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Principal Cybersecurity Engineer (Starshield)

SpaceX· Starshield Software Engineering
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Washington, DC$225k - $340kfull-timePosted 4w ago

About the role

Lead and grow a team of cybersecurity engineers responsible for defending SpaceX Starshield, a large US government satellite constellation. Hands-on role spanning software and security, focusing on cyber defense strategy, vulnerability discovery, incident response, and cross-team collaboration.

Responsibilities

  • Lead a team of cybersecurity engineers. This team's priority is to be prepared for immediate response to any active threat against our systems.
  • Implement Starshield's cyber defense strategy. Continually assess the landscape of cyber threats and develop specific countermeasures for the Starshield systems. Continually run "red-team" style exercises to both discover vulnerabilities as well as to practice the tactics the team will deploy in the event of attacks.
  • Lead vulnerability discovery efforts across Starshield. Run internal bug hunts to search for undiscovered vulnerabilities. Develop a team culture of continual curiosity and open-ended exploration. Utilize the latest tools, including AI, to accelerate both discovery and fixing of bugs in the system.
  • Drive improvements into our incident discovery and response. This team will collaborate closely with the team building the internal systems we use to detect security events, and help drive improvement in our ability to discover active attempts at network intrusions.
  • Work across teams to get results. This team will collaborate closely with the engineers implementing security features into our systems, as well as the team developing our internal incident discovery tools.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer security, or a similar field, and 7+ years of professional experience in cybersecurity for active production systems; OR 10+ years of experience in cybersecurity for active production systems.
  • Experience leading a team of direct reports.
  • Experience in implementing systems for adversary detection and incident response.

Skills

Required:Team leadershipAdversary detection and incident response

Benefits

  • base salary plus long-term incentives (stock or long-term cash awards)
  • potential discretionary bonuses
  • Employee Stock Purchase Plan
  • comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
  • 401(k) retirement plan
  • short and long-term disability insurance
  • life insurance
  • paid parental leave
  • 3 weeks of paid vacation and 10+ paid holidays per year
  • paid sick leave as per policy
  • 10% clearance differential for active clearance holders (up to $20,000 annually)
Last updated Oct 7, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

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