Military Systems Cybersecurity Software Engineer

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is seeking a Military Systems Cybersecurity Software Engineer to support research and engineering efforts focused on improving cyber resilience for military platforms and systems. This onsite role in Laurel, MD emphasizes designing, building, and deploying software capabilities while analyzing network behavior and validating detection and response through realistic testing.

What you’ll do

• Design, develop, evaluate, and deploy robust and resilient software capabilities and solutions for air, afloat, land, and subsurface military and/or tactical platforms to strengthen cyber resilience.
• Perform network analysis using logs and traffic to confirm expected system behavior and identify threats and deviations.
• Build tooling and run sophisticated attack scenarios to assess the effectiveness of security solutions for detection and response.
• Maintain continuous learning and professional development to expand skills and knowledge.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• 3 or more years of experience with software development, testing, and deployment, preferably in a cybersecurity context.
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages including Python, Java, Golang, Rust, C, or C++.
• Knowledge of cybersecurity principles, threat detection methodologies, and/or incident response processes.
• Experience with computer networks and network analysis tools such as Wireshark and Suite.
• Ability to work effectively in multi-disciplinary teams as a leader and/or contributor.
• Demonstrated critical thinking skills applied to solving complex problems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to occasionally travel up to 10% and work as required in classified areas.
• Eligibility to obtain an Interim Secret level clearance by your start date, with the ability to ultimately obtain TS/SCI+poly. U.S. citizenship is required and candidates will be subject to a government security clearance investigation.

Technologies you may work with

• Python, Java, Golang, Rust, C, C++
• Wireshark
• Splunk, ELK Stack
• VMware vSphere

Benefits

• Robust education assistance program
• Unparalleled retirement contributions
• Healthy work/life balance
• Comprehensive benefits package including retirement plans
• Paid time off
• Medical, dental, vision
• Life insurance
• Short-term disability and long-term disability
• Flexible spending accounts
• Education assistance, training, and development

Preferred if you meet or exceed the minimum

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• 3 or more years of experience with military systems architecture, design, and cybersecurity solutions.
• 3 or more years of experience conducting cybersecurity assessments against military networks and/or systems.
• Technical understanding and/or operational or maintenance experience with combat systems and C4I avionics HM&E, including embedded systems and supporting platform network and computing environments.
• Knowledge of cyber issues involving real-time operating systems, software-intensive systems, autonomous military systems, and operational mission domain-specific applications.
• Experience with virtualization technologies such as VMware vSphere.
• Familiarity with SIEM tools such as Splunk and ELK Stack.
• Experience conducting penetration testing, red teaming exercises, and threat simulations.
• Proven experience developing software for intrusion detection systems (IDS), penetration and red team tooling.
• Prior interactions with the DoD and IC communities.

Salary range: USD 100,000 to 195,000 per year. Minimum rate: $100,000 annually. Maximum rate: $195,000 annually.