Principal Security Researcher - IC4

Discipline: Reverse Engineering / Vulnerability Research
Location: Rome, NY
Clearance: Secret with the ability to obtain and maintain TS/SCI

Company Overview

Clarity Innovations equips customers with the technology, expertise, and support needed to conduct successful cyber operations. We bring together talented engineers, researchers, and operators to solve some of the U.S. Government’s most challenging technical problems. Our teams combine technical excellence, creativity, and collaboration to deliver capabilities that advance customer missions.

Role

Clarity Innovations is seeking a Senior Principal Security Researcher to provide advanced technical leadership for complex vulnerability research and reverse engineering efforts. You will remain hands-on while guiding investigations through ambiguous technical problems and delivering capabilities that support customer-authorized objectives.

You will lead research efforts with a major impact on the research function and departmental results. In addition to delivering technical findings, you will improve research methods, systems, and practices; influence stakeholders within and outside the immediate team; and coach other professionals. This is an individual contributor role with technical leadership responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex research efforts from strategy and feasibility assessment through execution, validation, and delivery; establish technical priorities and success criteria.
• Resolve difficult research problems through advanced static and dynamic analysis across relevant systems, architectures, and operating environments.
• Guide vulnerability discovery, root-cause analysis, exploit development, and mitigation bypass for authorized customer requirements.
• Evaluate exploit reliability and research evidence, resolve conflicting findings, and establish appropriate technical review and validation practices.
• Improve processes, systems, and work methods across the research function to increase quality, repeatability, and effectiveness.
• Guide development of reusable tooling, automation, and research infrastructure that support broader team needs.
• Influence stakeholders within and outside the research team on research practices, technical procedures, and proposed policy improvements.
• Lead technical coordination for small to medium-sized research teams, manage technical dependencies, and communicate tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations.
• Coach and train other professionals, review technical work, and communicate findings to customers and partners; share research externally when authorized.

Minimum Qualifications

• Secret security clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI security clearance; U.S. citizenship is required.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent experience, and a minimum of 7 years of prior relevant experience.
• Advanced knowledge of vulnerability research and reverse engineering, with demonstrated ownership of complex investigations and technically sound research outcomes.
• Experience using Ghidra, Binary Ninja, IDA, or comparable reverse engineering and disassembly tools.
• Strong knowledge of Linux fundamentals, including sockets, file descriptors, networking, iptables, file systems, and kernel behavior; ability to troubleshoot basic networking issues.
• Strong understanding of TCP/IP, routing, switching, and common network protocols, with experience using packet capture and analysis tools such as Wireshark or tcpdump to troubleshoot connectivity and investigate network-based vulnerabilities.
• Ability to read and write C and analyze assembly for architectures such as ARM, MIPS, or x86-64.
• Strong programming fundamentals, including networking, data structures, and data models.
• Experience developing reliable exploits, applying techniques such as arbitrary read/write primitives and return- or jump-oriented programming, and evaluating modern mitigations.
• Demonstrated technical leadership, including improving research processes, systems, or methods beyond an individual assignment.
• Experience influencing stakeholders within and outside the immediate team, explaining technical tradeoffs, and providing guidance, coaching, or training to other professionals.
• Experience participating in capture-the-flag competitions, hackathons, or other cybersecurity competitions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active Top Secret security clearance.
• Experience reverse engineering operating systems and kernels.
• Experience with AFL++ or libFuzzer and security mechanisms such as SELinux, seccomp, ASLR, and control-flow integrity.
• Experience with GDB, gdbserver, compiler toolchains, and the Android Native Development Kit.
• Experience using QEMU or Unicorn to emulate code in non-native environments.
• Demonstrated experience discovering previously unknown vulnerabilities, including zero-days.
• Experience leading technical reviews and research teams, establishing shared research practices, and guiding customer discussions on research priorities.