NASA Mission System Security Risk Assessment Engineer

SAIC is seeking a Senior System Security Engineer (SSE) with extensive space mission and systems domain knowledge to join the NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Mission Protection Services (MPS) team and support Mission System Security Risk Assessments (MSSRA) efforts. The Senior SSE will lead system-level security analyses and assessments used to evaluate mission risks across complex spacecraft architectures and operational environments.

In this role, the Senior SSE will work closely with the customer and peers to oversee activities analyzing spacecraft architectures, interfaces, and operational behaviors to identify and roll up mission-level vulnerabilities and security risks that arise from system interactions, timing dependencies, and integrated mission environments. The position also supports planning, coordination, and analysis activities across multiple mission protection domains, skills, and efforts.

The Senior System Security Engineer (SSE) responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Lead functional and architectural system-level threat modeling and analysis supporting Mission System Security Risk Assessments (MSSRA) activities
• Analyze spacecraft architectures, interfaces, and mission operations to identify security vulnerabilities and mission risks
• Utilize Model-Based Mission Assurance (MBMA) and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) techniques and products to evaluate mission security and system interactions
• Assess hardware, software, and communications interfaces to identify attack surfaces and potential mission impacts
• Analyze spacecraft threat vectors including RF exploitation, command abuse, and PNT jamming/spoofing scenarios
• Evaluate cross-domain data relationships (cyber, RF, telemetry, and operational data) to assess mission impact and adversary kill chains
• Support hardware and software supply chain risk analysis and configuration control considerations
• Contribute to planning, coordination, and tracking of activities across mission protection domains and efforts
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineering teams performing modeling, simulation, and security analysis activities
• Work closely with the customer and peers to develop an analysis plan, approach, and detailed task schedule
• Communicate with internal and external customers on the plan, approach and status weekly

• Bachelors and nine (9) years or more experience; Masters and seven (7) years or more experience ; PhD or JD and four (4) years or more experience., * Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related technical discipline and 9 years or more relevant experience (will consider an additional 4+ years of relevant experience in lieu of degree), * At least one of the following certifications: CISM, CISSO, CISSP, CISSP-ISSEP, CISSP-ISSAP, CISA, CASP
• 5+ years of experience analyzing space system architectures, avionics, development processes, and operational concepts, including autonomous and degraded operational modes
• 5+ years of experience applying system security engineering principles, including threat modeling, attack surface analysis, and hardware/software vulnerability analysis
• 5+ years of experience applying MBSE / MBMA techniques, including modeling languages such as SysML and UML
• 5+ years of experience with system, software, or security risk assessment, management, and mitigation
• Demonstrated experience analyzing spacecraft threat vectors and cross-domain mission analysis across domains such as RF signal exploitation, command abuse, and PNT jamming or spoofing
• Knowledge of embedded systems architectures, including flight software, RTOS, firmware, and FPGA/ASIC logic
• Knowledge of space communication and data standards such as CCSDS Space Packet Protocol (SPP), SpaceWire, and MIL-STD variants
• Knowledge of cryptographic system design and implementation, including key management, authentication, and trust architectures
• Technical leadership and management of small to medium engineering teams

Clearance:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen with an active Top Secret Clearance and the ability to obtain a TS/SCI.