STR
Principal Software Reverse Engineer
$204K–$284K
San Diego, CA +4 · Principal · Full-time · Posted Sep 8, 2026
- Location
- San Diego, CA
Arlington, Virginia, United States
Melbourne, Florida, United States
San Diego, California, United States
Woburn, Massachusetts, United States - Experience
- Minimum 15 years of relevant experience; an MS or PhD with equivalent work experience may also be considered.
- Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related field; an MS or PhD with equivalent work experience may also be considered.
- Visa sponsorship
- Active Top Secret (TS) clearance required; U.S. citizenship is needed by the U.S. Government for the clearance.
About the job
Lead research and engineering efforts to reverse engineer software and firmware, analyze vulnerabilities, and develop cybersecurity solutions for cyber-physical systems and national security applications.
What you'll do
- Reverse engineer software and firmware targets and develop automated binary-analysis tools to characterize their protocols, interfaces, and functionality.
- Lead multidisciplinary teams in vulnerability research, exploit and payload development, vulnerability mitigation, and cybersecurity solution development.
- Document, demonstrate, and present research; contribute to technical marketing and proposals.
What they ask for
- Active Top Secret (TS) security clearance; U.S. citizenship is required by the U.S. Government for this clearance.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related field, plus a minimum of 15 years of relevant experience; an MS or PhD with equivalent work experience may also be considered.
- Substantial experience leading technical teams on advanced reverse-engineering and exploitation programs, and experience with software/firmware binary analysis.
- Experience with disassembly tools such as IDA Pro, Binary Ninja, or Ghidra; proficiency in multiple assembly languages and at least one programming language; vulnerability research and analysis experience.
Nice to have
- Implant or software patch development; familiarity with binary emulation or vulnerability research tools such as QEMU or AFL++.
- Experience with DSP architectures, embedded systems or firmware analysis, custom emulation tools, or disassembler/decompiler modules.
Pay
USD $204,000 - $284,000 base salary
Tools
Windows/Linux, IDA Pro, Binary Ninja, Ghidra, x86, ARM, C/C++, Python
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative