Senior Software Engineer

Fort Meade, MD
Full Time
992005
Experienced
Belay Technologies has been voted Baltimore Business Journal's (BBJ) Best Places to Work 2026!
 
Belay Technologies is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our intel team. We are seeking an experienced Software Engineer to design, develop, and integrate AI-enabled capabilities supporting computer network exploitation (CNE) and vulnerability research (VR). This role combines strong software engineering fundamentals with practical knowledge of vulnerability research, program analysis, and AI-assisted research workflows. We are particularly interested in candidates with hands-on experience conducting dynamic vulnerability research in isolated sandbox environments. You will independently own complex features and subsystems, translate mission needs into technical designs, and deliver reliable software from prototype through deployment. You will develop agentic AI harnesses that connect large language models, research tools, instrumented execution environments, and backend services to support repeatable, evidence-driven analysis. Working with vulnerability researchers, AI/ML engineers, and mission stakeholders, you will make sound architectural decisions, evaluate AI-generated findings, and improve the quality and effectiveness of research workflows. This position also includes mentoring engineers and contributing to technical direction and engineering standards.

Responsibilities:
  • Design, develop, and maintain AI-enabled software and research tooling supporting CNE and vulnerability research workflows.
  • Own the design and delivery of complex features and subsystems, including requirements refinement, implementation, testing, deployment, and sustainment.
  • Develop and integrate agentic AI harnesses that orchestrate research tools, manage execution state, collect evidence, and evaluate results.
  • Build and extend sandbox-based dynamic analysis capabilities for executing and observing software, capturing runtime behavior, and reproducing suspected vulnerabilities.
  • Integrate debugging, instrumentation, fuzzing, crash analysis, and related research tools into automated or researcher-directed workflows.
  • Establish repeatable evaluations that measure finding validity, reproducibility, false-positive rates, and the usefulness of AI-assisted analysis.
  • Develop backend services, APIs, data pipelines, and user interfaces that make research capabilities accessible and results traceable.
  • Troubleshoot complex issues across application code, AI integrations, research tooling, and execution environments; improve performance, reliability, and observability.
  • Lead design and code reviews within assigned areas, document technical decisions, mentor engineers, and communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs to stakeholders.
Skills Requirements:
  • Demonstrated experience independently designing, implementing, testing, and delivering complex software features or subsystems, with sound judgment about architecture, maintainability, and operational requirements.
  • Proficiency in Python and experience building maintainable, tested software using modular design and appropriate object-oriented programming practices.
  • Demonstrated expertise in AI-enabled CNE or vulnerability research, including integrating AI capabilities into research workflows and critically evaluating their outputs.
  • Experience with vulnerability research or software analysis techniques, such as reverse engineering, debugging, dynamic analysis, fuzzing, or crash triage.
  • Working knowledge of isolated execution environments and dynamic analysis concepts, including runtime instrumentation, execution tracing, environment reproducibility, and evidence collection.
  • Experience developing LLM applications or agentic systems that use external tools, structured outputs, workflow state, error handling, and evaluation.
  • Experience developing backend services and REST APIs using frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django, and working with relational databases such as PostgreSQL.
  • Experience working in Linux environments, with an understanding of operating system behavior, processes, memory, and networking relevant to software analysis.
  • Experience using Git, automated testing, CI/CD, and code review to deliver reliable software collaboratively.
  • Ability to translate ambiguous requirements into actionable technical work, explain technical tradeoffs, and provide effective guidance to other engineers.
Nice to Haves:
  • Strongly preferred: Hands-on experience conducting dynamic vulnerability research in sandbox environments, including configuring instrumented targets, controlling execution, capturing runtime evidence, and reproducing findings across clean environment resets.
  • Experience building AI agents that interact with debuggers, fuzzers, emulators, or other analysis tools within controlled research environments.
  • Experience with virtualization, emulation, snapshots, and automated provisioning of repeatable analysis environments.
  • Experience with C/C++, assembly, binary analysis, memory corruption analysis, or operating system internals.
  • Experience designing evaluation datasets and benchmarks for AI-assisted vulnerability discovery, triage, or validation.
  • Experience with retrieval-augmented generation, vector databases, or search platforms such as Elasticsearch, Qdrant, or ChromaDB.
  • Experience building researcher-facing interfaces using TypeScript, React, or comparable technologies.
  • Contributions to vulnerability research, security tooling, open-source projects, or relevant technical publications.
Candidates should have the following qualifications: 
  • TS/SCI Clearance with polygraph
  • 12 yrs., B.S. in a technical discipline or 4 additional yrs. in place of B.S.

Perks and Benefits:
  • 8 weeks paid leave - 4 weeks of personal leave, 3 Yay! days, take off on your birthday,11 paid holidays and optional leave up to 6 days through Belay's volunteer program
  • 10% matching in 401(k) contributions vested on day one
  • $5,000 annual training/tuition
  • Student Loan Repayment Program
  • 100% company-funded HSA
  • Rich medical coverage (100% coinsurance)
  • Dental coverage including orthodontia
  • Up to $420,000 in life insurance, premiums 100% company funded
  • Amazon Prime, gym reimbursement, monthly lunches, games and prizes
  • Pet adoption program, generous referral bonus program, fun events, and more!
 
At Belay, we are committed to creating an environment where you can thrive both professionally and personally.  We believe in transparency and fairness in compensation. Several factors influence final salary including, but not limited to, geographic location, Federal Government contract labor categories and contract wage rates, relevant prior work experience, education, specific skills and competencies and certifications. Belay offers a competitive total compensation package that includes benefits and perks, a flexible work-life balance, and career development.

Salary Range: $190,000 to $240,000

Belay Technologies is a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business located in Columbia, Maryland (Baltimore/Washington area). Belay Technologies specializes in systems automation and full stack development. Belay Technologies provides leading technology and engineering solutions to the DoD, as well as state-of-the-art commercial products. We hire software engineers, web designers, test engineers, systems engineers, systems administrators, database engineers and other tech services. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.
 
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