Defensive Cybersecurity Engineer/Blue Team

The MITRE Corporation

$158K — $238K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of experience with a Bachelor's, or 6 years and a Master's, or a PhD with 3 years; or equivalent education and experience
  • Deep expertise in Splunk, including administration and detection development
  • Proficient in scripting and API integration for automation
  • Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles and their application
  • Proven experience in proactive cyber threat hunting
  • In-depth knowledge of the MITRE ATT&CK framework
  • Effective communication skills, capable of presenting technical analysis to diverse audiences
  • Active Top Secret/SCI Clearance with polygraph required
  • U.S. Citizenship required for clearance eligibility

Responsibilities

  • Enhance adversary detection and threat hunting processes using data science and cybersecurity expertise
  • Develop AI-driven cybersecurity tools for anomaly detection and adversary emulation
  • Design and optimize threat hunting methodologies and Splunk analytics
  • Create scripts and automation solutions to streamline cyber operations
  • Research and apply emerging AI techniques to cybersecurity challenges
  • Utilize MITRE ATT&CK® for adversary hunting and defense building
  • Create customized security analytics in Splunk or Elastic and integrate new data feeds

Benefits

  • Collaborative work with national law enforcement and intelligence communities
  • Hands-on involvement in mission-driven cybersecurity initiatives
  • Opportunity to innovate at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity
  • Support and enhance national safety and security
  • Engage in advanced research and practical development in cybersecurity
Full Job Description
Department Summary:

MITRE's Defensive Cyber Operations department is seeking creative people to work collaboratively with our staff of cybersecurity engineers in the fields of defensive cyber operations, threat hunt, detection engineering, and cyber deception and adversary engagement with increasing emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support mission-driven cybersecurity initiatives for government sponsors.

This role blends hands-on defensive operations with advanced research and applied development in AI-enabled cybersecurity. The successful candidate will have deep Splunk Enterprise expertise, experience with scripting, and a strong understanding of MITRE ATT&CK® and its application to threat detection, threat hunting, and adversary behavior analysis.

Roles & Responsibilities:

This role provides the opportunity to work side-by-side with members of the national law enforcement and intelligence communities on a variety of technical and strategic initiatives in the areas of cyber security and systems engineering, helping to enhance the safety and security of the nation on a daily basis.

Our work responsibilities vary, but could include:
  • Combining cybersecurity domain expertise and contemporary data science skills to enhance adversary detection, network defense, and threat hunting process improvement.
  • Developing AI-enabled cybersecurity tools for anomaly detection, behavioral analytics, malware analysis, and adversary emulation.
  • Designing, developing, and optimizing advanced threat hunting methodologies, Splunk detections, analytics, and dashboards to improve cyber defense capabilities.
  • Developing scripts, APIs, and automation solutions that enhance cyber operations, improve analyst workflows, and integrate security platforms.
  • Researching emerging AI techniques (e.g., machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, reinforcement learning) and assessing their applicability to defensive cyber missions.
  • Using MITRE ATT&CK® to hunt the adversary and build TTP-based defenses.
  • Using detection engineering to create security analytics and dashboards in Splunk or Elastic and integrating new data feeds
  • Automating container environments via continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD)
  • Acting as a trusted advisor to the Federal Government


Basic Qualifications:
  • Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 6 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 3 years' experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
  • Significant experience with Splunk, including both backend administration and detection/content development.
  • Experience developing scripts and integrating APIs to automate cyber operations and security workflows.
  • Knowledge of cyber security operations and cyber security principles and their application
  • Demonstrated experience conducting proactive cyber threat hunting across enterprise environments.
  • Strong understanding of the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting technical analysis to both technical and executive audiences.
  • Applicants selected for this position will be subject to a government clearance security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.
  • Active Top Secret/SCI Clearance with poly
  • Per the U.S. Government's eligibility requirements for a clearance, U.S Citizenship is required
  • This position has an on-site requirement of 5 days a week on-site


Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience supporting or developing capabilities within the Augury platform
  • Experience developing advanced Splunk analytics, detections, dashboards, and security content.
  • Experience with cyber automation, orchestration, and Security Operations Center (SOC) modernization initiatives
  • Experience with Elastic/ELK
  • Experience using MITRE ATT&CK®
  • Experience using or developing AI tools and techniques for defensive cyber operations


This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):
Top Secret/SCI/Polygraph

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):
Top Secret/SCI/Polygraph

Salary compensation range and midpoint:
$158,800 - $198,500 - $238,200 Annual

Work Location Type:
Onsite

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at The MITRE Corporation

More Information Technology Jobs

Find similar Defensive Cybersecurity Engineer/Blue Team jobs: