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Systems Security Engineer

Location: Phoenix, AZ
Company Stage of Funding: Early-Stage / Defense Technology Startup
Office Type: Onsite, Full-Time
Salary: Competitive (based on experience)
Security Clearance: Ability to obtain U.S. Secret clearance required

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1. Company Description

We’re representing a defense technology company building autonomous swarm systems designed for demanding national security environments. Their fleet of autonomous unmanned ground vehicles operates across embedded, edge, and cloud environments, combining GPU-accelerated computing, secure communications, and distributed fleet management infrastructure.

The company is scaling rapidly and building its security posture from first principles. Security is not an afterthought — it is core to the product. This role will sit at the center of ensuring resilience, compliance, and mission readiness across embedded platforms, vehicle-to-cloud communications, and cloud-hosted services.

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2. What You Will Do

As a Systems Security Engineer, you will own and execute the company’s end-to-end security strategy across embedded systems, cloud infrastructure, and compliance programs. This is a hands-on individual contributor role with full ownership of technical security architecture and operational execution.

You will:

• Design and implement secure system architectures across embedded platforms, GPU-accelerated systems, and cloud-hosted services.

• Architect and enforce cloud security controls (IAM, network segmentation, encryption, multi-tenancy, and zero-trust patterns).

• Secure embedded systems including secure boot, trusted execution environments, firmware security, key management, and hardware security modules.

• Protect heterogeneous CPU/GPU systems (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson-class platforms).

• Secure vehicle-to-cloud communications and distributed system protocols.

• Conduct threat modeling, vulnerability analysis, and system-level security assessments.

• Implement continuous monitoring, vulnerability tracking, and remediation processes.

• Lead compliance and accreditation activities, including preparation of documentation for Authority to Operate (ATO).

• Align systems with federal cybersecurity frameworks such as NIST, FISMA, and CMMC.

• Brief security architectures and compliance status to government stakeholders and leadership.

• Coordinate security incident response activities.

• Establish internal security policies and scalable monitoring processes as the company grows.

This role requires building systems and processes from scratch in a fast-paced startup environment where execution and ownership are critical.

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3. Ideal Background

The ideal candidate is a technically deep security engineer who thrives in complex cyber-physical systems and defense environments.

• 6+ years of experience in systems security engineering or cybersecurity.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related field.

• Experience securing complex embedded systems, including firmware, hardware security modules, and key management.

• Experience designing security architectures for cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

• Strong network security fundamentals (firewalls, VPNs, TLS/mTLS, secure communications, zero-trust models).

• Experience securing distributed systems and vehicle-to-cloud communication pipelines.

• Experience conducting vulnerability analysis and system-level security assessments.

• Experience supporting compliance and accreditation processes, including ATO preparation.

• Working knowledge of federal cybersecurity frameworks (NIST, FISMA, CMMC, etc.).

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance.

• Strong communication skills and ability to operate as the primary security owner.

• Comfortable working onsite in Phoenix, AZ.

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4. Preferred

• Experience serving as the primary security engineer at an early-stage hardware, robotics, or defense company.

• Background in autonomous systems, robotics, aerospace, or cyber-physical platforms.

• Active U.S. TS/SCI clearance.

• Strong programming experience in C++ and Python.

• Experience securing GPU environments (CUDA, TensorRT).

• Experience with penetration testing or red teaming for embedded systems.

• Experience with container security, infrastructure-as-code scanning, secrets management, and SIEM/SOAR tooling.

• Familiarity with ROS or robotics software stacks.

• Experience with supply chain risk management and system-level testing processes.

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5. Compensation and Benefits

• Compensation: Competitive salary based on experience.

• Work Model: Full-time, onsite in Phoenix, AZ.

• Clearance: Ability to obtain and maintain U.S. Secret clearance required (active clearance not required at hire).

• Impact: Direct ownership of the security posture of autonomous systems deployed in national security environments.

• Growth: Opportunity to architect and scale security from the ground up in a high-impact defense startup.

Mission Alignment:

This role is ideal for engineers motivated by contributing to the defense of the United States and its allies.

Equal Opportunity:

The company is committed to equal employment opportunity and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local employment laws.

Salary Range: $150,000-160,000 base. https://www.recruitingfromscratch.com/