Research Scientist/Computer Systems Researcher - Mid to Expert Level (Maryland) Job in Fort Meade, MD

Vacancy No. 1248056 Department National Security Agency/Central Security Service
Salary $104,219.00 to $195,200.00 Grade 11 to 15
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 9/16/2025 Close Date 9/21/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Fort Meade, MD


Summary

Are you looking to apply your computer science and other technical expertise to develop technologies and tools and be a part of cutting edge innovations? NSA is in search of Research Scientists and Senior Research Scientists to solve complex problems, test innovative approaches and research new solutions to make the U.S. and its allies safer and more secure. Help protect national security interests as part of the world's most advanced team of computer science professionals.

Duties

NSA Research Scientists are actively expanding the boundaries of what can be accomplished with artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-machine teaming, software reverse engineering, data science, novel architectures, cyber security, high performance computing, and computational linguistics. Our experts generalize mission problems, advance the scientific state-of-the-art to solve problems, and work with other NSA organizations to get solutions in front of mission users and decision-makers.

Our researchers also have the opportunity to collaborate regularly with the scientific community, academia, industry, and other government laboratories; publish papers on unclassified aspects of our work in scientific journals and at conferences; transfer NSA technology to the marketplace through open source software releases and public-private partnerships; serve as faculty members at local universities; and participate in university and K-12 STEM outreach activities across the country.

The ideal candidate must be able to demonstrate sound judgement, strong technical skills and the ability to work effectively in a dynamic team environment, as well as independently. Excellent oral and written communication skills, and a proven track record of analyzing and solving technical problems with innovative solutions are also preferred. The candidate should have demonstrated success in conducting Computer Science research to include turning research ideas into running prototype-grade systems.

As a Research Scientist, other responsibilities may include:

- Conducting scientific experiments, documenting results, and communicating with colleagues, customers, and decision makers
- Training, testing, and deploying machine learning models
- Applying software engineering principles to design and/or develop software applications
- Designing and optimizing algorithms, data structures, modeling, and analytics to solve real-world scientific problems
- Using principles, techniques, procedures, and tools to architect and facilitate the development of hardware solutions
- Developing methods and applications for tools to exploit and analyze computer systems and network vulnerabilities
- Modeling, simulating, prototyping, and/or benchmarking high performance computing systems.
- Developing and implementing approaches to increase the productivity and/or efficiency of high performance computers
- Investigating and validating the security properties claimed by confidential computing mechanisms and architectures
- Advancing the understanding and capabilities for flexible, layered integrity measurement and attestation architectures and mechanisms
- Research, design, and prototype novel approaches to operating system, hypervisor, or firmware security
- Applying machine learning models to perform enhanced monitoring and anomaly detection on embedded systems' network communications to include IoT devices using Bluetooth and other wireless IoT protocols

Please attach a copy of your transcripts from all schools attended when applying for this position. Providing a copy of your transcripts is essential since the minimum qualifications for this position require a specific degree that demonstrates a concentration of courses in foundational Computer Science (CS) area as well as mathematics.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • All applicants and employees are subject to random drug testing in accordance with Executive Order 12564. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a security background investigation and polygraph.

Qualifications

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

Degree must be in Computer Science (CS) or Computer Engineering (CE). Other STEM fields (e.g., Engineering, Mathematics, or Information Systems (IS)) may be considered relevant if the programs contain, at minimum, a concentration of courses in the following foundational CS areas: algorithms; computer architecture (not network architecture); programming methodologies and languages; data structures; logic and computation; and advanced mathematics (for example, calculus, discrete mathematics).

Relevant experience must be in one or more of the following: computer systems research, simulation/model development and prototyping, software design, programming, computational science, algorithm analysis and design, reverse engineering, designing/developing computer or information systems, including engineering hardware or software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, visualization, human-computer interaction, data science, or high performance computing.

FULL PERFORMANCE
Entry is with 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. An Associate's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position.

SENIOR
Entry is with a Bachelor's degree plus 6 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus 4 years of relevant experience or a Doctoral degree plus 2 years of relevant experience. An Associate's degree plus 8 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position.

