Senior Vulnerability Researcher; Cyber

Position Title:

Senior Security Researcher

Location:

St. Petersburg, FL | Melbourne, FL | San Antonio, TX
Clearance Requirement:
Top Secret/SCI

Employment type:

Full Time

Research Innovations Inc. (RII) is redefining defense technology. We combine mission-driven impact with cutting-edge research and a culture that values autonomy, creativity, and technical excellence.

We are seeking security researchers to independently explore and exploit complex systems, from kernels to embedded platforms, to solve the unsolvable. This role combines deep technical problem-solving with real-world impact on defense and homeland security systems. Get s#it done.

This position requires an Active US Top Secret security clearance, and the ability to upgrade to TS/SCI Special Access Program access

• Leading advanced vulnerability research efforts across operating systems, kernels, firmware, hypervisors, embedded platforms, and complex application stacks.
• Independently scoping ambiguous or unconstrained attack surfaces and driving research from initial hypothesis through validated findings.
• Performing deep reverse engineering and in‑memory analysis of compiled binaries across multiple architectures (x86/x64, ARM, Power
  
  PC, etc.). Designing and executing novel exploitation techniques and mitigation evaluations, including identifying real‑world weaknesses in modern defense mechanisms.
• Analyzing undocumented or partially documented system behavior and extending internal interfaces or tooling to support research goals.
• Collaborating with other senior researchers to shape technical direction, review complex work, and raise the overall quality of research output.
• Translating low‑level technical findings into clear, actionable insights for internal stakeholders and, when appropriate, customers.
• Contributing to research culture through mentorship, knowledge sharing, and improvements to tools, methodologies, and workflows.

• Conducted high‑impact vulnerability research on real‑world systems with minimal guidance, producing findings that influenced security decisions or mitigations.
• Demonstrated deep understanding of operating system internals (Windows, Linux, macOS), kernel subsystems, and low‑level execution models.
• Reverse engineered complex binaries, firmware, or kernel components and reasoned about their behavior in memory.
• Developed proof‑of‑concept exploits or mitigation bypasses that go beyond simple crashes and demonstrate meaningful impact.
• Shown strong intuition for exploit mitigations such as ASLR, DEP/NX, stack canaries, CFI, and where their assumptions break down.
• Written research tooling, scripts, or frameworks (e.g., Python,
  
  C) to support analysis, exploitation, or automation.
• Collaborated closely with other researchers, provided technical feedback, and influenced how work is approached or evaluated.
• Communicated complex technical concepts clearly in writing and discussion, including with other experts.

• Experience with hypervisors, virtualization stacks, firmware boot chains, or trusted execution environments.
• Background in embedded systems, RTOS environments, or mobile platforms (iOS/Android).
• Familiarity with networking or wireless stacks (Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, cellular) and their security models.
• Contributions to the vulnerability research community (publications, talks, open source).
• Experience with symbolic execution, constraint solving, fuzzing frameworks, or advanced program analysis techniques.
• Malware analysis experience, including deobfuscation, behavioral analysis, or adversarial tooling.
• Interest in shaping long‑term research direction, mentoring other researchers, or acting as a technical authority without moving into management.

Know someone who would be a great fit for this position? Submit your referral here!

At RII, we believe that diversity in our workforce is critical to our success. We strive to hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes us stronger. We work to help your intellectual passions and creativity thrive. It’s one of our core values:
Let your geek flag fly.

We also offer all employees…