Senior Embedded Security Engineer

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MITRE’s Electronic Systems Securitydepartment is seeking to hire talented and creative engineers with a focus on hardware security for embedded systems to support advanced research and development projects of national significance.

Qualified candidates will join a team of technical experts in embedded system security. This multi-disciplinary team performs hands-on research and analysis and develops proof-of-concept prototypes to demonstrate and advance the state-of-the-art in embedded security. Our diverse set of sponsors and research objectives provide a wide variety of interesting work opportunities.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Engineers in this role will develop and apply their technical expertise to:

• Research and develop new approaches and countermeasures for emerging threats to embedded systems
• Design and build prototypes (hardware and software) to demonstrate advanced capabilities
• Perform hands-on security assessments of embedded systems
• Develop software for interfacing with and controlling lab equipment for data collection, measurement, and analysis
• Shape creative and innovative ideas through internal research programs to advance the state-of-the art in embedded security
• Track, adapt, and apply academic and industry advances in embedded security analysis and protection techniques to secure our sponsors’ systems
• Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, while leading tasks and/or teams of engineers
• Collaborate with academic partners to improve embedded security education at our nation’s universities and high schools

Minimum Qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 3 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with relevant experience who can immediately contribute at this job step; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Experience analyzing microelectronics and hardware systems for susceptibility to implementation attacks, such as side-channel analysis and fault injection
• Experience with programming in languages such as Python, C/C++, or Rust for PCs and embedded systems
• Capable of obtaining and/or maintaining a DoD Secret security clearance
• Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
• This position is onsite

Preferred Qualifications:

• MS, or PhD degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or similar field and/or 5+ years of related experience
• Experience leading teams developing or evaluating secure embedded systems
• Experience in one or more of the following embedded system security topics:
  • Application of side-channel analysis and/or fault injection to black-box systems
  • Analysis of cryptographic algorithms, protocols, and systems for implementation attack threats
  • Invasive and semi-invasive attacks (and protection techniques) on integrated circuits (e.g., laser fault injection, photon emission analysis, thermal laser stimulation)
  • Microarchitectural and/or cyber-enabled implementation attacks (and protection techniques) on computer systems (e.g., Rowhammer, Spectre/Meltdown)
  • Development and analysis of implementation attack countermeasures
• Experience with one or more of the following technical areas:
  • FPGA and/or system-on-chip development
  • High performance and/or distributed computing; data analytics
  • Signal and/or image processing
  • Machine learning of time-series data
  • Software-defined radio usage; wireless and/or network communications
  • Experience with board- and component-level instrumentation and measurement (e.g., capturing digital and analog signals via mixed-domain oscilloscopes)
  • Tear down, reverse engineering, and exploitation techniques for embedded systems (hardware interface capture and probing, RF and protocol analysis, board-level RE and modifications, and IoT penetration testing)
• Effective oral and written communication skills

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

None

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

Secret

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

$126,800 - $158,500 - $190,200 Annual

Work Location Type:

Onsite

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

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