Cyber Systems Exploitation Researcher

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Cyber Systems Exploitation Researcher


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Date: Oct 6, 2026

Location:
Lexington, MA, US

Company:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

The Cyber System Assessments Group performs software and hardware reverse engineering, vulnerability research and discovery, and system exploitation. We develop and prototype cutting-edge capabilities for our operational partners in the U.S. government. We look for, find, and demonstrate cyber vulnerabilities so that vulnerabilities in U.S. systems can be corrected, and so that vulnerabilities in other systems are better understood. Top U.S. Government leadership relies on us for our expert guidance, and our technical role with our U.S. Government sponsors is considered essential to the success of their missions.

Job Description

Cyber System Exploitation Researcher

When you join our team as a Cyber System Exploitation Researcher, you'll be leading the development of cyber security tools and techniques. You'll be reverse engineering and exploiting software and hardware systems important to U.S. government operations and critical to the defense of our nation. Your main areas of research will include cyber tool prototyping and technical analysis of offensive or defensive cyber tools and systems, automated vulnerability discovery, reverse engineering, software protection mechanisms, static analysis, and dynamic instrumentation. Once you're on our team, you will communicate your research to non-domain experts through your writing, public presentations, and hand-on training sessions.

Requirements:

+ PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related discipline or MS and 3+ years of directly related experienceor BS and 7+ years of related experience

+Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must be able to obtain a Secret level DoD security clearance. Additionally, must be eligible and willingtoapplyfor a Top Secret SCI level DoD security clearance and be able to maintain this clearance level once obtained.

Desired Technical Skills (Familiarity with all, Expertise in some):

+ Version Control Systems (Git)

+ Dissassemblers/Decompilers (Ghidra, IDAPro)

+ Debuggers (WinDbg, GDB)

+ Programming Languages (C/C++, Python)

+ Infrastructure/Container Provisioning/Orchestration Systems (Ansible, Kubernetes, Docker)

+ Network Protocol Analysis (Wireshark, Tcpdump)

+ Emulator/Virtualization Technologies (VMWare, QEMU)

+ Operating System Internals

+ Reverse Engineering of Embedded Systems Firmware, Malicious Code, Mobile Applications, and More

+ Vulnerability Assessment

+ Statistics and Metrics

+ SAT/SMT Solvers

+ Symbolic Execution

+ Data-flow Analysis for Compiled Binaries

+ Binary Intermediate Representations

+ Binary Translation

+ Compiler Construction

+ Anti-debugging/Anti-instrumentation Techniques

+ Network and Host Security Products

Recent Graduate Hiring Range:$145,200-$170,000

Experienced Hiring Range: $145,200-$220,000

Disclaimer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory provides a typical hiring range as a good faith estimate of what we reasonably expect to offer for this position at the time of posting. The final salary offered to a selected candidate will depend on various factors, including-but not limited to-the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate's experience, skills and education/training, internal equity considerations and applicable legal requirements. This range reflects base salary only and does not include additional forms of compensation or benefits.

At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, our exceptional career opportunities include many outstanding benefits to help you stay healthy, feel supported, and enjoy a fulfilling work-life balance. Benefits offered to employees include:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans
• MIT-funded pension
• Matching 401K
• Paid leave (including vacation, sick, parental, military, etc.)
• Tuition reimbursement and continuing education programs
• Mentorship programs
• A range of work-life balance options
• ... and much more!

Please visit our Benefits page for more information. As an employee of MIT, you can also take advantage ofother voluntary benefits, discounts and perks.

Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret level DoD security clearance.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information; U.S. citizenship is required.

Requisition ID: 42178

Nearest Major Market: Boston

Job Segment:
Security Clearance, Embedded, Cyber Security, Defense, DoD, Government, Technology, Security

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