Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcher - Experienced to Expert Level (MD)

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Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcher - Experienced to Expert Level (MD)

Department of Defense

National Security Agency/Central Security Service

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• Summary
• This job is open to
• Duties
• Requirements
• How you will be evaluated
• Required documents
• How to apply

Summary

The NSA invites you to be part of an elite research team designing the cryptography that protects our nations most sensitive communications. As an Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcher, you will translate mission needs into cryptographic solutions. You will partner with customers across space, special operations, tactical, and SWaP constrained domains. You will work alongside world-class mathematicians and engineers to design, prototype, and evaluate new symmetric.

Learn more about this agency

Summary

The NSA invites you to be part of an elite research team designing the cryptography that protects our nations most sensitive communications. As an Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcher, you will translate mission needs into cryptographic solutions. You will partner with customers across space, special operations, tactical, and SWaP constrained domains. You will work alongside world-class mathematicians and engineers to design, prototype, and evaluate new symmetric.

Learn more about this agency

Overview

Help

Accepting applications

Location

Many vacancies in the following location:

Fort Meade, MD

No matching locations found.

Work site options

Telework eligible No Remote job No Relocation expenses reimbursed Yes-You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy. Salary $132,751 - $197,200 per year Pay scale & grade

GG 13 - 15

Promotion potential None

Learn more about pay scale and grade

Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.

Work schedule Full-time Travel Required Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Appointment type Permanent

Occupations and job series

• 0132 Intelligence

Supervisory status No Federal service type This job is in the Excepted Service Represented by a union No

Drug test Yes Security clearance Top Secret Position sensitivity and risk Critical-Sensitive (CS)/High Risk

Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.

Background check type

• National security

Financial disclosure required Yes

Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.

Announcement number 1263101 Control number 886829300

This job is open to

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The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Federal employees - Excepted service

Current federal employees whose agencies have their own hiring rules, pay scales and evaluation criteria.

Veterans

Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces or a spouse, widow, widower or parent of a veteran, who may be eligible for derived preference

Military spouses

Military spouses of active duty service members or whose spouse is 100 percent disabled or died on active duty.

Individuals with disabilities

Individuals who are eligible under Schedule A.

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Duties

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Do you want to work on the cryptography that protects our nations most sensitive systems and see it fielded in the real world? Were looking for engineers who can turn cutting-edge cryptographic research into working, deployable capabilities.

Within NSAs Research Directorate, the Cryptography for Cybersecurity organization researches and designs secure cryptographic algorithms and drives the integration of modern cryptographic capabilities into U.S. National Security Systems. Our multi-disciplinary team of mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers designs new public-key and symmetric cryptography for a wide range of mission customers, spanning space and satellite systems, special operations, tactical communications, and low size, weight, and power (SWaP) environments. A significant portion of our current work is focused on the design, evaluation, and transition of post-quantum cryptography, to secure National Security Systems against the threat of quantum computers.

We are seeking an Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcher to work at the intersection of cryptographic design and real-world application. In this role, you will serve as the bridge between mission customers and our research team. You will capture operational requirements and system constraints from customer organizations and bring them back to the mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists who develop cryptography for specialized target environments. These environments frequently present challenges such as low-bandwidth or error-prone channels, tight protocol and interface constraints, and demanding performance targets ranging from high-speed networking to tactical edge devices. You will prototype and implement candidate algorithms in hardware and software, evaluate them on representative systems, and estimate their performance in the customers operational environment. You will ensure the secure algorithms that are developed can be translated into secure implementations, covering topics such as resilience to implementation mistakes and side-channel attacks.

A successful candidate will possess a strong understanding of, and experience in, at least three of the following:

• Hardware design and implementation targeting FPGAs (VHDL/Verilog, vendor toolchains); ASIC design experience a plus
• Software development in C, Rust, and/or Python for implementation, testing, and tooling
• Embedded systems design, including operating systems, real-time constraints, and resource-constrained platforms
• Applied cryptography and cryptographic engineering (public-key and/or symmetric algorithms, modes, and protocols)
• Performance analysis, modeling, benchmarking, and optimization of algorithms in hardware and/or embedded software
• Communications and networking concepts, including error-prone/low-bandwidth links, framing, and protocol design

Responsibilities for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcher position include, but are not limited to:

• Engaging with customer organizations to elicit requirements, characterize the target system and operating environment, and communicate constraints back to the cryptographic design team
• Collaborating with mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers to develop and refine both symmetric and public-key cryptographic algorithms and protocols for constrained, noisy, low-bandwidth, and high-performance environments
• Designing, implementing, and testing candidate symmetric and public-key algorithms in hardware (primarily FPGA, occasionally ASIC) and embedded software to evaluate correctness, performance, and resource utilization
• Developing reference and optimized implementations, test vectors, and test harnesses to validate algorithm and protocol behavior
• Estimating and modeling algorithm performance (throughput, latency, memory, power, area) in customer environments, and presenting trade studies to inform design decisions
• Integrating cryptographic components into protocols and embedded systems, and assessing interface, framing, and error-handling impacts on the overall design
• Contributing to the evaluation and transition of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms for National Security Systems
• Staying abreast of current research in cryptographic engineering and implementation, and incorporating state-of-the-art techniques into designs and evaluations
• Performing side-channel analysis of candidate implementations, including timing and power measurements, and applying countermeasures to produce side-channel-resistant designs

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• All applicants and employees are subject to random drug testing in accordance with Executive Order 12564.

Qualifications

The qualifications listed are the minimum acceptable to be considered for the position.

Relevant experience must be in one or more of the following: performing engineering or physical sciences work, or conducting academic or independent research in a technical field (for example, mathematics, engineering, cognitive sciences and physical sciences).

