Graduate - Engineer​/Researcher - Cyber Warfare Systems

Overview

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.

As a member of our team...

Your primary responsibility will be providing technical support to projects related to cyber operations. Depending on your role and areas of expertise, this may include:

• 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

You meet our minimum qualifications for consideration if you:

• 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.

You'll go above and beyond our minimum requirements if you...

• 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.

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…