Senior Cybersecurity R&D Engineer / Cyber Defense Technology Lead

About Leading Edge Skills

Leading Edge Skills LLC (LES) is an established California-based organization and federal government contractor specializing in leadership development, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data analytics, advanced technology training, and consulting.

Our government experience includes multi-year engagements with U.S. Navy NAVSEA/NSWCDD, NAVSUP/Navy Supply Corps School, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division, and the U.S. Army. Our programs encompass leadership and advanced management development, cybersecurity education, AI and emerging technologies, mission- and capability-based test and evaluation, digital engineering, modeling and simulation, experimental design, and technical workforce development.

With 60+ leadership development cohorts delivered under an ongoing Navy program, LES has an expanding defense footprint spanning Dahlgren, Virginia Beach, Newport, Port Hueneme, and the San Diego region. We support military and civilian professionals, engineers, scientists, technical specialists, and leadership personnel. Our broader experience includes cybersecurity workforce development for the California Department of Rehabilitation and engagements involving Google, Apple, AMD, and Panasonic.

LES is strategically expanding into defense technology research and development.

Our objective is to build long-term technical capabilities in cybersecurity innovation, AI-enabled cyber defense, simulation, autonomous systems, digital engineering, and mission-focused software technologies.

We intend to pursue SBIR/STTR, defense R&D, prototype development, and technology commercialization opportunities with DoD agencies and other federal organizations. We seek highly capable engineers and researchers with proven hands-on achievements, innovative thinking, and the ambition to help develop technologies with meaningful defense applications.

Position Overview

LES seeks a Senior Cybersecurity R&D Engineer / Cyber Defense Technology Lead to support research, engineering, and development of innovative cybersecurity technologies for defense and government applications.

We are seeking an accomplished technical professional who has personally designed, built, and evaluated cybersecurity technologies—not someone whose experience is limited to compliance assessments, cybersecurity instruction, routine security operations, or implementation of commercial tools.

The ideal candidate combines deep cybersecurity engineering expertise, strong programming skills, applied research capabilities, and an entrepreneurial approach to solving emerging security challenges.

We are especially interested in professionals with hands-on experience developing

• Innovative cyber defense tools and security platforms.
• AI-enabled threat detection and security analytics.
• Cyber simulation environments and virtual testbeds.
• Security automation and investigation technologies.
• Cyber resilience and mission assurance solutions.
• Prototype technologies for experimental cybersecurity research.

The successful candidate will collaborate with LES leadership and other technical specialists to evaluate government research opportunities, develop credible technical solutions, and contribute to long-term defense technology initiatives.

Key ResponsibilitiesCybersecurity Engineering and Technical Innovation

• Research, design, develop, and test innovative cybersecurity technologies.
• Personally implement software-based cyber defense tools, automated analysis platforms, and security prototypes.
• Investigate advanced methods for detecting, analyzing, and responding to cyber threats.
• Develop experimental approaches to improving cyber resilience, system assurance, and defensive effectiveness.
• Design and evaluate security architectures for complex information systems.
• Conduct controlled security testing, threat modeling, and technical validation.
• Identify technology gaps and propose original solutions with measurable improvements over existing approaches.
• Document engineering decisions, experiments, test results, and performance limitations.

AI-Enabled Cyber Defense

• Research and develop machine learning and AI applications for cyber threat detection and analysis.
• Design intelligent automation for security telemetry analysis, anomaly detection, and investigation.
• Explore adaptive defense techniques and advanced behavioral analytics.
• Develop AI-assisted workflows for threat correlation, prioritization, and decision support.
• Evaluate the security and robustness of AI-enabled applications.
• Collaborate with applied AI engineers on integrated AI/cybersecurity solutions.
• Build working prototypes and validate their effectiveness through reproducible experiments.

Cyber Simulation, Digital Twins, and Test Environments

• Architect and develop cybersecurity simulation platforms, virtual cyber ranges, and experimental testbeds.
• Build realistic, isolated environments for authorized defensive testing and cyber threat simulation.
• Develop synthetic network environments, attack-and-defense scenarios, and system telemetry datasets.
• Design experimental methods for evaluating cyber technologies against realistic operational conditions.
• Implement simulation and testing tools that measure cybersecurity readiness, resilience, and defensive performance.
• Explore digital twins and modeling and simulation for defense cybersecurity applications.
• Establish technical performance metrics and reproducible validation procedures.

Defense R&D and SBIR/STTR Opportunities

• Review cybersecurity R&D solicitations from defense and civilian agencies.
• Identify emerging technologies and research concepts relevant to specific government technical requirements.
• Develop technical feasibility assessments, experimental methodologies, and prototype development plans.
• Contribute technical approaches, development tasks, risk assessments, and measurable research milestones to proposals.
• Collaborate with systems engineers, defense SMEs, AI developers, and program management personnel.
• Support proof-of-concept demonstrations and technical reviews.
• Potentially serve as a technical research lead or Principal Investigator on eligible projects, subject to applicable program requirements.

