Duties

The .gov Program at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is looking for an experienced software engineer to lead efforts to develop a new, open-source registrar for .gov domains and deliver related services for enhancing their security, privacy, reliability, accessibility, and speed. The .gov top-level domain (TLD) is only available to U.S.-based government organizations and publicly controlled entities.

This role will have a direct impact on the security of thousands of online services relied on by Federal, State, tribal, territorial, and local governments throughout the United States - and their millions of users. The .gov registrar is being developed at https://github.com/cisagov/getgov . In this greenfield work, you will have the opportunity to shape how governments manage and secure DNS infrastructure, how the .gov registry authenticates and authorizes registrant organizations and domains, and how CISA maintains insight into a trusted and trustworthy namespace for governments.

As a DHS Cybersecurity Service Employee in the Technical Track, at the Staff Cybersecurity Specialist level, you will continually maintain and share your expert/resident-level Cybersecurity Engineering expertise to perform a range of critical, routine and non-routine tasks, including:

• Working with users to understand needs, collaborating with product design leaders to develop and document solutions, and incrementally delivering value.
• Participating in code review, architecture discussions, and feature prioritization.
• Researching and evaluating strategic, technological opportunities for enhancing the capabilities and resilience of the .gov top-level domain (TLD) users.
• Deploying high-quality, well-tested, and maintainable code in common cloud platforms.
• Serving as a technical expert and mentor to other team members and developers working in the .gov Program and learning from other developers and team members.
• Maintaining documentation to support the agency's security management and governance processes.
• Advising CISA leadership on cybersecurity operations or policy with support from the .gov top-level domain program manager.

DHS Cybersecurity Service employees with a technical capability in Cybersecurity Engineering will generally:

• Conduct software, hardware, and systems engineering to develop new and refine/enhance existing technical capabilities, ensuring full integration with security objectives, principles, and processes
• Build practical solutions in full consideration of lifecycle of costs, acquisitions, program and projects, management, and budget
• Identify engineering requirements for, and ensure interoperability of, internal and external systems
• Demonstrate strategic risk understanding, considering impact of security breaches or vulnerabilities in every aspect of the engineering process.
• Stay current on emerging technologies, and their applications to current and emerging business processes (e.g., cloud, mobile) to identify and recommend methods for incorporating promising technologies to meet organizational cybersecurity requirements.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen or national.
• You must be 18 years of age.
• Must be registered for the Selective Service (if you are a male).
• Must be able to successfully complete a background investigation.
• Must be able to submit to a drug test and receive a negative result.
• Must be able to comply with ethics and standards of conduct requirements, including completing any applicable financial disclosure.
• May be required to serve a 3 year probationary period.

Qualifications

DHS Cybersecurity Service employees start at career levels and salaries matching their experience and expertise. In recruiting for this opportunity, DHS may hire employees at higher or lower career levels and associated salaries.This position is in the Technical Track at the Staff Cybersecurity Specialist career level. Staff Cybersecurity Specialist generally:

• Have 8+ years of cybersecurity work experience and
• Are capable of serving as a resident cybersecurity expert who applies significant technical expertise to develop solutions for critical, non-routine challenges

This position is focused on Cybersecurity Engineering.

DHS Cybersecurity Service jobs are structured cybersecurity specializations - called technical capabilities. To learn more about technical capabilities, visit our application portal .

DESIRED TOOLS/INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE:

• Experience developing and delivering features from back-end and front-end in a system with significant business value.
• A background working on cross-functional, multidisciplinary teams that deliver digital products and services in an incremental, user-focused environment.
• Familiarity with the DNS protocol and ecosystem (root zone, authoritative name servers, resource records, top-level domains, resolvers, registrars, registries, etc.)

Education

Degrees are not required for jobs in the DHS Cybersecurity Service, but DHS is interested in your level of education and the topics you studied. As you submit initial application information, you will be asked questions about your education.

Additional information

Salary: Listed salary ranges reflects typical starting salaries available to employees in most of the United States across applicable career levels. Within the provided range, average salaries vary for each career level.

Staff Cybersecurity Specialist: $128,250 - $141,750

In some geographic areas, average starting salaries will be higher because of a local cybersecurity labor market supplement (e.g., metro Washington, D.C. +10%).

Actual salaries of individual employees may be higher or lower than provided figures. For an overview of the salaries available in the DHS Cybersecurity Service, visit Resources .

Benefits: DHS Cybersecurity Service employees receive a range of federal employment benefits designed to support their professional and personal lives. To learn more about benefits, visit our application portal .

More information about the specific benefits available to you will be provided as you progress through the application process.

Background Investigation: To ensure the accomplishment of its mission, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requires each and every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo and successfully complete a background investigation for a security clearance as a condition of placement in this position. This review includes financial issues such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs.

Pursuant to Executive Order 12564 and DHS policy, DHS is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace and, therefore, conducts random and other drug testing of its employees in order to ensure a safe and healthy work environment. Headquarters personnel in safety- or security-sensitive positions are subject to random drug testing and all applicants tentatively selected for employment at DHS Headquarters are subject to drug testing resulting in a negative test result.