AI-Enabled Cyber Capabilities Developer

Join Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD (onsite) to build AI-enabled offensive cyber capabilities using agentic architectures and LLM-integrated workflows.

Responsibilities

• Reverse engineer mission-relevant systems and develop innovative exploits
• Design and implement agentic AI systems to automate vulnerability research, reverse engineering, and offensive capability development workflows
• Collaborate with government sponsors and operators to deliver mission-aligned capabilities
• Integrate large language models, AI services, external tools, and data sources into full-stack applications for cyber use cases
• Generate new ideas that can support internal and external funding opportunities
• Mentor teammates on applying AI to strengthen offensive cyber capability development
• Communicate technical work by clearly articulating concepts through papers and presentations to team members, APL management, and government decision makers

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
• At least 5 years of relevant experience
• Experience building agentic AI systems, including planning, memory, tool use, and multi-step reasoning workflows
• Skills with software debuggers and static analysis tools, including Ghidra
• Experience with modern AI development platforms such as Claude Code, Gemini, Codex, or Copilot
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages
• Understanding of Unix/Linux operating systems
• Enjoy solving technical puzzles and persevering through challenging engineering problems
• Hold an active TS/SCI clearance and be able to obtain TS/SCI+Polygraph clearance
• If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet U.S. citizenship eligibility requirements for access to classified information

Technologies

• Ghidra
• Claude Code
• Gemini
• Codex
• Copilot
• Large language models
• AI services
• Unix/Linux
• TS/SCI clearance
• TS/SCI+Polygraph clearance
• Poligraph

Benefits

• Robust education assistance program
• Unparalleled retirement contributions
• Healthy work/life balance
• Comprehensive benefits package including retirement plans, paid time off, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, education assistance, and training and development

Preferred (Above Minimum Requirements)

• Previously held dynamic technical leadership roles and have demonstrated mentoring experience
• Experience applying AI systems to reverse engineering, vulnerability research, or exploit development
• Experience designing production-grade agent workflows, including orchestration, evaluation, guardrails, observability, and reliability testing
• Familiarity with virtualization, emulation, sandboxing, or automated analysis environments
• Knowledge of advanced vulnerability discovery tools
• Possess an active TS/SCI clearance with full scope polygraph

Compensation

• Minimum: $105,000 annually
• Maximum: $290,000 annually