SIXGEN’s mission is to deliver agile, mission-ready cybersecurity solutions that empower government and critical infrastructure organizations to stay ahead of advanced cyber threats. We combine innovation, deep expertise, and cutting-edge capabilities to uncover vulnerabilities, protect vital systems, and ensure operational superiority in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
Position: CNE Developer
Job Type: Full Time On-site WFH Friday
Location: Columbia, MD
Clearance Requirements: TS SCI Eligible with ability to pass CI polygraph
Travel: 0%
We are seeking a Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) Developer to research vulnerabilities, develop specialized software capabilities, and support authorized operations. This role combines low-level software development, reverse engineering, and vulnerability research to address complex technical challenges across operating systems, applications, and network protocols.
The ideal candidate is comfortable working with unfamiliar codebases, investigating undocumented system behavior, and turning research findings into reliable, maintainable software. The developer will collaborate with researchers, systems engineers, and testing personnel throughout the development lifecycle.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, test, and maintain software supporting authorized CNE research, capability development, and mission requirements.
- Conduct vulnerability research and root-cause analysis of operating systems, applications, services, and network protocols.
- Reverse engineer compiled software, firmware, and proprietary protocols to understand functionality, identify weaknesses, and assess technical feasibility.
- Develop proof-of-concept implementations and mature validated research into documented, testable capabilities.
- Write and debug software
- Analyze platform internals, including memory management, process execution, system calls, access controls, and interprocess communication.
- Build development and testing environments that reproduce relevant system configurations and support repeatable evaluation.
- Develop modular components with clearly defined interfaces to support integration, maintenance, and adaptation to changing requirements.
- Collaborate with independent testing and quality assurance personnel to validate functionality, reliability, compatibility, and failure handling.
- Participate in code reviews, configuration management, and technical planning
- Document software architecture, research findings, build procedures, dependencies, limitations, and test results.
Required Qualifications
- Professional experience in systems programming, reverse engineering, vulnerability research, or closely related software development.
- Strong proficiency in software development
- Experience using debuggers, disassemblers, and decompilers such as Ghidra, IDA Pro, GDB, WinDbg, or LLDB.
- Understanding of operating system internals on one or more platforms
- Familiarity with common vulnerability classes, memory safety issues, and platform security mitigations.
- Knowledge of TCP/IP networking and experience analyzing network traffic and application protocols.
- Experience with Git, structured build processes, and software debugging and testing.
- Ability to independently investigate technical problems and communicate findings clearly through written documentation and technical discussions.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
Salary range: $225,000 to $250,000
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. The final salary offer will be determined after a thorough review of the candidate's background and alignment with the role. Additionally, SIXGEN offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:
- Employer-paid health insurance premiums (medical, dental, vision) for you and your family
- Employer-paid short/long term disability insurance and basic life/AD&D insurance
- 401K with a 4% employer contribution
- Professional development reimbursement options available (training, certification, education, etc)
- Flexible and remote work policies for most positions
- Flexible PTO and holiday schedule
OUR COMMITMENT
SIXGEN is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We ensure that all applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, marital status, ancestry, projected veteran status, or any other protected group or class.
Skills Required
- U.S. citizenship
- TS/SCI eligibility
- Ability to pass a CI polygraph
- GED and 18 or more years of CNE development experience
- Associate's degree in a listed computer science, engineering, cybersecurity, information security, or networking field and 10 or more years of experience
- Bachelor's degree in a listed computer science, engineering, cybersecurity, information security, or networking field and 7 or more years of experience
- CLI experience
- Scripting experience
- Knowledge of network design and analysis
- Strong collaboration skills
What We Do
At SIXGEN, we’ve cracked the code on meaningful and innovative ways to support the cyber mission. Our workforce provides incident response, operational and penetration testing, red teaming, tool development, cyber training development and continuous monitoring. Our on-site and remote assessments are used to identify vulnerabilities within the most critical networks. We lead cybersecurity innovation in product development by designing and evolving highly specialized hardware and software focused on Endpoint Detection and Response, Red Team, Data Science, and Threat Intelligence missions. We take pride in our work and the resulting enhanced cybersecurity posture for our customers around the globe.
