Leidos

Cyber-Physical Systems Reverse Engineer

Leidos  •  $108k - $195k/yr  •  United States (Onsite)  •  1 day ago
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Job Description

Who We Are:

Kudu Dynamics is Leidos Owned Company, forged out of a decade of experience in computer network operations and staffed with talent who have built, overseen, and enhanced capabilities throughout the entire USG arsenal. Our team of hackers and engineers have experience spanning centuries of research, development, and operations missions - across desktop, mobile, IoT, and embedded platforms. Kudu Dynamics, a Leidos company is uniquely qualified to anticipate tomorrow’s threats and build the next generation of capabilities.

We are looking for a Cyber-Physical Systems Reverse Engineer to support a new project researching and developing novel capabilities for maritime cybersecurity. This is the kind of job where you get to poke at real systems, ask why something behaved differently than expected, and keep digging when the answer is, "Huh, that's weird."

This role focuses on understanding how complex embedded and cyber-physical systems actually behave, not just how they were intended to behave. On our team, you will work hands-on with real embedded systems and operational technology in a lab environment, analyzing hardware, firmware, communications interfaces, and interactions between components. You will reverse engineer and emulate embedded devices, develop automated methods for exploring system behavior, and design experiments to identify unexpected or emergent behaviors, undocumented features, or even bugs and misconfigurations. This role calls for the creative application of multiple skill sets across embedded systems, firmware, software, hardware, and cybersecurity. You may find yourself building test harnesses and automated workflows, instrumenting analog and digital systems, integrating physical devices with software analysis and cyber reasoning tools, and developing code.

Responsibilities Include:

  • Develop, integrate, and debug embedded firmware for real-time and

resource-constrained systems, including RTOS-based applications, device drivers, hardware interfaces, and low-level system software

  • Design and implement simulation, emulation, and automated test environments for embedded and cyber-physical systems, including tools for exploring system behavior, reproducing observed effects, and exercising hardware and firmware
  • Analyze and reverse engineer embedded devices, firmware, communications protocols, sensors, and other system components to understand both intended functionality and real-world behavior
  • Develop production-quality C/C++ and Python software to automate testing,

instrumentation, experimentation, and analysis, including integration with laboratory hardware and software-based analysis tools

  • Conduct hands-on laboratory testing using embedded debugging tools and analog/digital instrumentation; critically analyze, document, and communicate technical findings.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Experience developing embedded firmware in C/C++, including real-time systems, RTOS concepts, interrupts, concurrency, memory-mapped I/O, device drivers, and hardware peripherals
  • Experience with embedded hardware and common communications interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, USB, Ethernet, or wireless interfaces, including debugging hardware/software interactions
  • Experience developing simulation, emulation, automated testing, or hardware/software test harnesses for embedded systems
  • Proficiency with Python or similar scripting languages for automation, testing, analysis, and development of engineering tools
  • Experience using embedded development and diagnostic equipment such as

JTAG/SWD debuggers, logic/protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, function generators, or similar instrumentation.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications:

  • Experience reverse engineering embedded devices and firmware, including use of tools such as Ghidra, Binary Ninja, IDA Pro, or similar tools and the ability to analyze assembly for one or more processor architectures.
  • Experience with program analysis and vulnerability research techniques such as fuzzing, symbolic execution, static/dynamic analysis, binary exploitation, and modern exploit mitigations.
  • Experience with processor or full-system emulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), or development of custom models for processors, peripherals, sensors, or other embedded components.
  • Experience with digital signal processing, RF systems, software-defined radio, wireless communications, audio/signal processing, or MATLAB-based modeling and analysis.
  • Understanding of digital and analog circuits, hardware reverse engineering, low-level computer architecture, and the interaction between software, firmware, and physical system behavior.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

September 9, 2026

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range:

Pay Range $107,900.00 - $195,050.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Leidos

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500® innovation company rapidly addressing the world’s most vexing challenges in national security and health. The company's global workforce of 48,000 collaborates to create smarter technology solutions for customers in heavily regulated industries. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $15.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2023.

Leidos was cited for the meaningful work employees perform that is challenging, impactful, and aligned with our customers’ missions as reasons professionals want to work and stay at our company. Leidos has also been named to lists including Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity, Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Women, Military Times Best for Vets Employers, and Ethisphere Institute’s World's Most Ethical Companies®.

Employees enjoy career enrichment opportunities available through mobility and development and experience rewarding relationships with supportive supervisors and talented colleagues and customers. Employees appreciate our flexible work environment, allowing for and encouraging a true work-life balance. Our professionals are also excited about our Employee Resource Groups, like the Collaborative Outreach with Remote and Embedded Employees (CORE), which strives to create an environment where every employee, regardless of location, feels fully engaged as a valued employee of Leidos.

Your most important work is ahead, visit careers.leidos.com for our latest opportunities.

Industry
Aviation & Aerospace
Company Size
10,000+ employees
Headquarters
Reston, Virginia
Year Founded
1969
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