Technology Development and Commercialization

• Evaluate pathways from early-stage cybersecurity research to working products.
• Recommend development roadmaps, technical architectures, and integration strategies.
• Identify opportunities for intellectual property development and technology commercialization.
• Support transition of validated technology into defense or commercial applications.
• Participate in the development of enduring cybersecurity R&D capabilities within LES.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Security, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent demonstrated expertise.
• At least seven years of substantial hands-on cybersecurity engineering, software engineering, or security research experience.
• Proven experience personally designing and implementing cybersecurity software, tools, experimental systems, or technical prototypes.
• Strong proficiency in Python and relevant scripting or systems programming languages.
• Deep understanding of networking, operating systems, application security, security architecture, and relevant cyber threat models.
• Practical experience with security automation, threat detection, security testing, or defensive engineering.
• Experience creating working technical demonstrations and validating engineering concepts.
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, virtual machines, containers, and modern development practices.
• Ability to design technically sound experiments and establish objective performance measures.
• Strong independent research, software engineering, problem-solving, and technical communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Security, or a closely related field.
• Experience developing cyber ranges, virtual testbeds, simulation systems, or digital twins.
• Experience with machine learning applications in cybersecurity, automated threat detection, or behavioral analytics.
• Knowledge of MITRE ATT&CK, NIST frameworks, and secure software development methods.
• Practical experience with security telemetry, SIEM systems, intrusion detection, EDR data, or advanced security analytics.
• Experience conducting research on advanced persistent threats, cyber resilience, and mission assurance.
• Experience working with military, defense, aerospace, or mission-critical cybersecurity systems.
• Familiarity with digital engineering, mission-based test and evaluation, and systems-oriented technical research.
• Prior involvement in SBIR/STTR, DARPA, DoD R&D programs, or prototype development initiatives.
• Research publications, patents, public code contributions, technical demonstrations, or commercially developed cybersecurity products.
• Experience as a cybersecurity product developer, startup founder, principal engineer, or technical R&D lead.

Initial Areas of Technical Interest

Depending on the specific opportunity, potential projects include

• AI-driven cyber threat detection and defensive automation.
• Cybersecurity simulation and virtual test environments.
• Advanced network and endpoint security analytics.
• Cyber resilience measurement and testing.
• Secure AI applications and adversarial robustness.
• Cybersecurity for autonomous and mission-critical systems.
• Digital engineering and cyber simulation for defense missions.
• Intelligent risk analysis and decision-support technologies.
• Experimental cybersecurity tools and prototype platforms.

These areas reflect LES's intended R&D direction. Specific funded work will depend on applicable opportunities and mutually agreed project assignments.

Initial Engagement and Expected Deliverables

Initial assignments may include

• Reviewing a selected cybersecurity R&D topic and identifying its technical challenges.
• Developing an original technical concept with a clear research justification.
• Preparing a preliminary cyber technology architecture and feasibility approach.
• Identifying required software tools, infrastructure, technical resources, and development effort.
• Developing a working cybersecurity prototype or experimental demonstration when included in an authorized paid scope.
• Establishing technical performance metrics and validation methodologies.
• Preparing technical research findings, project documentation, and relevant proposal contributions.
• Developing recommendations for follow-on research, technology maturation, and commercialization.

The Candidate We Want

We seek engineers and researchers who are passionate about creating new technologies and solving difficult cybersecurity problems.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated technical ownership, independent engineering capabilities, original thinking, and the ability to transform research ideas into working systems.

We welcome experienced cybersecurity product engineers, applied researchers, technology founders, and technical innovators interested in developing long-term relationships focused on defense technology R&D.

This is not a conventional cybersecurity instructor, general security consultant, compliance auditor, routine SOC analyst, or policy-only advisory position.

We are looking for professionals who build technology and can demonstrate what they have created.

How to Apply

Please submit

• Your current resume or technical professional profile.
• Descriptions of two cybersecurity tools, applications, experimental platforms, or research prototypes you personally developed, explaining your specific contributions.
• Links to relevant GitHub repositories, publications, patents, technical demonstrations, or other nonconfidential work samples, where available.
• A brief explanation of your technical research interests and why you would like to participate in defense technology R&D.
• Attitude required:
• Honesty, humility, and integrity
• Inclusive and respectful
• Strong work ethic
• Passion for learning
• Comfortable with autonomy
• Eager to add new skills and grow professionally
• Skills that are preferred, but not required:
• Curiosity
• Assertiveness
• A love of IT and/or technology

Job Types: Part-time, Contract

Pay: $90.00 - $140.00 per hour

Work Location: Remote