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National Security Agency · 15 hours ago

Research Scientist / Computer Systems Researcher - Mid to Expert Level (Maryland)

Fort Meade, MD

Full-time

Onsite

Mid, Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$105K/yr - $197K/yr

3+ years exp

The National Security Agency (NSA) is in search of Computer Science professionals to solve complex problems and research innovative solutions. The role involves conducting scientific experiments, collaborating with the scientific community, and applying expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cybersecurity to enhance national security efforts.

National Security

Growth Opportunities

No H1B

U.S. Citizen Only

Responsibilities

Conducting scientific experiments, documenting results, and communicating with colleagues, customers, and decision makers

Training, testing, and deploying machine learning models

Applying software engineering principles to design and/or develop software applications

Designing and optimizing algorithms, data structures, modeling, and analytics to solve real-world scientific problems

Using principles, techniques, procedures, and tools to architect and facilitate the development of hardware solutions

Developing methods and applications for tools to exploit and analyze computer systems and network vulnerabilities

Modeling, simulating, prototyping, and/or benchmarking high performance computing systems

Developing and implementing approaches to increase the productivity and/or efficiency of high performance computers

Investigating and validating the security properties claimed by confidential computing mechanisms and architectures

Advancing the understanding and capabilities for flexible, layered integrity measurement and attestation architectures and mechanisms

Research, design, and prototype novel approaches to operating system, hypervisor, or firmware security

Applying machine learning models to perform enhanced monitoring and anomaly detection on embedded systems' network communications to include IoT devices using Bluetooth and other wireless IoT protocols

Qualification

Artificial IntelligenceMachine LearningHigh Performance ComputingCybersecuritySoftware DevelopmentAlgorithm AnalysisReverse EngineeringData ScienceCommunication SkillsProblem-Solving SkillsInterpersonal Skills

Required

Degree must be in Computer Science (CS) or Computer Engineering (CE)

Other STEM fields (e.g., Engineering, Mathematics, or Information Systems (IS)) may be considered relevant if the programs contain, at minimum, a concentration of courses in the following foundational CS areas: algorithms; computer architecture (not network architecture); programming methodologies and languages; data structures; logic and computation; and advanced mathematics (for example, calculus, discrete mathematics)

Relevant experience must be in one or more of the following: computer systems research, simulation/model development and prototyping, software design, programming, computational science, algorithm analysis and design, reverse engineering, designing/developing computer or information systems, including engineering hardware or software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, visualization, human-computer interaction, data science, or high performance computing

FULL PERFORMANCE Entry is with a Bachelor's degree plus 3 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus 1 year of relevant experience or a Doctoral degree and no experience. An Associate's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position

SENIOR Entry is with a Bachelor's degree plus 6 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus 4 years of relevant experience or a Doctoral degree plus 2 years of relevant experience. An Associate's degree plus 8 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position

EXPERT Entry is with a Bachelor's degree plus 9 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus 7 years of relevant experience or a Doctoral degree plus 5 years of relevant experience. An Associate's degree plus 11 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position

U.S. Citizenship is required for all applicants

All applicants and employees are subject to random drug testing in accordance with Executive Order 12564

Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a security background investigation and polygraph

Preferred

Excellent oral and written communication skills

A proven track record of analyzing and solving technical problems with innovative solutions

Demonstrated success in conducting Computer Science research to include turning research ideas into running prototype-grade systems

Candidates with experience in cybersecurity, computer network defense, vulnerabilities and countermeasures, software development and debugging, network protocols, and those with expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) are strongly encouraged to apply

Relevant experience in content processing, content triage, and human centered AI involving multimodal data, to include: speech, image, video or text

Seeking applicants with experience in: machine learning model research, multilingual and multimodal modeling, automatic speech recognition (ASR), large language models (LLM), agentic AI, knowledge management, ontologies, AI security, explainable AI, human AI teaming, visualization, data science, human subject research and Sensemaking analytics

Current research focus areas include: Human Language Technology (HLT), Computer Vision (CV), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and Human Machine Teaming HMT

Candidates with knowledge, skills and experience in high performance computing are also strongly encouraged to apply; in particular, processor and system architectures and networks, memory, tasking (accelerators, parallelism, resource management, heterogeneous computing), productivity (systems modeling & simulation, evaluation, prototyping and benchmarking), scalable algorithms, programming languages (Python, C++, Rust) and libraries, and hardware-software co-design

Candidates with knowledge and experience in future telecommunication networks (5G/6G), IoT security, device management, machine learning technologies, Linux or Windows programming and debugging, software design and development, virtualization/containers, Cloud, Trusted Computing, and other specialized computer platforms are strongly encouraged to apply

Applicants should have excellent problem-solving, communication, and interpersonal skills, and possess a range of knowledge and experience in at least two of the following areas: Programming (low level, high level, parallel), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Foundation models (FMs) (Large Language Models (LLMs), as well as models for other modalities), Simulation/model development and prototyping, Software engineering, Hardware engineering, Architectures and Distributed Computing, Algorithm analysis and design, Reverse engineering, Operating systems and/or device driver development (desktop/server/RTOS), Cybersecurity/Computer Network Defense, Trustworthy systems, Computer and network security, Telecommunication systems