{"id":556011,"url":"https://alion.io/job/true-anomaly-principal-embedded-systems-security-engineer","title":"Principal Embedded Systems Security Engineer","company":{"id":3381,"name":"True Anomaly","domain":"trueanomaly.space","url":"https://alion.io/company/true-anomaly","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":92,"open_postings":174,"ghost_share":0.046,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":90,"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"}},"role":"Security","role_family":"Security","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"contractor","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Denver, United States","Long Beach, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":225000,"max":330000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":330000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"CCSDS","optional":false},{"name":"Embedded C","optional":false},{"name":"PKI","optional":false},{"name":"Threat Modeling","optional":false},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"Linux","optional":true},{"name":"VHDL","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-08T20:48:07Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-09","last_verified_at":"2026-11-02T00:16:57Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":54,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":53},"description":"Space is a warfighting domain. True Anomaly seeks those with the talent and ambition to build the technology that secures it.\nOUR MISSION\nTrue Anomaly delivers decisive capabilities for space superiority. We build autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors - enabling the U.S. and its Allies to secure the space environment and counter threats from the ultimate high ground.\nOUR VALUES\nBe the offset. We create asymmetric advantages with creativity and ingenuity.\nWhat would it take? We challenge assumptions to deliver ambitious results.\nIt’s the people. Our team is our competitive advantage and we are better together.\nBENEFITS & PERKS*\nBest-in-class healthcare: 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents, with HSA/HRA options\n Generous time off: Flexible Time Off (FTO) for exempt employees, accrued PTO of up to 25 days for non-exempt employees, plus 12 paid holidays; Parental Leave; Sick Leave\nFuel for your day: Daily catered lunch and unlimited snacks for in-office employees\n And more: 401(k) retirement plan, fitness reimbursement, and Dog Fridays\nEquity participation: Equity is included as part of our total compensation package, giving you an opportunity to share in the company’s success.\n*Do not apply to fixed term and temporary roles\nYOUR MISSION\nEmbedded systems security for space operations poses unique challenges: remote systems that must operate in adversarial RF environments, resource- constrained hardware, and trade-offs between security and performance in real-time systems. As our Principal Embedded Systems Security Engineer, you'll own the security of our spacecraft, radio systems, and hardware platforms. You'll build security platforms and foundational services that enable our hardware and software teams to develop secure embedded systems by default. This role demands deep security expertise and the rigor that comes from engineering systems that cannot fail. As part of the Platform Security team, you'll work hands-on across C++ flight software, embedded C firmware within microcontrollers and radiation-hardened SoCs, FPGA designs, and real-time operating systems. Your work will impact the spacecraft's critical subsystems, from flight computer through command and control, RF, and payload. If you've secured systems where failure means loss of life or national security impact, you'll understand the constraints and rigor required here. This is a hands-on technical leadership role combining deep hardware security expertise with strong software engineering skills. You will write production code and build the tooling, test frameworks, and security validation platforms that harden our embedded systems at scale. You'll tackle novel security challenges that don't have an established playbook as we aim to set the standard for space-based security. In our AI-native environment, you'll use AI to accelerate your work and help solve the hard problems of embedded systems security.\nThis position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.\nResponsibilities\nOwn the security architecture, threat modeling, and defensive controls for our spacecraft platform. This spans the flight computer, subsystem firmware, FPGA gateware, cryptographic implementations, and secure boot.\nArchitect and build the security platforms, tooling, and foundational services that make secure-by-default the standard across flight software, firmware, and hardware configuration.\nDesign and implement PKI for resource-constrained spacecraft, covering device authentication, firmware signing and verification, secure boot, lifecycle management, and secure key storage.\nArchitect cryptographic and security implementations to meet stringent government standards, including FIPS 140-3, CNSA 2.0, and CCSDS\nSpace Data Link Security (SDLS), and drive the migration to post-quantum cryptography across the platform.\nSecure the flight software build and deployment pipeline by hardening the tooling itself and protecting the supply-chain integrity of build outputs, dependencies, and third-party components.