Mission Area Lead

Mission Area Lead, Automation Integration with Vulnerability Response Who We AreSEI conducts applied research and development in software engineering, cybersecurity, and AI in support of government sponsors. The SEI works closely with defense and government organizations, industry, and academia to continually improve and secure software-intensive systems. Our core purposes are to help organizations improve software engineering capabilities, advance cybersecurity methods and technologies, and bring the discipline of software engineering to AI systems.

What We DoOnce a Computer Emergency Response Team that formed in 1988 in response to the Morris Worm, today the SEI CERT Division leads as a Cybersecurity Engineering and Resilience Team conducting collaborative and innovative evidence-based research to fortify the cyber ecosystem and protect national security and prosperity.  The Threat Analysis Directorate builds on CERT’s nearly 40 years of applied research aimed at solving the Nation’s most difficult cybersecurity challenges.  

Our mission is to advance the state-of-the-art and practice for analyzing, assuring, and countering software systems to enhance National Security.  Our team of ~40 professionals work in a highly collaborative environment with specialties including AI security, advanced malware analysis and reverse engineering, and automated vulnerability response.  We conduct the applied research necessary to develop and accelerate cyber tradecraft advantages against threats to National Security.

Position Summary As a Mission Area Lead, you will be responsible for mission alignment, integration, and accountability of the Threat Analysis Directorate focus area of Automation Integration with Vulnerability Response.  This focus area will scale vulnerability coordination to counter emerging AI-driven threats by integrating automation/AI across what are currently manual processes, while also building community partnerships.  The current challenge is that automated vulnerability discovery in software systems is vastly outpacing human remediation.  

You will deliver agentic automation that speeds up remediation, built on decades of SEI’s leading research and experience in coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD).  You will direct and leverage ongoing SEI CVD projects, and conduct applied R&D to automate vulnerability and extend coordination at scale.  Moreover, you will engage government, industry, and academic partners to securely develop, adopt, and use automation to speed mitigation in support of Department of War (DoW) and Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) priorities.  

Finally, you will partner across SEI technical and support staff, to create and sustain a culture of technical excellence, creativity, cross-enterprise collaboration, innovation within the portfolio, and secure capability transitions.
Who you are:

Strategic Direction and Alignment:  You will help create and maintain a strategic direction to ensure individual projects enable the greater Mission Area, and by extension, the Threat Analysis Directorate mission and vision.

Technical Leadership and Accountability:  You have experience managing complex technical projects from initiation through delivery. You can organize cross-functional teams and keep execution on track across multiple concurrent efforts. You have experience leading and advocating for personnel. You lead personnel and set expectations, provide cover, remove blockers, and hold developed milestones accountable.

Strategic Communicator and Collaborator:  You have outstanding written and oral communication skills.  You can synthesize complex technical information into clear status updates, risk assessments, and executive briefings for both internal…