Senior Vulnerability Researcher (Cyber262)
Research Innovations6 months ago
St. Petersburg, FL, USASenior
Responsibilities
- Lead advanced vulnerability research across operating systems, kernels, firmware, hypervisors, embedded platforms, and complex application stacks.
- Scope ambiguous attack surfaces and drive research from initial hypotheses through validated findings.
- Reverse engineer compiled binaries across x86/x64, ARM, PowerPC, and other architectures and perform in-memory analysis.
- Design novel exploitation techniques and evaluate security mitigations.
- Analyze undocumented system behavior and extend internal interfaces or tooling to support research goals.
- Collaborate with senior researchers to shape technical direction, review complex work, and improve research quality.
- Translate low-level technical findings into actionable insights for internal stakeholders and customers when appropriate.
- Mentor researchers and contribute to research tools, methodologies, workflows, and knowledge sharing.
Requirements
- Active US Top Secret security clearance and ability to upgrade to TS/SCI Special Access Program access.
- Demonstrated high-impact vulnerability research on real-world systems with minimal guidance.
- Deep understanding of Windows, Linux, macOS, operating system internals, kernel subsystems, and low-level execution models.
- Experience reverse engineering complex binaries, firmware, or kernel components and analyzing their behavior in memory.
- Experience developing proof-of-concept exploits or mitigation bypasses with meaningful impact.
- Understanding of ASLR, DEP/NX, stack canaries, CFI, and weaknesses in their assumptions.
- Ability to write research tooling, scripts, or frameworks using technologies such as Python and C.
- Strong collaboration, technical review, mentorship, and written and verbal communication skills.
- Preferred experience with hypervisors, virtualization stacks, firmware boot chains, trusted execution environments, embedded systems, RTOS environments, iOS, Android, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular security, symbolic execution, constraint solving, fuzzing frameworks, advanced program analysis, malware analysis, deobfuscation, behavioral analysis, or adversarial tooling.
- Preferred contributions to the vulnerability research community through publications, talks, or open source, and interest in shaping research direction or serving as a technical authority.
Benefits
- Flexible work schedules; positions are located in St. Petersburg, FL, Melbourne, FL, or San Antonio, TX.
- Health insurance, paid time off, 401(k) with company match, paid parental leave, and wellness programs are provided from day one.
- Office amenities include a community game room, pantry, massage chair, escape room, community ambassadors, and regular community events.
About Research Innovations
Research Innovations Inc. develops mission software and R&D solutions for U.S. defense, intelligence, and cyber agencies, with select international clients, including Joint All-Domain Command and Control, data integration, situational awareness, and cyber operations tooling. The privately held company, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, delivers products and services primarily through government contracts and programs.