Overview:

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.   

Georgia Tech's Mission and Values

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do: 

1. Students are our top priority.
2. We strive for excellence.
3. We thrive on diversity.
4. We celebrate collaboration.
5. We champion innovation.
6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
8. We act ethically.
9. We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

Project/Unit Description

Trusted Interoperable Systems and Architectures Division
Information and Communications Laboratory
Georgia Tech Research Institute

The initial assignment for the candidate chosen will be completing tasks in support of the design, development and operation of a secure cloud-based infrastructure as part of the Medicaid Enterprise System Transformation (MEST) project. MEST is a multi-year project sponsored by the Georgia Department of Community Health with the goal of developing a modular enterprise system to manage Medicaid in Georgia.

Job Purpose

The Cybersecurity Research and Development Systems Architect designs and develops new systems, applications, and solutions for external sponsors’ enterprise-wide cyber systems and networks. The Cybersecurity R&D Systems Architect is responsible for driving adoption, identifying and defining new security objectives and controls and helping with the organization’s automated security validation development. This researcher also performs vulnerability analysis and exploitation of applications, operating systems and/or networks. The Cybersecurity R&D Systems Architect designs and implements Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) security solutions, and applies those ICAM solutions to advanced problem domains such as federation and trusted information sharing within select target communities of sponsors and project stakeholders. The Architect ensures system security needs are established and maintained for operations development, security requirements definition, security risk assessment, systems analysis, systems design, security test and evaluation, certification and accreditation, systems hardening, vulnerability testing and scanning, incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity planning. The Cybersecurity R&D Systems Architect also provides analytical support for security policy development and analysis, integrates new architectural features into existing infrastructures, designs cyber security architectural artifacts, provides architectural analysis of cyber security features and relates existing systems to future needs and trends. In addition, the Architect embeds advanced forensic tools and techniques for attack reconstruction, provides engineering recommendations, and resolves integration and testing issues. The Cybersecurity R&D Systems Architect serves in a consultative role, defining controls for different platforms, including definition of protection rule sets, and threat mitigations for potential threats. The Cybersecurity R&D Systems Architect also interacts, advises, and counsels on a regular basis with internal staff as well as project sponsors and other stakeholders from the communities in which these solutions are implemented.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build templates to assist SMEs in providing critical system information
• Conduct product or system design synthesis translating requirements into physical architectures for cyber system of low complexity
• Contribute to technical reports and diagrams detailing product or system attributes
• Identify and define new security objectives and controls to assist with system cyber security accreditation and/or cyber resiliency

Additional Responsibilities

• Serve in consultative role, defining security controls for different platforms based on possible threats to the secure environment
• Manage security-related incident response procedures
• Plan, design and enforce security controls using infrastructure as code (Terraform, ServiceNow, JSON, etc.) to protect sensitive information in the AWS enterprise system
• Prepare technical reports and diagrams detailing product or system attributes
• Provide subject matter expertise (SME) to internal staff and project sponsors as required
• Ensure compliance with all government and industry standards and resolve deployment issues in complex environments

Required Minimum Qualifications

• Experience in the design and deployment of secure architectures, including knowledge and best practices for monitoring different platforms (Unix, Linux, Cloud, etc.).
• Experience researching, recommending, documenting, and coordinating implementation of changes to policies, procedures, facilities, and systems to enhance security
• Knowledge of Identity and Access Management concepts
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with technical and non-technical audiences
• Excellent organization skills and an ability to develop and implement plans for transforming issues / requests to completion
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize and manage competing demands and tasks
• Ability to think and act independently, taking the initiative to create solutions to solve challenges

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Strong understanding of AWS security services (for example Transit Gateway, VPC, Route Tables)
• Excellent understanding/working knowledge of the public cloud infrastructure and services in AWS (IAM, VPC, KMS, CloudWatch, Systems Manager, S3, RDS, Route53, Lambda, AWS Config, etc.) is a strong plus.
• Excellent understanding of docker and container orchestration with kubernetes and experience running production kubernetes clusters in Amazon EKS

Travel Requirements

<10% travel

Education and Length of Experience

This position vacancy is an open-rank announcement. The final job offer will be dependent on candidate qualifications in alignment with Research Faculty Extension Professional ranks as outlined in section 3.2.1 of the Georgia Tech Faculty Handbook

• 2 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, computer science, or closely related field
• 0 years of related experience with a Masters’ degree in Cybersecurity, computer science, or closely related field

U.S. Citizenship Requirements

Due to our research contracts with the U.S. federal government, candidates for this position must be U.S. Citizens.

Clearance Type Required

Candidates must be able to obtain and maintain an active security clearance.

Benefits at GTRI

Comprehensive information on currently offered GTRI benefits, including Health & Welfare, Retirement Plans, Tuition Reimbursement, Time Off, and Professional Development, can be found through this link: https://benefits.hr.gatech.edu/.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for all. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and University policy, Georgia Tech provides equal opportunity to all faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including applicants for admission and/or employment, contractors, volunteers, and participants in institutional programs, activities, or services.  Georgia Tech complies with all applicable laws and regulations governing equal opportunity in the workplace and in educational activities.

Georgia Tech prohibits discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, on the basis of race, ethnicity, ancestry, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, genetics, or veteran status in its programs, activities, employment, and admissions.  This prohibition applies to faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including affiliates, invitees, and guests. Further, Georgia Tech prohibits citizenship status, immigration status, and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruitment, except where such restrictions are required in order to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or Attorney General directive, or where they are required by Federal, State, or local government contract.

USG Core Values Statement

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 26 institutions of higher education and learning as well as the System Office. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values serve as the foundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USG community member is responsible for demonstrating and upholding these standards. More details on the USG Statement of Core Values and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy 8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#p8.2.18_personnel_conduct.

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated in Board Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/C2653.