Cyber System Exploitation Researcher(Fort Meade, MD)

MIT Lincoln Laboratory - Fort Meade, MD

Full-time - Mid Level

Fort Meade, MD

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

The Cyber System Exploitation Researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory is responsible for conducting vulnerability research and assessments, reverse engineering software and hardware systems, and developing cyber security tools and techniques. This role is critical to supporting U.S. government operations and enhancing national defense by identifying and mitigating cyber vulnerabilities.

Responsibilities

• Conduct software and hardware reverse engineering.
• Perform vulnerability research and discovery.
• Prototype and develop cyber security tools and techniques.
• Analyze offensive and defensive cyber tools and systems.
• Communicate research findings to non-domain experts through writing and presentations.
• Provide hands-on training sessions on cyber security topics.

Requirements

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related discipline, or Bachelor's degree with 3+ years of directly related experience.
• Experience in vulnerability research and assessment.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as C/C++ and Python.
• Familiarity with version control systems (Git).
• Knowledge of disassemblers/decompilers (Ghidra, IDAPro) and debuggers (WinDbg, GDB).
• Experience with infrastructure/container provisioning/orchestration systems (Ansible, Kubernetes, Docker).
• Understanding of network protocol analysis (Wireshark, Tcpdump).
• Ability to reverse engineer embedded systems and firmware.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with emulator/virtualization technologies (VMWare, QEMU).
• Knowledge of operating system internals.
• Familiarity with anti-debugging/anti-instrumentation techniques.
• Experience with binary analysis techniques such as data-flow analysis and symbolic execution.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Tuition reimbursement
• Paid leave including vacation, sick, parental, and military leave
• MIT-funded pension
• Continuing education programs
• Mentorship programs
• Work-life balance options