Software Engineer

CERT is part of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a federally funded research and development center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We engage in state-of-the-art research and development, and provide robust programs focused on ensuring that software developers, internet security experts, network and system administrators, and others are able to resist, recognize, and recover from attacks on networked systems.
Our team in the Security Automation Directorate helps programs apply best practices and adopt emerging tools and techniques at the rate needed to keep pace with evolving opportunities, threats, and risks. The goal of the Systems team is to provide expertise across a wide range of skills throughout the software development lifecycle. We apply a holistic cybersecurity and engineering approach to software intensive systems in the cyber operations domain. Keeping pace with cyber systems operations requires creativity, efficiency, and staying up to date with modern computing platforms. In some cases, the computing has outpaced the methods, and it is incumbent upon us to generate novel approaches to specific sponsor needs.

Position Summary:

You’ll be responsible for conceiving, documenting, developing, testing, and deploying software applications and systems to improve the capabilities of CERT customers. You will participate in all phases of the software development lifecycle, and will be involved in key decisions regarding software design and technology selection, architecture and design of resilient and secure systems. You will work on existing projects with more senior developers until you have a grasp of the work and gain the expertise to take command of new or current projects.
 

You will be expected to function within cross-domain teams, learn new skills, programming languages, and technologies as necessary, and solve meaningful problems through technical innovation. You will continuously be asked to analyze customer requirements and provide novel solutions, work directly with sponsors and end users, and quickly learn new technologies (OSS/COTS/GOTS) and integrate them with existing applications and/or systems.

Requirements:

• BS in computer science, software engineering, or a related quantitative field of study, with 8 years of experience, or a MS degree in the same, plus 5 years of experience.
• Willingness to travel to various locations to support the SEI’s overall mission. This may include national travel to sponsor sites, conferences, and offsite meetings on occasion.
• You will be subject to a background check and must be able to obtain and maintain a Department of Defense security clearance.
  

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: 

• Strong grasp of the fundamentals of Computer Science
• Demonstrated expertise in at least one of these programming languages: C/C++, Java, JavaScript (server and client), or Python
• Working understanding of the families of programming languages (imperative, object-oriented, functional, and logical) as well as static and dynamic languages
• Experience developing in multiple layers of the modern software stack
• Familiarity with the Linux operating system and UNIX operating system internals in general
• Familiarity with DevOps and CI/CD concepts and, preferably, experience employing them in project work
• Strong analysis, debugging, and problem-solving skills
• Ability to learn a new programming language or development environment given appropriate time and resources.
  

Desired Experience:

Experience as a software engineer working on software applications in a professional environment. Working knowledge of general hardware and networking concepts, with some background in cyber security. Familiarity with containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes. Familiarity with SQL and modern relational databases, as well as non-relational databases

CMU’s COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements: As a condition of employment, Carnegie Mellon University requires all staff and faculty working in the United States to be fully vaccinated, including a booster when eligible, against COVID-19. Prior to commencement of employment, new hires in the United States must provide proof of vaccination or obtain an approved exemption. (Exemptions may be requested for medical reasons or for religious or strong moral or ethical conviction.) Those granted an exemption must comply with all applicable COVID-19 mitigation requirements. The most up-to-date information on CMU’s COVID-19 mitigation requirements can be found here: Minimum Requirements to Return to Campus .

Location

Arlington, VA, Pittsburgh, PA

Job Function

Software/Applications Development/Engineering

Position Type

Staff – Regular

Full Time/Part time

Full time

Pay Basis

Salary

More Information: 

• Please visit “Why Carnegie Mellon ” to learn more about becoming part of an institution inspiring innovations that change the world. 

• Click here to view a listing of employee benefits

• Carnegie Mellon University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran. 

• Statement of Assurance