Principal Systems Security Engineer (SSE)

Location: Remote, with occasional travel to designated company locations

Security Clearance: Active DoD Secret Clearance Required

Travel: Up to 15%, depending on location

Position Overview

Mercury Systems is seeking an experienced Principal Systems Security Engineer to support the development of next-generation rugged, secure embedded processing solutions for mission-critical aerospace and defense applications. In this role, you will work within the Processing Technology business unit, contributing to the design, integration, verification, and delivery of advanced secure computing products. You will play a critical role in developing and implementing security solutions that protect sensitive technologies against reverse engineering, unauthorized access, tampering, and exploitation.

The ideal candidate brings a strong background in systems engineering, embedded security, and anti-tamper technologies, along with experience developing secure processing solutions for Department of Defense (DoD) applications. This position offers the opportunity to collaborate with multidisciplinary engineering teams and influence security architectures across multiple product lines and business units.

Key Responsibilities

Systems Engineering & Product Development

• Support the design, development, integration, verification, and delivery of rugged, secure embedded processing systems.
• Develop, analyze, and manage system-level requirements, ensuring alignment with customer specifications and security objectives.
• Apply systems engineering principles throughout the product development lifecycle, including system architecture, design, integration, testing, and verification/validation.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, firmware, and systems engineering teams to integrate security capabilities into embedded processing platforms.
• Support the development of secure processing solutions for DoD and other mission-critical applications.

Systems Security & Anti-Tamper Engineering

• Design, develop, implement, and evaluate anti-tamper technologies to protect critical hardware, software, and intellectual property.
• Develop security solutions addressing reverse engineering, unauthorized access, exploitation, and system tampering.
• Apply hardware- and software-based security protections, including secure boot, encryption, and embedded security mechanisms.
• Conduct vulnerability assessments, threat modeling, and risk analyses to identify potential security weaknesses and attack vectors.
• Develop and recommend mitigation strategies to address identified vulnerabilities and security risks.
• Contribute to cybersecurity strategies, security architectures, and key management planning.
• Support the integration and validation of security controls within real-time embedded systems.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work within a matrixed engineering organization alongside systems engineers, Chief Engineers, program managers, and other technical stakeholders.
• Collaborate with business development, operations, supply chain, and leadership teams to support customer and program objectives.
• Provide technical guidance and recommendations related to systems security, embedded security architectures, and anti-tamper solutions.
• Participate in technical reviews and engineering discussions to ensure security requirements are incorporated throughout product development.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or another STEM-related discipline.
• 6+ years of professional experience in Systems Engineering.
• Demonstrated experience applying systems engineering principles, including requirements development and management, system design, integration, and verification/validation.
• Experience with Systems Security Engineering (SSE), reverse engineering, and embedded systems security.
• Experience designing, implementing, or testing real-time embedded security solutions for DoD platforms.
• Hands-on experience developing or implementing anti-tamper technologies, including hardware/software protections, secure boot, and encryption.
• Experience with cybersecurity principles and/or cryptographic key management planning.
• Experience conducting vulnerability assessments, threat modeling, and risk analysis to identify security threats and develop mitigation strategies.
• Strong technical problem-solving, analytical, and cross-functional communication skills.
• U.S. citizenship and an active U.S. government-issued DoD Secret security clearance required prior to start.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or higher in Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related STEM discipline.
• Advanced knowledge of anti-tamper technologies, secure processing architectures, encryption, and hardware/software security protections.
• Familiarity with security-focused, state-of-the-art FPGAs and Intel CPU architectures.
• Experience with the design, integration, testing, and fielding of secure embedded systems.
• Familiarity with VPX architectures and/or rack-mounted server hardware.
• Experience with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools, such as Cameo Enterprise Architect.
• Experience with engineering and collaboration tools, including Jama, Confluence, Jira, and Bitbucket.
• Ability to travel up to 15%, depending on location and program requirements.

Work Location & Travel

This position offers remote work flexibility, provided the employee can report to a designated Mercury Systems location when required for meetings, collaboration, testing, or other business needs. Eligible company locations include: Hudson, NH; Phoenix, AZ; Huntsville, AL; Cypress, CA; West Lafayette, IN; Gainesville, FL. Travel of up to 15% may be required depending on the employee's location and program needs.