Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) Hiring for Cyber Operations Researcher Full Time

Are you interested in how organizations – digital brands, countries, and criminal enterprises – build power and influence in the digital world?

Have you wondered about how to improve bot detection systems, or how to foil them?

Do you like contributing to the development of cutting edge tools and techniques?

Are you looking for an opportunity to make significant impact on our nation’s information operations and strategic influence capabilities?

If so, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

As a Cyber Operations Researcher, you will…

Join a team of motivated and creative research engineers and bring both the operational experience and technical ability to help us envision, design, and develop systems that can detect and defeat cutting-edge digital influence technologies. We also want to advance the state of the art and prepare our government sponsors for the future using our own novel scalable capabilities. In this role, you will play a part in laying out the groundwork for our Nation ‘s ability to successfully adapt its influence capabilities for the 21st Century.

We care about quality design and development for cyberspace capabilities to make an operational impact, and we invite you to be part of a creative team that implements solutions to large-scale, complex problems in the cyber operations domain. We encourage collaboration across the laboratory as we seek to build state-of-the-art capabilities. We work closely with systems engineers, end users, and sponsors to understand needs and develop overall solutions that will meet operational needs.

• Design, develop, and test software solutions for advanced cyber operations applications.
• Analyze systems to understand system functionality and identify potential defects, vulnerabilities, and inefficiencies.
• Automate key software development activities, including integration, testing, deployment, and designing for scale.
• Collaborate with operational and technical subject matter experts (SMEs) to identify architecture gaps and develop recommendations to address these gaps.
• Foster relationships with sponsors and end-users to define requirements of the operational environment and promote the system engineering activities necessary for software systems.
• Contribute to technical project evaluations and promote good software development practices and methodologies. You may provide technical direction and mentoring to other team members.
• Research, investigate, and experiment with existing state-of-the-art technologies and look for creative new uses of software technologies to demonstrate system concepts for information operations that can be used by government personnel to identify and validate novel operational concepts.
• Identify tools and technologies, data models, data analytics, and ing and visualization approaches to assist our sponsors with data-driven decision-making.

Qualifications

You meet our minimum qualifications for the job if you…

• Possess a Ph.D. in computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, math, or similar. An emphasis on computer networking, network operations, machine learning or software engineering is preferred.
• Have experience with military cyber operations, advertising technology (supply or demand side platforms), commercial networking, social media influence, virtual private networks, or data center operations.
• Have experience with software architecture and can articulate the full software development lifecycle.
• Have the ability to rapidly learn new languages and frameworks and work in small, multi-disciplinary teams.
• Are willing and able to travel on a limited basis.
• Are able to obtain Top Secret/SCI with poly security clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government clearance investigation which requires you to meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.
• Can demonstrate that you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. To ensure the safety and well-being of the community, APL has established a policy requiring that all staff be vaccinated against COVID-19. All staff members must provide proof of full vaccination or have an approved medical or religious accommodation by their start date.

You go above and beyond the required qualifications if you…

• Bring substantial experience in any of the following areas: social media influence, military psychological or cyber operations, digital marketing, procedural generation, or development of autonomous agents.
• Can provide software engineering and development experience with examples of leadership on software or product teams.
• Are experienced in using professional software development tools such as software design tools, version control, issue trackers, debuggers and continuous integration tools and willing to lead teams through integration processes.
• Have an active TS/SCI w/poly clearance.

Why work at APL?

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) brings world-class expertise to our nation’s most critical defense, security, space and science challenges. While we are dedicated to solving complex challenges and pioneering new technologies, what makes us truly outstanding is our culture. We offer a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere where you can bring your authentic self to work, continue to grow, and build strong connections with inspiring teammates.

At APL, we celebrate our differences and encourage creativity and bold, new ideas. Our employees enjoy generous benefits, including a robust education assistance program, unparalleled retirement contributions, and a healthy work/life balance. APL’s campus is located in the Baltimore-Washington metro area. Learn more about our career opportunities at www.jhuapl.edu/careers.

About Us

APL is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, occupation, marital or familial status, political opinion, personal appearance, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. APL is committed to promoting an innovative environment that embraces diversity, encourages creativity, and supports inclusion of new ideas. In doing so, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals of all abilities, including those with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in any part of the hiring process, please contact [email protected]. Only by ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard are we empowered to be bold, do great things, and make the world a better place.