Graduate - Engineer​/Researcher - Cyber Warfare Systems

2026 Graduate - Engineer/Researcher - Cyber Warfare Systems

Join to apply for the 2026 Graduate – Engineer/Researcher – Cyber Warfare Systems role at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Base pay: $85,000.00/yr – $/yr

This range is provided by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience – talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Do you want to apply your skills to real‑world problems and gain experience with cyber operations?
Are you intellectually curious, seeking to understand and find loopholes in systems and processes?
Do you love to always be building something new?
Are you passionate about cybersecurity, national security, and public service?
If these questions resonate with you, you may be a phenomenal fit for the Cyber Warfare Systems Group (QCR)!
QCR team members apply their skills to offensive cyber operations and non‑kinetic mission defeat. We are passionate about providing eye‑watering cyber capabilities that will change modern warfare. We are a team built around trust, clarity, growth, and mission impact. Our primary focus is on supporting the U.S. military's efforts to execute cyber missions at scale in support of joint operations. We do this by helping the nation execute complex and challenging cyber operations, and then by augmenting our experience with systems engineering principles.

Our research areas include analysis & targeting, cyber layer modeling, cybersecurity, and human systems modeling.

• Designing, developing, and fielding capabilities in support of cyber operations missions
• Partnering with teams of government and/or contractor staff as they develop & deploy capabilities
• Conducting research and analysis that supports capability development
• Conducting analysis of novel publicly available data sources, mission vulnerability assessments, and/or cyber mission management

• Are graduating with or have recently completed a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Cybersecurity, or a related field. Other degrees, such as Intelligence Studies, International Relations, Behavioral Psychology, and foreign language may be considered with demonstrated interest, experience, and technical skills applicable to QCR's work.
• Have classroom or professional experience working closely in skills including, but not limited to: networking, penetration testing, reverse engineering, open‑source intelligence, data science, agentic systems, modeling and simulation, cyber threat intelligence, AI/ML, or similar technical fields.
• Enjoy creating and building (and the follow‑through to finish) projects that pose a challenge
• Have a passion for applying analytical and technical expertise to develop innovative solutions by prototyping
• Can effectively communicate information, concepts or ideas to technical and non‑technical audiences
• Are able to acquire Interim Top Secret level security clearance by your start date and can ultimately acquire Top Secret with SCI level clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.

• Have demonstrated leadership of small or large teams to achieve excellence. Even if you don’t intend to be a leader at first, we find that leaders make great teammates.
• Have built projects using LLM‑based agents to automate complex tasks, and understand the risks and benefits of operationalizing AI in mission‑critical applications.
• Understand Department of Defense operations, or DoD processes like acquisition, sustainment, risk management, or test and evaluation.
• Have proficiency in defense‑critical foreign languages.

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…