Principal Cybersecurity Engineer (Air and Space Forces Center)

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Department Summary:

MITRE's Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and Protection Department (N112) works with its government sponsors across space warfighting, acquisition and other mission partners to improve actionable warfighter decisions through enhanced battlespace awareness and reduced timelines achieved by improved sensing and protection against threats. Department projects focus on system integration efforts to successfully incorporate new technologies and software applications in support of a resilient Space enterprise infrastructure, sensing, and an integrated command and control (C2) system. N112 also performs numerous sensor system prototyping and analysis activities including modeling, software tool development, and analysis capabilities designed to enable MITRE and sponsor-driven analysis and research across multiple customers, missions, and technology providers. The research, development, and outcomes of these efforts provide high-quality, comprehensive, quantitative insights for senior government decision makers shaping the future of our nation's Space policy, operations, and systems.

Roles & Responsibilities:

N112 is seeking a technically deep and operationally oriented Principal Cybersecurity Engineer who will play a pivotal role in designing cybersecurity solutions and integrating them with space mission systems. Work will include working closely with the operations community and advancing the state of the art on cybersecurity solutions for space systems. This position requires strong hands-on experience with space systems technology, Radio Frequency transmit/receive equipment, Electronic Warfare systems and experience supporting cyber operations.

The ideal candidate is recognized as an expert in the cybersecurity field, has experience working both defensive and offensive cyber operations and has developed high-impact solutions in either or both areas. The candidate will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams that include a mix of government, military, and contract support to understand business requirements and translate them into robust architectural designs. The selected candidate will provide technical leadership on tasks involving mixed teams of MITRE, military and other contractor support and will assist in managing projects for our USSF Cybersecurity Operations sponsor.

Experience in architecting solutions for a cyber operations mission or familiarity with US Space Force mission environments is strongly desired. The selected candidate will ideally be co-located with government leadership in Colorado Springs, CO and be responsible for the technical integrity and quality of products and deliverables, partnering with and supporting the Project Leader for strategic work-shaping, and executing senior sponsor relationship management. As a senior leader, the individual selected will provide thought leadership and technical guidance in the domains of cyber operations and operationalizing early lifecycle technology, to enable the sponsor to successfully transform their product portfolio to achieve highly scalable, resilient, and effective weapon systems capabilities.

The technical work areas include:

• Architect solutions and develop and implement cyber capabilities into operational settings.
• Work with USSF cyber operations personnel on planning for the standup of a Service Cyber Component.
• Collaborate with mission partners across several organizations.
• Assist sponsor with creating and updating a DoD acquisition strategy and advocating for investment on offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.
• Lead efforts and develop strategies to scale up efforts to integrate cyber operations capabilities with space mission systems.
• Interact with technical Subject Matter Experts from multiple organizations and companies in a team environment.
• Participate in making decisions with government leadership that guide technical investments, strategic initiatives, supporting infrastructure, and development of staff skills. In collaboration with the Project Leader, engage with sponsors to bring an independent and differentiated perspective from other MITRE experts to maximize sponsor value.
• Duties will be performed while collocated with the sponsor in Colorado Springs, CO.

Basic Qualifications:

• A minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's Degree; or 8 years and a Master's degree; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• BS, MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or similar field.
• Applicants selected for this position will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information or applicants who are eligible for security clearances.
• Active DoD Top Secret and be able to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret/SCI Clearance.
• Deep understanding of approaches to operationalize technology developed by the DoD Science and Technology community.
• 10 years of hands-on experience, with technical depth and leadership in cyber operations and space systems operations, with any mix of the following experience: software development in support of cyber operations, deploying host/endpoint defense and respond technology, malware reverse engineering and network/digital forensics.
• Experience developing solutions to support cyber operations or space operations (both preferred).
• Deep understanding of networking and network protocols.
• 5 years of hands-on software development experience including coding in C++, Python, Rust, or Go.
• Effective at developing close working relationships with senior leaders and sponsors as a trusted adviser for the leadership on major initiatives, technical challenges, and priorities.
• Strong interpersonal skills to effectively participate as a member of multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong ability to frame and articulate difficult and/or complex technical problems and concepts clearly and simply in a system engineering context.
• Can work independently without requiring guidance to address complex situations.
• Serve as a mentor and foster a culture of technical creativity and mission impact, including but not limited to collaborating across MITRE to provide cross-cutting and impactful solutions.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• This position requires a minimum of 4 days a week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Recognized expert in at least one of the following areas: space systems operations, cyber threat intel, Offensive Cyber Operations, Defensive Cyber Operations.
• MS/PhD in a Computer Science field and 10 years of related experience.
• Active TS/SCI level security clearance with SAP eligibility.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):
Top Secret

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):
Top Secret/SCI

Salary compensation range and midpoint:
$172,500 - $215,500 - $258,500 Annual

Work Location Type:
Onsite

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