\nSecure our test environments against supply-chain attacks while keeping them representative of the flight security posture, so we can exercise on the ground the controls used to protect the spacecraft in orbit.\nLead security assessments and penetration testing against our spacecraft, RF systems, and test environments.\nDrive the adoption of secure design practices across the organization, partnering with flight software, hardware, and test engineering teams to embed security into the full development and validation lifecycle.\nTackle novel security challenges in space-based systems where established solutions don't exist, and stay ahead of emerging embedded and RF threats to proactively harden our systems.\nUse AI to move faster - accelerating development, analyzing security data, and closing technical knowledge gaps.\nRequired Qualifications\nActive security clearance, or the ability to obtain and maintain one.\nDeep, hands-on expertise in embedded, hardware, and firmware security - including hardware attack surfaces, side-channel and fault-injection attacks, firmware security, secure boot, and hardware security modules (HSMs).\nStrong software development skills in C and C++, plus solid engineering fundamentals (data structures, algorithms, API design, and debugging\nproduction systems) and comfort working across multiple languages and at low levels (assembly, firmware).\nProven track record of building production security platforms, tooling, and foundational services used by hardware and embedded engineering teams.\nDeep, expert-level PKI knowledge with hands-on experience designing and operating PKI for embedded and resource-constrained systems -certificate-based device authentication, firmware signing certificate chains, secure boot PKI hierarchies, certificate provisioning and rotation for constrained devices (where rotation isn't trivial, e.g., spacecraft in orbit), secure key storage, and HSM integration.\nExpert-level applied cryptography: implementing and reasoning about cryptographic systems to stringent government standards (FIPS 140-3, and familiarity with CNSA 2.0 and CCSDS SDLS), and experience with the practical challenges of post-quantum cryptography migration. Strong familiarity with common NIST publications (e.g., the 800-series).\nExperience applying security testing methodologies for hardware and firmware, and building the tooling and frameworks to automate that testing at scale across engineering teams.\nDemonstrated principal-level impact: setting security strategy and technical direction across an organization, independently identifying and prioritizing the risks that matter most, driving hardening initiatives end to end, raising the security bar and mentoring other engineers, thriving on ambiguous and novel problems, and influencing and aligning teams without direct authority.\nPreferred Qualifications\nHands-on experience taking cryptographic modules through formal FIPS validation (CMVP), beyond implementing to the standard.\nExperience with real-time or safety-critical embedded systems - timing constraints, deterministic execution, interrupt handling, and the security implications of hard real-time requirements.\nBackground in a regulated or high-assurance domain: aerospace, defense, avionics, medical devices, or industrial control systems.\nHardware reverse engineering, firmware analysis, and cryptographic implementation experience.\nFPGA/VHDL security and RF/radio security.\nHIL/SIL test infrastructure and embedded Linux environments.\nSupply-chain security experience and a track record of hardening build pipelines for embedded/firmware systems.\nCross-domain thinking that connects hardware security requirements to cloud infrastructure, network security, and system architecture.\nEvidence of practical, hands-on impact - published CVEs, security research or publications, conference talks, open-source contributions, or relevant projects\nBase Salary: $225,000-$330,000\nEquity + Benefits including Health, Dental, Vision, HRA/HSA options, PTO and paid holidays, 401K, Parental Leave \nYour actual level and base salary will be determinedon a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, location, and experience. \nADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS\nWork Location -this role will be onsite at our Denver, CO or Long Beach, CA offices. The expectation is a minimum of 3 days per week in the office.\nWork environment -the work environment; temperature, noise level, inside or outside, or other factors that will affect the person's working conditions while performing the job.\nPhysical demands -the physical demands of the job, including bending, sitting, lifting and driving.\nThis position will be open until it is successfully filled. To submityour application, please follow the directions below. #LI-Onsite\nTo conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.\nTrue Anomaly is committed to equal employment opportunity on any basis protected by applicable state and federal laws. If you have a disability or additional need that requires accommodation, please do not hesitate to let us know.\nTo protect candidates and our company from application fraud and impersonation, we use third-party tools to verify applicant identity and detect fraudulent applications. 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