Senior Wireless Reverse Engineer

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) seeks a Senior Wireless Reverse Engineer to lead cutting-edge research in wireless protocols, RF systems, and embedded devices. You will reverse engineer complex wireless technologies, uncover vulnerabilities, and prototype novel capabilities that support national security, space, and health missions. Collaborating with multidisciplinary experts, you'll design experiments, build tools, and publish rigorous technical results in a mission-driven, ethical, and inclusive culture that fosters innovation, learning, and professional growth.

Responsibilities

• Reverse engineer wireless protocols, firmware, and RF-enabled systems to discover vulnerabilities and undocumented functionality.
• Design and execute experiments, labs, and testbeds for wireless exploitation and resilience analysis.
• Develop custom tools, scripts, and automation for protocol analysis, signal processing, and binary reversing.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists to translate findings into new capabilities and defenses.
• Document methods, results, and prototypes for sponsors and technical publications while following ethical research standards.
• Mentor junior engineers, contribute to technical proposals, and shape future R&D in wireless security and signals exploitation.

Required Skills

• Wireless protocol reverse engineering (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SATCOM, or similar)
• Binary analysis and disassembly (IDA Pro, Ghidra, Radare2)
• Embedded firmware reverse engineering and debugging
• RF signal analysis and SDR tools (GNURadio, USRP, Hack
• RF)
• Python/C/C++ for tooling and automation
• Network protocol analysis (Wireshark, custom decoders)
• Exploit development and vulnerability research
• Familiarity with cryptography and secure communications
• Linux-based development and scripting environments
• Technical writing and documentation for research sponsors