Principal Cryptography Engineer

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We're a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies - collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation's health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose - and help shape the future.
The Cryptography, ICAM, & System Assurance department is comprised of an inspired multi-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners driving innovation in the department's technical areas of focus, with particular emphasis in Cryptography; System Assurance; and Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM). We develop and apply scalable approaches for systems and software, evaluate technology and solutions, lead and foster external partnerships within the communities we support, and conduct novel research and development. We serve in critical roles including:

• Aiding the Federal Government as a community in architecting and applying modern cryptography and PQC technologies to secure systems, software, and protocols.
• Developing strategies, assessing policy and technical constraints, and facilitating the deployment of cryptography solutions into cloud, hybrid, and on-premises infrastructures for enterprise and tactical environments. As senior trusted advisors and leaders within the cryptography and PQC community internally and external to MITRE, we apply our knowledge of industry trends, advances in commercial technology, and relevant industry standards and protocols to inform our sponsors' decision-making.
• Performing research and development, evaluation and testing and operational support for high-priority sponsor mission applications, MITRE Labs strategic initiatives, and MITRE's internal research and development program.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Translate mission needs into cryptographic technical requirements, interfaces, and measurable outcomes.
• Build solutions for constrained environments (limited connectivity, offline sync) and define test strategies, roadmaps, and integration plans.
• Act as subject matter expert on PQC standards (e.g. Lattice and SLH-DSA)
• Act as subject matter expert on PKI
• Collaborate with engineers, integrators, and vendors on technology evaluation, trade studies, reusable assets, and mentorship.

Basic Qualifications:

• BS with 10+ years relevant experience, or MS with 8+ years, or PhD with 5+ years; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Strong analytical/problem-solving skills and sound technical judgment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results and collaborate across teams.
• Ability to work effectively in secure/classified environments.
• Continued employment on this work is contingent upon meeting and maintaining government security eligibility requirements (requirements may change based on sponsor needs)
• This position requires a Top-Secret Clearance
• Per the U.S. Government's eligibility requirements for a clearance, U.S. Citizenship is required.
• This position requires a minimum of 3 days a week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Mathematics or related field.
• Demonstrable contributions to cryptography communities
• Publication references on cryptography topics
• Systems engineering experience (requirements, architecture, integration, test) and familiarity with development lifecycles.
• Experience applying NIST PQC standards and guidelines
• Strong understanding of cryptography and PQC concepts.
• Interest in applied research and building reusable, scalable technical approaches.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):
Top Secret
This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):
Top Secret
Salary compensation range and midpoint:
$172,800 - $216,000 - $259,200 Annual
Work Location Type:
Onsite
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
Commitment to Non-Discrimination
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.
MITRE intends to maintain a website that is fully accessible to all individuals. If you are unable to search or apply for jobs and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of MITRE's employment process, please email for general support and for intern positions. This service is for individuals requiring reasonable accommodation requests. Please note that vendor solicitations will not receive a reply.
Benefits information may be found here.
Copyright 1997-2026, The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved. MITRE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. Material on this site may be copied and distributed with permission only.