EXPERT
Entry is with a Bachelor's degree plus 9 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus 7 years of relevant experience or a Doctoral degree plus 5 years of relevant experience. An Associate's degree plus 11 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position.

Education

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

Degree must be in Computer Science (CS) or Computer Engineering (CE). Other STEM fields (e.g., Engineering, Mathematics, or Information Systems (IS)) may be considered relevant if the programs contain, at minimum, a concentration of courses in the following foundational CS areas: algorithms; computer architecture (not network architecture); programming methodologies and languages; data structures; logic and computation; and advanced mathematics (for example, calculus, discrete mathematics).

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: $104,219 - $195,200 (Full Performance, Senior, Expert)
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).

DCIPS Trial Period:
If selected for this position, you will be required to serve a two-year DCIPS trial period, unless you are a veterans' preference-eligible employee, in which case you are required to serve a one-year trial period. This trial period runs concurrently with your commitment to the position, if applicable. Before finalizing your appointment at the conclusion of your trial period, NSA will determine whether your continued employment advances the public interest. This decision will be based on factors such as your performance and conduct; the Agency's needs and interests; whether your continued employment would advance the Agency's organizational goals; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

If you do not receive certification for continued employment, you should receive written notice prior to the end of your trial period that your employment will be terminated and the effective date of such termination.

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

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.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Candidates with experience in cybersecurity, computer network defense, vulnerabilities and countermeasures, software development and debugging, network protocols, and those with expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) are strongly encouraged to apply.

Relevant experience in multimodal data, to include: speech, image, video or text processing and/or data science, applied machine learning or artificial intelligence across the disciplines of Human Language Technology (HLT), Computer Vision (CV), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU). Additionally, applicants with experience in visualization, data analysis, machine learning model research, development, and evaluation, data engineering, multilingual and multimodal modeling, automatic speech recognition (ASR) or language modeling, large language models (LLM) or related topics are strongly encouraged to apply.

Candidates with knowledge, skills and experience in high performance computing are also strongly encouraged to apply; in particular, processor and system architectures and networks, memory, tasking (accelerators, parallelism, resource management, heterogeneous computing), productivity (systems modeling & simulation, evaluation, prototyping and benchmarking), scalable algorithms, programming languages (Python, C++, Rust) and libraries, and hardware-software co-design.

Candidates with knowledge and experience in future telecommunication networks (5G/6G), IoT security, device management, machine learning technologies, Linux or Windows programming and debugging, software design and development, virtualization/containers, Cloud, Trusted Computing, and other specialized computer platforms are strongly encouraged to apply.

Desired Skills:

Applicants should have excellent problem-solving, communication, and interpersonal skills, and possess a range of knowledge and experience in at least two of the following areas:

- Programming (low level, high level, parallel)
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- Foundation models (FMs) (Large Language Models (LLMs), as well as models for other modalities) - Simulation/model development and prototyping
- Software engineering
- Hardware engineering
- Architectures and Distributed Computing
- Algorithm analysis and design
- Reverse engineering
- Operating systems and/or device driver development (desktop/server/RTOS)
- Cybersecurity/Computer Network Defense
- Trustworthy systems
- Computer and network security
- Telecommunication systems

Required Documents

The National Security Agency (NSA) is part of the DoD Intelligence Community Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS). All positions in the NSA are in the Excepted Services under 10 United States Codes (USC) 1601 appointment authority. DoD Components with DCIPS positions apply Veterans' Preference to eligible candidates as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 USC, in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 2005, DCIPS Employment and Placement. If you are a veteran claiming veterans' preference, as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., you may be asked to submit documents verifying your eligibility.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

To apply, please visit: https://apply.intelligencecareers.gov/job-description/1248056

Agency contact information

NSA POC
Address
NSA External Hiring
9800 Savage Road
Fort Meade, MD 20755
US

Next steps

For more information, please visit: https://apply.intelligencecareers.gov/job-description/1248056


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