.

Responsibilities

We are looking for candidates with a strong interest in cyber security research and development for full-time positions in our Cyber Security research group.
Candidates will work with teams to research, conceive, and develop prototypes, and should be adept at identifying successful approaches to complex problems. Our projects span several areas of interest, including (but not limited to):

• Full-spectrum cyber operations, including CND, CNE, CNA, and CNO.
• Program analysis, including program understanding, vulnerability identification, and remediation
• Malware analysis and reverse engineering
• Resilient networking in support of cyber mission goals
• Autonomous agent development
• Software-defined networking for cyber defense and deception
• Cryptographic techniques for assured computation
• Symbolic logic and theorem proving for automating network configuration
• Application of formal methods for secure and resilient systems
• Application of mathematic, statistics, and linguistics to large data sets to uncover patterns, extract information and gain understanding
• Artificial intelligence (reasoning, probabilistic inference, machine learning)

Research Engineers work as part of a team to design, implement, and test components of research prototypes and software systems aimed at solving cutting-edge cyber security research problems in the above areas. Research Engineers are expected to work independently in a collaborative technical environment; creativity and initiative are a plus.

Qualifications

Requires 8 to 10 years with BS/BA or 6 to 8 years with MS/MA or 3 to 5 years with PhD.  Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or related scientific/engineering discipline preferred.

• Ability and desire to quickly acquire knowledge of new subject matter areas
• Expertise in one or more of: C, C++, Java, Python, Go, or similar languages
• Working knowledge of Linux, MacOS, Windows, and mobile operating systems, platforms and internals
• Working knowledge of modern computer networking technologies
• Working knowledge of modern development practices and toolsets (Git, subversion, CI/CD toolchains)
• Interest in obtaining a Top Secret security clearance

Other Relevant Skills (not required, but any are a plus):
• Experience in one or more of the following areas:
o Program Analysis
o Computer networking protocol design and/or analysis
o Compute and network emulation, containerization, and virtualization
o Reverse Engineering
o Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS)
o Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
• Experience with one or more of the following classes of tools and frameworks:
o Binary Analysis Tools, such as GHIDRA, Hex-Rays IDA, Binary Ninja, Angr,
o Debugging and Sandboxing tools, such as Cuckoo sandbox, OllyDBG, WinDbg
o CNO toolsets, including Metasploit, Cobalt Strike
o Network emulation frameworks including CORE, EMANE, MiniNet
o Container and Orchestration solutions, including: Docker, Docker Swarm, Kubernetes, Terraform
o Cloud services experience (AWS, Azure, OpenStack)
• Experience with DevOps and Agile development methodologies
• Experience in the U.S. DoD/IC research community
• CNO operational experience
• Active security clearance a plus
• Experience/interest in business development including idea generation, whitepapers, and proposals

About Perspecta

What matters to our nation, is what matters to us. At Perspecta, everything we do, from conducting innovative research to cultivating strong relationships, supports one imperative: ensuring that your work succeeds.  Our company was formed to bring a broad array of capabilities to all parts of the public sector—from investigative services and IT strategy to systems work and next-generation engineering.
 
Our promise is simple: never stop solving our nation’s most complex challenges. And with a workforce of approximately 14,000, more than 48 percent of which is cleared, we have been trusted to do just that, as a partner of choice across the entire sector.
 
Perspecta is an AA/EEO Employer - Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled and other protected categories.

As a government contractor, Perspecta abides by the following provision

Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant.  However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of the other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c).