Principal Identity Cybersecurity Engineer

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.

Department Summary:

The L527 Cryptography, ICAM, and System Assurance department is comprised of an inspired multi-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners driving innovation in the department’s technical areas of focus, with particular emphasis in Cryptography; System Assurance; and Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM). We develop and apply scalable approaches for systems and software, evaluate technology and solutions, lead and foster external partnerships within the communities we support, and conduct novel research and development. We serve in critical roles including:

• Aiding the Federal Government as a community in architecting and applying modern ICAM technologies to secure systems, software, and protocols. We specialize in the application of well-founded ICAM techniques including the design and application of emerging ICAM technologies for security and privacy, zero trust architectures, post-quantum cryptography, non-human and agentic identity, and secure multi-party federation, among others.
• Developing strategies, assessing policy and technical constraints, and facilitating the deployment of ICAM solutions into cloud, hybrid, and on-premises infrastructures for enterprise and tactical environments. As senior trusted advisors and leaders within the ICAM community internally and external to MITRE, we apply our knowledge of industry trends, advances in commercial technology, and relevant industry standards and protocols to inform our sponsors’ decision-making.
• Working at the intersection of Cybersecurity and AI on trustworthy approaches to applying AI to ICAM applications (e.g., autonomous network defense, assessing code for software weaknesses) as well as developing and applying frameworks for evaluating the assurance of AI-based techniques.
• Performing research and development, evaluation and testing and operational support for high-priority sponsor mission applications, MITRE Labs strategic initiatives, and MITRE’s internal research and development program.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Translate mission needs into ICAM technical requirements, interfaces, and measurable outcomes.
• Design and assess Zero‑Trust‑aligned ICAM architectures and reference designs.
• Engineer authentication, authorization, and federation solutions (e.g., SAML/OIDC, step‑up auth) and manage credentials/trust services (PKI, certificates).
• Lead Identity Governance & Administration (IGA) including provisioning, joiner‑mover‑leaver workflows, and authoritative source integration.
• Develop, evaluate, and steer RBAC/ABAC/PBAC models, entitlement/attribute strategies, and privileged‑access controls.
• Build solutions for constrained environments (limited connectivity, offline sync) and define test strategies, roadmaps, and integration plans.
• Partner with security assessors and stakeholders to ensure auditable solutions that map to required controls.
• Collaborate with engineers, integrators, and vendors on technology evaluation, trade studies, reusable assets, and mentorship.

Basic Qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a bachelor’s degree; or 8 years and a master’s degree; or a PhD with 5 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Strong analytical/problem-solving skills and sound technical judgment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results and collaborate across teams.
• Ability to work effectively in secure/classified environments.
• Continued employment on this work is contingent upon meeting and maintaining government security eligibility requirements (requirements may change based on sponsor needs).
• Must have an active Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
• This position requires a minimum of 4 days a week on-site

Preferred Qualifications:

• Degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or related field.
• Systems engineering experience (requirements, architecture, integration, test) and familiarity with development lifecycles.
• Experience applying security principles to enterprise architecture and system design.
• Strong understanding of ICAM concepts supporting a Zero Trust security model.
• Familiarity with threats/attack patterns relevant to identity and access systems.
• Interest in applied research and building reusable, scalable technical approaches.
• TS/SCI eligibility

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):

Top Secret

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):

Top Secret

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

$172,800 - $216,000 - $259,200 Annual

Work Location Type:

Onsite

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

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