Lead Cyber Vulnerability Researcher

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) seeks a Lead Cyber Vulnerability Researcher to drive advanced research on software, hardware, and network vulnerabilities for national security missions. You will design and execute novel vulnerability discovery methods, lead reverse engineering and exploitation efforts, and prototype tools to assess complex systems. Collaborating with multidisciplinary experts, you'll mentor staff, publish and present findings, and ensure ethical, rigorously tested research that strengthens cyber resilience for critical government and national defense partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end cyber vulnerability research on software, hardware, and networked systems for national security missions.
• Design and apply novel techniques for vulnerability discovery, reverse engineering, and exploit development.
• Develop, prototype, and evaluate custom tools and frameworks for large-scale vulnerability assessment.
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to translate research into operationally relevant solutions.
• Mentor and technically lead junior researchers and engineers on complex cyber projects.
• Document, publish, and present research findings to sponsors, technical peers, and the broader community where appropriate.
• Ensure ethical, secure, and compliant handling of sensitive data, tools, and research artifacts.
• Engage with government sponsors to understand mission needs and shape research roadmaps.

Required Skills

• Cybersecurity research
• Vulnerability discovery
• Reverse engineering
• Exploit development
• Malware analysis
• Secure software and systems
• Network protocols and security
• Static and dynamic analysis tools
• Programming (C/C++/Python)
• Cloud and virtualized environments