Hardware Exploitation Engineer

Security Clearance: Active TS/SCI with Poly

Location: NDOC, Bethesda MD (on-site)

Job Type: Full-Time

Target Salary Range*: $95,000 - $130,000.

• This represents the potential salary range for this position depending on education level, years of experience and/or certifications in addition to other position specific requirements which may impact salary
  
  

Position Overview

Seeking a Hardware Exploitation Engineer with a strong commitment to teamwork to join our team at the National Digital Exploitation & OSINT Center (NDOC) in Bethesda, MD. In this role, you will be responsible for performing thorough examinations of digital media, including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, and other electronic devices that may hold critical data.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform technical hardware exploitation and thorough examination of a variety of digital storage devices.
• Conduct reverse engineering, failure analysis, vulnerability analysis, and other research techniques to understand complex hardware systems, assess the functionality of components, and identify exploitation opportunities.
• Alter hardware components to facilitate forensic analysis of the media or to adjust the functionality of the hardware to meet specific objectives.
• Perform inspection, imaging, decapsulation, deprocessing, and other activities related to hardware reverse engineering and exploitation in a state-of-the-art microelectronics exploitation laboratory.
• Develop and maintain frameworks, processes, design patterns, techniques, tools, and standards for conducting hardware exploitation of digital media.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for IC/DoW customers.
  
  

Prepare clear and concise technical reports to a wide range of audiences

Qualifications

Education:

• Minimum of 8 years with BS/BA; Minimum of 6 years with MS/MA; Minimum of 3 years with PhD. Bachelor's degree should be in one of these fields: Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Mathematics, or Software Engineering.
  
  

Experience

• Solid understanding of programming languages such as C/C , Python, VHDL/Verilog, MATLAB, Assembly language, etc.
• Experience with Operating Systems: Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Embedded Linux, RTOS, etc.
• Knowledge of communication protocols (e.g., I2C, SPI, JTAG, UART, Wi-Fi, BT/BLE, TCP/IP, CAN) to interface with and extract data from electronic components.
• Advanced troubleshooting skills to effectively diagnose, isolate, and resolve complex failures in circuit boards: power integrity, thermal imaging, component-level analysis, etc.
• Proficiency in debugging techniques using tools like oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and other hardware debuggers.
• Working experience in Microprocessors/Architectures: ARM, MIPS, x86, PIC, RISC, PowerPC.
• Proficiency in soldering and desoldering components to access memory chips and other critical hardware for data extraction.
• Experience writing Technical Reports to create detailed documentation of findings.
  
  

Certifications

• Active IAT Level II certification
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) for circuit design and simulation, such as MATLAB/Simulink, Altium Designer, KiCad, Proteus, and similar tools.
• Experience requiring skills in reverse engineering of embedded systems with proprietary operating systems for the purpose of introducing functionally to a fielded system.
• Experience with static analysis tools such as IDA Pro, Ghidra and Binary Ninja. DoD 8570 Compliance (IAT Level II cert)