What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal Firmware Reverse Engineer 3 - (Reverse Engineering, Firmware, AI) position at akina?
Principal Firmware Reverse Engineer 3 - (Reverse Engineering, Firmware, AI)
Clearance: TS/SCI - Polygraph required
Position ID: 20-25-005-SWE3
Location: Annapolis Junction, Maryland
Description:
This Software Engineer will focus on improving the tools and workflows used by reverse engineers. The role involves enabling automation and AI-assisted capabilities for reverse engineering tasks, with a focus on binary analysis, disassembly, and workflow optimization for complex software and device platforms.
- Design and implement tooling enhancements to support reverse engineering workflows for firmware, embedded systems, and application software.
- Experiment with autonomous or semi-autonomous agents to assist with development workflows.
- Extend or integrate reverse engineering tools such as Ghidra.
- Develop automation for common reverse engineering tasks, including analysis and documentation.
- Apply AI-assisted techniques to binary analysis, annotation, and pattern identification.
- Collaborate with customers and teammates to gather feedback and iterate on solutions.
- Measure and document the effectiveness of tooling improvements.
Position Required Skills:
- Hands-on experience with reverse engineering tools such as Ghidra or IDA Pro.
- Strong understanding of low-level software concepts (assembly, binaries, memory, calling conventions).
- Experience developing software tools, scripts, or plugins to support analysis workflows.
- Proficiency in at least one scripting or programming language commonly used in RE workflows.
- Ability to prototype, evaluate, and refine experimental tooling.
- AI/LLM curious and ready to learn on-the-job; familiar with AI/LLM and interested in taking their skills to the next level.
Nice to Haves
- Experience reverse engineering Linux-based network devices or embedded systems.
- Experience reverse engineering network traffic and web applications.
- Familiarity with firmware analysis, bootloaders, and networking protocols.
- Experience applying automation or AI techniques to reverse engineering tasks.
- Knowledge of Python or similar scripting languages used in RE tooling.
- Knowledge of agentic AI frameworks or orchestration systems.
SWE3 Qualifications:
YOE Requirement: 12 yrs., B.S. in a technical discipline or 4 additional yrs. in place of B.S.
Salary Range: **$232k-$283k (Annually)
**The range displayed above is a likely salary range for this position. This is not, however, a guarantee of compensation or salary. Rather, salary will be set based on experience, geographic location and possible contractual requirements and could fall outside of this range.
Akina is a Woman Owned, Service Disabled, Veteran Owned, Small Business, looking for talented and ambitious individuals to join our team. We offer a generous compensation package that includes 24 days PTO accrued annually and 11 federal holidays. Our 401k is 100% vested on your start date and the company makes a direct contribution worth 10% of your salary. Akina covers 100% of healthcare costs for employees and 50% toward dependents. We offer educational assistance towards college classes and will cover costs associated with job related training and certifications.
Akina is committed to excellence and creating innovative and flexible solutions for our clients. We are a small company with an open ear to our employees' needs in order to attract and retain quality talent that enables our customer's mission.
We are an equal employment opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
www.akina-inc.com/careers
Salary : $232,000 - $283,000