Duties

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Information System Security Professionals at NSA play a vital role in in the architecting, designing, operating, defending, and maintaining secure state of the art Information Technology (IT) systems executing NSA's SIGINT and Cybersecurity missions. NSA is advancing technology to deliver mission outcomes. As such, Cybersecurity Professionals have the opportunity to work across a broad set of technologies including commercial cloud fabrics, artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and advanced cryptographic systems. These personnel are involved in the full life cycle of systems: designing, maintaining and monitoring the systems so they can be protected from the most sophisticated nation-state adversaries. Some examples of tasks include:

- Design system/network architectures to enforce levels of confidentiality, integrity and availability

- Ability to implement systems engineering principles/methodology

- Define and manage remediation plans across applications, infrastructure, and cloud

- Ensure compliance with cybersecurity standards and regulatory requirements (e.g. NIST)

- Assess and mitigate risks in legacy systems, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities

- Analyze and prioritize vulnerabilities with cross functional teams

- Lead and provide oversight to activities to patch and harden infrastructure systems

- Define information system security requirements and functionality

- Review security configuration options of cloud services and recommend security configurations

- Understand cryptography and the ability to program (Python, Java, etc.)

- Assess effectiveness of security solutions against cybersecurity frameworks (e.g. MITRE ATT&CK)

- Monitor the cybersecurity hygiene for a family of IT systems directing remediation of configuration and vulnerability findings to reduce the adversary risks to systems

- Understand concepts, principles, structure and standards used to design, implement, monitor and secure operating systems, equipment, networks, applications and controls

- Operate within teams focused on implementing and evolving procedures and security settings designed to protect data and applications in cloud environments

- Conduct security engineering/hardening of the latest operating systems, tailoring them for use in the specific mission area

- Ability to implement automation and artificial intelligence across the RMF authorization life cycle and into continuous monitoring

Qualifications

The qualifications listed are the minimum acceptable to be considered for the position.

Relevant experience must be in one or more of the following areas: computer or information systems design/development; programming; information/ cyber/network security; system or network administration; vulnerability analysis; penetration testing; computer forensics; systems engineering; computer systems research; reverse engineering; or updating information assurance documentation (for example System Security Plans, Risk Assessment Reports, Certification and Accreditation packages, and System Requirements Traceability Matrices).

Completion of military training in a relevant area such as JCAC (Joint Cyber Analysis course), Undergraduate Cyber Training (UCT), Network Warfare Bridge Course (NWBC)/Intermediate Network Warfare Training (INWT), or Cyber Defense Operations will be considered towards the relevant experience requirement (i.e., 20-24 weeks course will count as 6 months of experience, 10-14 weeks will count as 3 months of experience). Cybersecurity Certifications (e.g., NET+, Security+, Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), and Certification Accreditation Professional (CAP)) may count as a total of 1 year of experience.

ENTRY/DEVELOPMENTAL

Entry is with an Associate's degree plus 2 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor's degree and no experience.

FULL PERFORMANCE

Entry is with an Associate's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience, or 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.

Education

Degree must be in Computer Science or a related field (for example Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Forensics, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Information Assurance, Information Security, Information Systems, Informatics, Cyber Operations, and Cyber Defense).

Additional information

Pay: Salary offers are based on candidates' education level and years of experience relevant to the position and also take into account information provided by the hiring manager/organization regarding the work level for the position.

Salary Range: $87,362 - $153,082 (Entry/Developmental, Full Performance)

Salary range varies by location, work level, and relevant experience to the position.

Training will be provided based on the selectee's needs and experience.

Benefits: NSA offers a comprehensive benefits package.

Work Schedule: This is a full-time position, Monday - Friday, with basic 8hr/day work requirement between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (flexible).

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Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.