Senior Microelectronics Security Engineer

The Riverside Research Engineering and Support Solutions (ESS) directorate conducts Research and Development (R&D) of cyber-physical attacks against embedded systems. As a Principal Cyber Security Research Engineer, you work on significant and unique research and development challenges which support the government customer and Riverside program leadership to develop and execute R&D strategy for an Air Force-level program impacting U.S. National Security priorities. You will collaborate with and lead a multi-disciplinary team of research engineers and scientists on a range of microelectronics security research projects. You’ll work directly with a team of embedded system security research subject matter experts (SME), the Principal Investigator, and a community of National-level SMEs to support various project-specific research projects and deliverables solving the technical problems our customer requires. The position is in Beavercreek OH and requires security clearance. Remote work is not available for this position. Travel is not expected to exceed 4-6 trips per year.

All Riverside Research opportunities require US citizenship.

• Directly support the government customer's research program strategy development and execution
• Develop plans, solutions, and strategies for R&D challenges that address current and future program concepts and products
• Serve as the principal embedded systems cybersecurity advisor to the government customer and research team
• Collaborate with national-level hardware security research working-groups and steering committees
• Support and help lead government customer priorities in technical working groups, technical exchange meetings, and conferences
• Perform technical work as required, including software tool development, reverse engineering tasks, and similar technical activities
• Study and assess software-based threats to embedded systems published in scientific journals, hacking community postings, and conference presentations
• Stay current on threats, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures—relevant TTPs for embedded security—and innovate new protective technologies through cutting-edge R&D
• Document findings in technical reports and presentations
• Provide technical mentorship for junior researchers within your area of expertise

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science or related technical area with 12 years relevant experience, or a related technical Master’s degree with 8 years relevant experience, or a PhD in a related field with 5 years relevant experience
• Secret clearance required to start, but must be able obtain Top Secret security clearance and all required program access approvals
• Willing to work in a secure US Government facility
• Experience with supporting government contracts
• Experience planning, developing, and executing R&D program strategy
• Strong understanding of hardware security attacks, hardware exploitation, or side-channel analysis
• Extensive experience reverse engineering operating systems via embedded Linux (e.g. PetaLinux, Yocto, Buildroot), RTOS (e.g. VxWorks, Integrity), and bare-metal systems (e.g. firmware)
• Experience with a disassembler for vulnerability research (Ghira, IDA Pro, BinaryNinja)
• Experience with one or more assembly languages (x86, x64, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, etc.)
• Experience with debuggers like (WinDbg, HyperDbg, GDB/KGDB/KDB, TRACE32, and OpenOCD)
• Strong familiarity with published vulnerability databases (CVE, etc.)
• Experience with embedded processors (RISC-V, ARM, MicroBlaze, Nios, etc.)
• Experience with using simulation/emulation, and hardware-in-loop (HIL) to assist with debugging and reverse engineering
• Experience presenting technical material to both technical and non-technical audiences

Desired Qualifications

• Embedded software development experience
• Experience leading technical teams to successful product delivery
• Familiarity with compiled languages like C/C++ and Rust
• Knowledge of formal analysis, static analysis, or related cyber research areas
• Previous experience working in a secure US Government facility desired
• Active DoD Top Secret (TS) or equivalent US Government security clearance; SCI caveat is highly desired