{"id":3039480,"url":"https://alion.io/job/quantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity","title":"Principal Detection Research Scientist, Cybersecurity","company":{"id":3854380,"name":"Quantum Sky","domain":"quantumsky.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/quantum-sky","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"iCIMS","truth_index":null},"role":"Security","role_family":"Security","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Reston, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":160000,"max":225000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":225000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"Cyber Kill Chain","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-21T22:19:18Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-21","last_verified_at":"2026-10-28T14:22:14Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":6,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":6},"description":"Description\nQuantum Sky is searching for a mission-oriented Principal Detection Research Scientist, Cybersecurity to join our CTO shop and anchor the data science behind our preemptive-cyber detection products. This is a research role, not a platform-engineering role: you will own the hardest problem in applied detection, turning raw network activity into labeled ground truth a model can learn from, and defining what the model should learn in the first place.\nOur detection work learns to recognize adversary behavior directly from network traffic. The unit of analysis is a window of packets, in effect, a field of packet bytes, much as an image is a field of pixels, and the central research problem is labeling the contents of that field: given a span of traffic, what is happening, is it an attack, and whose activity is it? Today our team can label data we generate under controlled conditions, but labeling found traffic, real captures with no given ground truth, is unsolved, and it is the work that gates everything downstream. You will solve it.\nYou will work alongside our offensive-operations staff, who supply attack ground truth, and our model engineers, who build and train the models. You are the missing middle: the person who turns \"this is an attack\" into a rigorous, scalable labeling methodology and a well-posed learning target.\nResponsibilities:\nLabeling methodology & ground truth\nDesign and own the labeling scheme for packet-window data: label taxonomy, annotation guidelines, and the definition of what constitutes an attack, an actor, or a behavior on the wire.\nBuild labeling approaches for found data where ground truth is not given - weak supervision, programmatic/heuristic labeling, active learning, and labeling-by-construction where controlled collection allows it.\nEstablish label-quality process: inter-annotator agreement, audit sampling, purity rules, and versioned label definitions that evolve as the team learns.\nPartner with offensive-operations staff to map observed traffic to adversary activity (e.g., kill-chain stage), and translate their domain truth into labels at scale.\nDetection modeling theory\nDefine the unit of prediction and the model's target: what goes into the model (features, representation of a packet window) and what it predicts.\nShape the feature and representation strategy for sequence/packet data; identify what carries discriminative signal and what is confound.\nWork with model engineers to connect the labeling and target definitions to trainable models, and to design the evaluation that proves detection works on unseen data.\nResearch leadership\nSet the experimental agenda for the detection data problem and bring rigor to how results are validated (holdouts, confound controls, honest ground truth).\nDocument methodology so the team can reproduce, audit, and extend it.\nQualifications\nRequired\nActive Top Secret clearance (TS/SCI eligible).\nAdvanced degree in a quantitative field (Computer Science, Statistics, ML, or related), or equivalent research experience.\nDemonstrated experience building supervised or weakly-supervised machine learning on real-world (\"found\") data, where you personally confronted the ground-truth/ labeling problem, not solely work on pre-labeled benchmark datasets.\nHands-on expertise with data labeling methodology: label taxonomy design, weak supervision/ programmatic labeling, active learning, and label-quality measurement (inter-annotator agreement, auditing).\nApplied ML on sequence, signal, image, or network/packet data, any domain where the input is a field of raw values that must be labeled and featurized (network traffic, imagery, sensor/robotics, or comparable).\nStrong foundation in detection/classification modeling: feature engineering, representation choices, evaluation design, and confound control.\nProficiency in Python and PyTorch.\nExcellent communication; able to translate between offensive-operations domain experts and model engineers.\nDesired\nDirect experience labeling or modeling network traffic, PCAP, or security telemetry for detection.\nFamiliarity with the cyber kill chain and how adversary activity manifests on the wire.\nReinforcement learning and/or simulation experience (e.g., multi-agent, custom environments).\nComputer vision/ image-recognition background, the labeling and representation problems transfer directly.\nExperience standing up labeling pipelines and tooling in partnership with engineers.\nFamiliarity with on-prem GPU training environments and reproducible ML workflows.\nPrior work in a DoW/ IC mission context.\nLocation: Hybrid remote in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area, HQ in Reston, VA & client site(s)\nAbout Quantum Sky\nCompensation:\nCompensation is unique to each candidate and relative to the skills and experience they bring to the position. The salary range for this position is typically between $160,000 - $225,000. This does not guarantee a specific salary as compensation is based upon multiple factors such as education, experience, certifications, and other requirements, and may fall outside of the above-stated range.\nBenefits:\nHighlights of our benefits include Health/Dental/Vision, 401(k) match, Paid Time Off, STD/LTD/Life Insurance, Referral Bonuses, professional development reimbursement, and parental leave.\nThe world the mission operates in is going post-quantum, contested, and machine-speed. Quantum Sky engineers the advantage across cyber, networks, software, and quantum because the mission demands dominance, not parity. We don't follow the map. We draw it.\nAt Quantum Sky, we believe that success starts with our people. We foster a collaborative, innovative, and mission-driven environment where every team member plays a critical role in shaping the future of technology. Are you ready to join #TeamQuantumSky?\nQuantum Sky Engineering LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, [sexual orientation, gender identity,] national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any characteristic protected by applicable law.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6136,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Life insurance","Parental leave","Professional development"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Cybersecurity","Information Security","Engineering Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-21T22:19:18Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":66,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.837,"p_room":0.788,"age_days":6,"expected_fill_days":9,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-10-28T05:59:10Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":225000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/quantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/quantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-28T16:02:10Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":21541,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-29T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":3854380},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3854380"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fquantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fquantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fquantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/quantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fquantum-sky-principal-detection-research-scientist-cybersecurity"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3039480}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"quantumsky.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3039480},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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