Senior Cyber Systems Engineer

Location: San Diego, California, with at least 4 days per week in the office and nearby government facilities. Hybrid workplace; travel of up to 10% may be required. Applicants must be able to obtain and maintain an active Secret U.S. Security Clearance.

Salary: $164,000–$328,000 per year, with pay ranges varying by experience, skills, and education.

Company

hirify.global delivers mission-critical software and systems solutions, automation, and digital engineering for U.S. government defense and weapon systems programs.

What you will do

• Lead RMF, ATO, IATT, IATO, and continuous Authority to Operate activities for mission-critical defense systems.
• Design secure architectures for autonomous systems, AI-driven platforms, edge-computing devices, and IL5/IL6 mission environments.
• Integrate SAST, DAST, IAST, software risk management, vulnerability scanning, STIG compliance, and container security into CI/CD pipelines.
• Develop and maintain RMF artifacts, including SSPs, SARs, SAPs, POA&Ms, inventories, diagrams, and continuous monitoring documentation.
• Secure Kubernetes and OCI-compliant container environments, virtualization platforms, identity and access systems, and Zero Trust architectures.
• Coordinate with Navy Authorizing Officials, Security Control Assessors, ISSMs, ISSOs, program managers, developers, engineers, and government organizations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, information assurance, computer science, information technology, or equivalent professional experience.
• DoD 8570/8140 IAM Level III certification, such as CISSP or CISM.
• 10+ years of cybersecurity or systems engineering experience in the Defense Industrial Base, with extensive RMF expertise.
• Experience with RMF artifacts, ATO activities, vulnerability remediation, ACAS/Nessus, SCAP, STIGs, eMASS, and PKI-based authentication.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, Kubernetes networking, service meshes, runtime security, ESXi, KVM, VDI, Terraform, Ansible, or comparable automation tools.
• Ability to obtain and maintain an active Secret U.S. Security Clearance and work on site in San Diego at least 4 days per week.

Nice to have

• Experience with the Department of the Navy RAISE 2.0 process, cATO/eATO, Overmatch Software Armory, ACS, or CANES architectures.
• Experience hardening Navy tactical environments and implementing automated security gates, SBOM generation, and container scanning.
• Experience identifying hardware and software purchases for specific operational use cases.

Culture & Benefits

• Entrepreneurial environment focused on defense technology, innovation, and rigorous problem-solving.
• Competitive benefits, paid time off, paid holidays, and 401(k) matching with immediate vesting.
• Optional 9/80 schedule with the second and fourth Friday off each month.
• Tuition assistance, professional development resources, and pre-tax commuter benefits.
• Monthly technology events, employee recognition awards, social events, and catered lunches.