SENIOR

Entry is with a Bachelors degree plus 7 years of relevant experience, or a Masters degree plus 5 years of relevant experience, or a Doctoral degree plus 3 years of relevant experience.

EXPERT

Entry is with a Bachelors degree plus 10 years of relevant experience, or a Masters degree plus 8 years of relevant experience, or a Doctoral degree plus 6 years of relevant experience.

Education

Degree must be in either (1) Engineering, (2) Physics or Astronomy from an accredited college, or (3) a relevant professional technical field (for example, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, geology).

For Engineering degrees, if program is not ABET accredited, it must include specified coursework.*

• Specified coursework includes courses in differential and integral calculus and 5 of the following 18 areas: (a) statics or dynamics, (b) strength of materials/stress-strain relationships, (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics, (d) thermodynamics, (e) electromagnetic fields, (f) nature and properties of materials/relating particle and aggregate structure to properties, (g) solid state electronics, (h) microprocessor applications, (i), computer systems, (j) signal processing, (k) digital design, (l) systems and control theory, (m) circuits or generalized circuits, (n) communication systems, (o) power systems, (p) computer networks, (q) software development, (r) Any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, or soil mechanics.

Additional information

Pay: Salary offers are based on candidates education level and years of experience relevant to the position and also take into account information provided by the hiring manager/organization regarding the work level for the position.

Salary Range: $132,751 - $197,200 (Senior, Expert)

Salary range varies by location, work level, and relevant experience to the position.

Training will be provided based on the selectees needs and experience.

Benefits: NSA offers a comprehensive benefits package.

Work Schedule: This is a full-time position, Monday - Friday, with basic 8hr/day work requirement between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (flexible).

Expand Hide additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

• Engage with internal stakeholders, including partner and customer organizations, and individual employees.
• Develop functional, process, operational, or user requirements.
• Perform high-level design, specifying system and component performance and interface requirements.
• Translate conceptual designs into technical specifications.
• Create computer algorithms, data models, and protocols.
• Evaluate technical proposals.
• Use modeling or simulation to evaluate designs.
• Characterize systems performance properties, capabilities, and vulnerabilities.
• Optimize system performance through repeated adjustment, testing, and re-adjustment.
• Evaluate research for practical application.
• Research emerging technologies for application(s) within the Agency.
• Review scientific or technical literature to support research efforts.

Benefits

Help

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

Required documents

Required Documents

Help

The National Security Agency (NSA) is part of the DoD Intelligence Community Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS). All positions in the NSA are in the Excepted Services under 10 United States Codes (USC) 1601 appointment authority. DoD Components with DCIPS positions apply Veterans Preference to eligible candidates as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 USC, in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 2005, DCIPS Employment and Placement. If you are a veteran claiming veterans preference, as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., you may be asked to submit documents verifying your eligibility.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

Help

https://apply.intelligencecareers.gov/job-description/1263101

Agency contact information

NSA POC

Phone 1-844-424-4737 Email intelcareers@nsa.gov

Next steps

https://apply.intelligencecareers.gov/job-description/1263101

Fair and transparent

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.

Criminal history inquiries Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Financial suitability New employee probationary period

Privacy Act Reasonable accommodation policy

Selective Service Signature and false statements

Social security number request

Required Documents

Help

The National Security Agency (NSA) is part of the DoD Intelligence Community Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS). All positions in the NSA are in the Excepted Services under 10 United States Codes (USC) 1601 appointment authority. DoD Components with DCIPS positions apply Veterans Preference to eligible candidates as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 USC, in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 2005, DCIPS Employment and Placement. If you are a veteran claiming veterans preference, as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., you may be asked to submit documents verifying your eligibility.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

Help

https://apply.intelligencecareers.gov/job-description/1263101

Expand Hide how to apply

Agency contact information

NSA POC

Phone 1-844-424-4737 Email intelcareers@nsa.gov

Next steps

https://apply.intelligencecareers.gov/job-description/1263101

Expand Hide next steps

Fair and transparent

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.

Criminal history inquiries Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Financial suitability New employee probationary period

Privacy Act Reasonable accommodation policy

Selective Service Signature and false statements

Social security number request

National Security Agency/Central Security Service

Agency contact information

NSA POC

Phone 1-844-424-4737 Email intelcareers@nsa.gov

Visit our careers page

Learn more about what its like to work at National Security Agency/Central Security Service, what the agency does, and about the types of careers this agency offers.

https://www.nsa.gov/careers/

Summary

The NSA invites you to be part of an elite research team designing the cryptography that protects our nations most sensitive communications. As an Engineering and Physical Sciences Researcher, you will translate mission needs into cryptographic solutions. You will partner with customers across space, special operations, tactical, and SWaP constrained domains. You will work alongside world-class mathematicians and engineers to design, prototype, and evaluate new symmetric.

Learn more about this agency

Overview

Help

Accepting applications

Location

Many vacancies in the following location:

Fort Meade, MD

No matching locations found.

Work site options

Telework eligible No Remote job No Relocation expenses reimbursed Yes-You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy. Salary $132,751 - $197,200 per year Pay scale & grade

GG 13 - 15

Promotion potential None

Learn more about pay scale and grade

Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.

Work schedule Full-time Travel Required Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Appointment type Permanent

Occupations and job series

• 0132 Intelligence

Supervisory status No Federal service type This job is in the Excepted Service Represented by a union No

Drug test Yes Security clearance Top Secret Position sensitivity and risk Critical-Sensitive (CS)/High Risk

Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.

Background check type

• National security

Financial disclosure required Yes

Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.

Announcement number 1263101 Control number 886829300

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