NSA's development programs help employees enhance their skills and improve their understanding of a specific discipline. The programs are generally three years long and feature rotational tours throughout the Agency.
Designed for entry to mid-level employees, development program participants are afforded the opportunity to receive tailored training, often with a cohort, and multiple assignments across Agency Directorates to develop skills and experience to ground their career at the NSA.
Are you driven by a passion to work at the cutting edge of technology? Do you dream to make the impossible possible? The National Security Agency is seeking highly motivated Computer Science and Computer/Electrical Engineering professionals to drive its mission to develop new capabilities, design new approaches, help solve complex problems, and research new solutions to propel our mission.
As a Capabilities Development Specialist (CDS), your job will be to develop custom high-priority offensive and defensive capabilities targeting the hardest-to-reach adversarial networks in the world. In defense of our Nation, we conduct innovative research and produce hardware and software tools unlike anything in the world. By joining our team, you will apply and grow your expertise to create new ways to get critical information to our national decision makers.
Whether it is in software, hardware, or cutting-edge research, if you are up for a challenge, have unbridled curiosity, and a drive to develop tomorrow's technologies and tools today, apply to join our team. Use your unique experiences and expertise to protect national security interests as part of the world's most advanced team of computer science and engineering professionals! Applicants will be considered for the Computer Network Operations Development Program (CNODP).
For additional information on development programs please visit: www.intelligencecareers.gov/NSA/nsadevprograms.html For any questions regarding CNODP, please email CNODP@nsa.gov.
If you have interests, skills, or experience in one or more of the following areas, we'd like to hear from you: - Software Specialties: Strong software development skills (C, C++, Assembly, ARM); Software RE/interactive debugging tools (e.g., Ghidra, OllyDbg, gdb); Software application vulnerability analysis and exploitation; Operating system internals; Mobile platform development and analysis; algorithmic analysis; prototyping.
- Malware Reverse Engineer: Perform advanced malware analysis/reverse engineering of specialized malware/complex files. CISSP, CEH, GREM, GPEN certifications are a plus.
- Hardware Specialties: Hardware RE, design, development, or testing (Verilog, VHDL, FPGA, PCB); Testing and debugging tools (JTAG, Oscilloscopes, etc.); Job roles may include: - Developing exploitation capabilities and analytics to enable foreign target network collection - Designing hardware components and systems to further signals intelligence missions - Analyzing sophisticated malware ** When submitting your application, please ensure that you fully populate all sections of the resume tool with all relevant skills, experience, and education, as the resume entered into the tool will be the primary resume used to evaluate your application.
Please do NOT populate the resume tool with 'see resume.' **
Degree must be in Computer Science (CS), Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field.
Degrees in Information Technology, Information Systems, Information Security, Networking (Systems Administration), Information Assurance, or Cybersecurity may be considered relevant if the programs contain, at minimum, a concentration of courses in the following foundational CS areas: algorithms; computer architecture (not network architecture); programming methodologies and languages; data structures; logic and computation; and upper-level mathematics (for example, calculus, discrete mathematics).
intelcareers@nsa.gov · 1-844-424-4737
This position is with National Security Agency/Central Security Service, Department of Defense.
The posted pay range is $87362 – $153082/yr.
This position requires a Top Secret security clearance.
Applications close on 2026-09-20.
This position is open under the 'Fed Excepted' hiring path.
Source: USAJOBS.gov — U.S. Federal Government
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