Duties

There are a variety of Cybersecurity Research and Development opportunities across the Department, including supporting several specialized programs at the DHS Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans (PLCY), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Depending on your career level and role, DHS Cybersecurity Service employees in the Technical Career Track, with a technical capability in Cybersecurity Research and Development, will generally apply their expertise to perform a range of tasks, including:

• Performing technical and nontechnical testing on systems under development, evaluating and verifying hardware and/or software to determine compliance with defined specifications and requirements.

• Using known information to prioritize research and development activities and set strategic short- and long-term strategic thresholds and objectives to achieve the greatest impact.

• Proposing to stakeholders systematic and rigorous research solutions, initiatives and projects addressing current and future security threats and vulnerabilities.

• Designing, modeling, developing, and creating prototypes of capabilities to enhance cybersecurity infrastructures and detect vulnerabilities in networks, systems, or applications.

• Actively assessing developed cybersecurity capabilities against specifications and requirements to validate functionality at capability and sub-capability levels.

• Proactively performing validations of specifications and requirements for testability and making recommendations based on test results to inform future research planning for DHS or Component offices.

• Engaging with cybersecurity experts to discuss current events, marketplace developments, and emerging and projected threats to integrate new developments into planning activities.

• Applying knowledge of networks, systems or applications and evidence-based research results to adopted technologies, especially for emerging technologies and threats.

• Customizing communications on research and development planning and initiatives in support of mitigating any issues compromising DHS or Component security.

• Proactively Identifying and analyzing functional- and security-related features to find opportunities for new capability development and reduce risk.

• Working with HQ and/or Component experts to troubleshoot prototype design and process issues throughout the product design, development, and pre-launch phases assisting others who are less seasoned.

• Collaborating with internal and external DHS stakeholders to identify, develop, and evaluate capabilities for alignment or congruence with existing environment.

• Developing supporting documentation on research and development procedures applying a disciplined scientific approach in alignment with DHS or Component policies and procedures.