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

The Embedded Systems Vulnerability Division (ESVD) within CIPHER leverages extensive expertise in hardware, software, network, and RF communications to identify and evaluate cyber vulnerabilities in critical military assets, threat systems, and critical infrastructure. The Division specializes in RF/wireless embedded devices such as radios, modems, routers and embedded controllers found in mission critical military systems and networks, and throughout commercial industry. ESVD performs Red and Blue team activities focusing on vulnerability discovery and the development and demonstration of multi-domain techniques to gain unauthorized access to and/or exploit information networks, while protecting US Government assets from the same. These efforts identify weaknesses and help ensure that mitigations are effective. This specific job posting is for GTRI's Colorado Spring Field Office, which services the military and intelligence developmental and acquisition organizations along the Colorado Front Range, including the United States Space Force units (Space Systems Command, Space Warfighting Analysis Center, Strategic Space Defense Program, etc.), U.S. Space Command, Missile Defense Agency, Air Force TENCAP, and the United States Air Force Academy.

Job Purpose

Wireless security engineers will develop integrated cyber and electronic warfare capabilities to conduct information operations against threat systems, and will support Test and Evaluation activities to help protect US systems from similar attacks.

Key Responsibilities

Develop and demonstrate over the air techniques to gain unauthorized access to and/or exploit wireless communication networks. Develop and demonstrate mitigation techniques to protect systems.

Develop SDR algorithms to (1) reverse engineer signals, (2) demodulate and decode RF signals and (3) to generate similar RF signals

Research capabilities, implementation methods and security features of device under test to help in determining functionality and potential weaknesses. Commonly evaluated devices include communications devices such as radios, modems, and routers.

Perform tests to determine susceptibility to jamming, spoofing signals and other countermeasure techniques

Primary author of technical reports/presentations for projects of moderate/high complexity. Compile report input from other researchers and prepare final report deliverable.

Additional Responsibilities

Candidates in this position will be expected to be experienced in both wireless/RF communications technologies as well as Cyber Test and Evaluation procedures. In this hybrid role, candidates will additionally be responsible for the following:

• Support activities to establish overall boundaries for complex cybersecurity testing efforts including planning threat assessment and attack surface characterization, advising and conducting Mission-Based Cyber Risk Assessments (MBCRA), develop and advise on recommended Cyber Test and Evaluation (T&E) requirements, and develop, plan, and execute cyber test activities and events.
• Perform hands-on cyber testing across the Space enterprise to identify and assess vulnerabilities and their potential mission impacts, to include planning, managing, and executing Attack Path Analysis (APA), Cooperative Vulnerability and Penetration Assessments (CVPA), Adversarial Assessment (AA), and other specialized testing.
• Apply communications system engineering and cyber T&E principles to establish automated test infrastructures for validation and verification of US government platform security requirements, and support manual test planning and execution on unclassified and classified test environments when automation is not possible.
• Document the results of the cyber testing and providing actionable recommendations for improving the cybersecurity posture for systems-under-test (SUT), and develop and produce technical documentation in accordance with government guidance such as Joint Special Access Program (SAP), Intelligence Community Directive (ICD), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800, and Risk Management Framework (RMF).
• Support the development and executions of cyber test technical workshops and training activities relating to cyber T&E technical areas of expertise.

Required Minimum Qualifications

• Experience developing and executing manual and automated testing solutions for simple to complex systems, including mixed environments incorporating hardware-in-the-loop testing, and wireless communications links.
• Knowledge of RF systems components (e.g. antennas, amplifiers, A/D & D/A converters), common transceiver architectures, and communication waveform characteristics including various modulation/demodulation techniques.
• Experience working with RF communications links, to include working experience with RF lab test and measurement equipment (e.g. spectrum and network analyzers, channel emulators).
• Experience with RF protocol analysis at the Phy and link/data layers
• Experience with at least one software-defined radio framework (e.g. GNU Radio, CFE), commercial SDR platform (e.g. N.I./Ettus X310, N210), and signal processing toolkit (e.g. Matlab, X-Midas, Python/scipy).
• Experience programming in one or more programming languages (e.g. C/C++, Python)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Active Top Secret Clearance
• Background in digital communication theory to include modulation/demodulation, error correction coding, synchronization methods, and/or network management strategies.
• Experience working with a variety of communication systems such as HF, VHF, microwave, SATCOM, etc. Experience with military systems is preferred.
• Familiarity with security features of wireless communications systems.
• Experience developing and/or evaluating electronic warfare (EW) and Cyber-EW attacks.
• Experience developing and/or utilizing hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) capabilities for test and evaluation purposes.
• Knowledge and experience applying Cyber Risk Assessment methodologies against RF-enabled systems of interest.
• Experience supporting cybersecurity test and evaluation events.
• Experience with common disassemblers/decompilers and reverse engineering tools (IDA, Ghidra, Binary Ninja), and experience with dynamic/static analysis and fuzzing.
• Experience interacting with software test environments to include virtualized and emulative environments capable of executing the software under test (e.g. VMware, VirtualBox, QEMU, Unicorn)

Travel Requirements

10% - 25% 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

• 9 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related engineering/scientific degree.
• 7 years of related experience with a Masters’ degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related engineering/scientific degree.
• 4 years of related experience with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related engineering/scientific degree.

Please refer to our Research Faculty Technical Level Guidelines for minimum requirements at the higher levels.

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 Institute 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 Institute 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.

Equal opportunity and decisions based on merit are fundamental values of the University System of Georgia (“USG”) and Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech prohibits discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, on the basis of an individual’s race, ethnicity, ancestry, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, genetics, or veteran status in its programs, activities, employment, and admissions. 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.