Senior Information Assurance Engineer

Job Title

Cybersecurity Systems Engineer

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, or a related Science or Mathematics field, plus a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience; or Master's degree plus a minimum of 6 years of relevant experience.

Clearance Requirements

Department of Defense Secret security clearance is required at time of hire. Applicants selected will be subject to a U.S. Government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Due to the nature of work performed within our facilities, U.S. citizenship is required.

Responsibilities for this Position

What Sets You Apart

• Ability to clearly communicate complex cybersecurity, systems engineering, and risk-management concepts to technical teams, program leadership, customers, and other stakeholders.
• Ability to translate mission, business, and operational objectives into actionable cybersecurity architecture, engineering requirements, and verification activities.
• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to influence cross-functional development, integration, test, and operations teams in implementing cybersecurity technologies, principles, and controls.
• A security-first mindset, with the technical curiosity to challenge system behaviors, assumptions, and design decisions that conflict with secure engineering principles or approved security architecture.

Representative Duties and Tasks

• Partner with system development, integration, deployment, and operations teams to define and implement secure system architectures and designs using defense-in-depth principles.
• Lead cybersecurity engineering activities across the system life cycle, including requirements decomposition, architecture development, design analysis, implementation support, verification, validation, and accreditation.
• Serve as the cybersecurity technical authority in design reviews, trade studies, and engineering decisions involving security architecture, system interfaces, data flows, and security-control implementation.
• Develop, maintain, and baseline cybersecurity engineering artifacts, including System Security Plans (SSPs), cybersecurity design documentation, security architecture diagrams, data-flow diagrams, and security requirements specifications.
• Produce and maintain Security Control Traceability Matrices (SCTMs), inheritable control sets, and associated evidence repositories to establish end-to-end traceability from security requirements through implementation, verification, and assessment evidence.
• Lead Risk Management Framework (RMF), consistent with NIST SP 800-37, activities supporting the authorization process, including system categorization, control selection and tailoring, control implementation, assessment preparation, Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) management, and authorization package development.
• Map and assess applicable cybersecurity requirements and technical guidance—including DISA STIGs, NCDSMO requirements, and other government/customer security baselines—within the SCTM and system security architecture.
• Work with development and test teams to define objective security-verification criteria; plan and support security test events; and evaluate evidence demonstrating that security requirements and controls are correctly implemented and operating as intended.
• Perform technical analyses of systems, networks, interfaces, and information systems to verify compliance with applicable government security specifications, customer requirements, and program security constraints.
• Analyze and document security-relevant system capabilities, including identification and authentication, access control, least privilege, audit/logging, cryptographic protection, configuration management, labeling, and secure communications.
• Support system accreditation/certification evaluations and cybersecurity test activities to identify control deficiencies, assess risk, recommend mitigations, and track corrective actions to closure.
• Participate actively in Agile development environments by planning, prioritizing, estimating, and reporting cybersecurity engineering work in coordination with program and technical leadership.
• Contribute technical input to customer engagements, technical interchange meetings, design reviews, and cross-team working groups.
• Plan and execute assigned project tasks with appropriate technical rigor, schedule awareness, and risk management.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong understanding of cybersecurity systems engineering, secure architecture, RMF, and defense-in-depth principles.
• Working knowledge of NIST RMF and associated guidance, including NIST SP 800-37 and security-control assessment/authorization processes.
• Ability to perform requirements analysis, requirements definition, allocation, decomposition, traceability, and impact analysis while avoiding unnecessary requirements growth.
• Ability to develop and evaluate system, network, and information-system designs against applicable security requirements and government specifications.
• Experience analyzing technical security controls and their implementation across system components, interfaces, and operational environments.
• Ability to execute complex technical tasks independently, identify technical risks and dependencies, and communicate issues, impacts, and corrective actions clearly.
• Self-directed, proactive work style with sound engineering judgment in selecting technical approaches and developing solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to design or contribute to the design of complex systems, products, frameworks, or cybersecurity architectures.

Preferred Experience

• Cybersecurity Systems Engineering, RMF implementation, and system authorization/accreditation support.
• Experience developing RMF authorization packages and supporting assessments, including evidence collection, control implementation statements, SCTMs, POA&Ms, and security test artifacts.
• Experience applying and tracing DISA STIGs, NCDSMO requirements, and other DoD/customer cybersecurity requirements to system designs.
• Experience with Secure Software Factory, secure software development life cycle (SSDLC), DevSecOps, and the integration of security activities into CI/CD pipelines.
• Knowledge of secure development practices, including vulnerability remediation, secure configuration, code/security scanning, software supply-chain considerations, and automated security testing.
• Experience with multi-level security (MLS), cross-domain solutions (CDS), or other controlled information-sharing architectures.
• Ground-to-satellite communications knowledge and/or ground operations experience.
• Experience supporting space, satellite communications, or mission systems programs.
• Experience collaborating with customers, suppliers, and mission partners such as Iridium, SDA, Northrop Grumman, York Space Systems, and Lockheed Martin.
• Experience operating in Agile or hybrid Agile engineering programs.
• Active cybersecurity certification such as ISC2 CISSP (preferred), CompTIA Security+, CEH, or equivalent.

Our Commitment to You

• An exciting career path with opportunities for continuous technical learning, professional development, and cybersecurity specialization.
• Research-oriented work alongside award-winning engineering teams developing practical, mission-critical solutions for national security.
• Flexible work schedules, including an optional 9/80 schedule with every other Friday off.
• Competitive benefits, including 401(k) matching, flexible time off, paid parental leave, healthcare benefits, health and wellness programs, employee resource groups, social groups, and more.

Salary Note

This estimate represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors (geographic location, etc.). Actual pay may vary. This job posting will remain open until the position is filled.

Combined Salary Range

USD $142,696.00 - USD $158,303.00 /Yr.

Company Overview

General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of 12,000+ top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defense and scientific arenas. Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency. We offer highly competitive benefits and pride ourselves in being a great place to work with a shared sense of purpose. You will also enjoy a flexible work environment where contributions are recognized and rewarded. If who we are and what we do resonates with you, we invite you to join our high-performance team!

Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans