Research and Development Lead (Cybersecurity)

Location: Fairfax, Virginia, United States; work in the Arlington, VA office. US citizenship is required, with the ability to obtain Public Trust Suitability.

Salary: $118,000–$177,000 per year.

Company

hirify.global Federal delivers advanced technology solutions in data and AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise transformation for defense, intelligence, and federal civilian agencies. The role supports the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation cyber data solution for CISA and DHS.

What you will do

• Lead a team of 1–5 engineers as a hands-on technical lead for R&D and innovative solution development.
• Define and execute a repeatable analysis program driven by customer needs and traceable outcomes.
• Rapidly prototype solutions, validate technical feasibility, identify risks, and compare alternatives through trade studies.
• Collaborate with architecture, development, and infrastructure leads to select technologies, define requirements, and maintain an R&D development lab.
• Ensure solutions meet scalability, maintainability, reliability, and security requirements and remain extensible for future needs.
• Communicate and present technical vision, analysis, and implementation plans to DHS, system integrators, user groups, senior government leaders, and development teams.

Requirements

• US citizenship with the ability to obtain Public Trust Suitability.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience developing enterprise production solutions.
• 3+ years of solution architecture experience involving rapid prototyping and analysis of multiple solution options.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional development and infrastructure teams.
• Strong communication and presentation skills for producing robust analysis documentation.
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity concepts, including threat modeling, vulnerability management, and incident response.
• Familiarity with cloud computing and scalable cloud architectures.
• Experience with code repositories, ALM tools, and big data platforms.

Nice to have

• Ability to obtain a TS security clearance and be SCI eligible.
• Experience as a technical lead for enterprise-wide software development or COTS integration programs.
• Experience conducting trade studies and selecting solutions based on analysis.
• Experience coordinating work in an Agile environment, especially SAFe, Scrum, or Kanban.
• Understanding of current cyber exploits, attack methodology, and detection techniques.
• Cloud workload experience, especially AWS.

Culture & Benefits

• Fast-paced, highly collaborative environment focused on problem-solving, critical thinking, and mission delivery.
• Work within the Scaled Agile Framework and a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Benefits information is provided by hirify.global.
• Equal opportunity employment environment.