Distinguished Staff Engineer

Description

The Advanced Technology Organization (ATO) moves products from early innovation through new technology introduction (NTI) and New Product Introduction (NPI). Its work covers sensing, autonomy, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), product security, and advanced edge processing hardware.

The team is technically varied. This Distinguished Staff Engineer role works with business-facing groups and product managers to turn advanced technology into product strategies, development roadmaps, and scalable solutions that fit market demand, customer needs, and launch timing.

The role centers on secure networking products with security built in, for real-world use. You will help shape the product security technical roadmap for the company's programs.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and integration of advanced networking and security technology for the company's products and platforms.
• Apply secure-by-design thinking across hardware, firmware, software, and system architecture for mission-critical networking.
• Work with hardware, software, firmware, networking, and toolchain engineers to find, assess, and build secure networking solutions.
• Own medium to large technical efforts from concept definition through implementation and into production.
• Turn promising security and networking work into product-ready capabilities that can ship across the company's products.
• Help set technical strategy and roadmaps for secure embedded and networked platforms, keeping innovation aligned with business and product goals.
• Guide resilient system designs that include vulnerability mitigation and security-focused approaches.
• Support threat-informed design, attack surface reduction, vulnerability mitigation, and security architecture trade studies.
• Record technical approaches, design results, and innovations in patent applications, technical reports, publications, and internal engineering documents.
• Track developments in networking, embedded cybersecurity, secure networking products, platform security, and secure system design, and apply them to new product opportunities.
• Work with company businesses, engineering teams, and outside stakeholders, including U.S. Government agencies.
• Lead the shaping of technical proposals and response strategies for internal opportunities and external customers.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer science, computer engineering, or a related technical field, plus at least 15 years of industry experience.
• At least 5 years of hands-on work designing and developing embedded networked products such as routers, switches, gateways, VPN devices, cable modems, or similar communications or edge platforms.
• A track record designing or building secure embedded systems across hardware, firmware, and software.
• Experience with embedded processors or devices from vendors such as Xilinx, NXP, Microchip, or similar.
• Experience developing embedded software on Linux and/or an RTOS.
• Experience developing networking protocols and network security, including detailed design or implementation of protocols and security features in embedded software or firmware.
• Experience designing security architecture for embedded or networked systems, including secure boot, roots of trust, trusted execution, cryptographic integration, or similar platform security.
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ and at least one more language, such as Rust or Ada.
• Experience applying recognized cryptographic standards and guidance, including familiarity with NIST algorithms and standards.
• An active U.S. Government security clearance, which must be kept current. U.S. citizenship is a prerequisite for the clearance.
• Desired: experience configuring, testing, and certifying High Assurance or Cross Domain Solution products.
• Desired: experience designing and implementing IPv4, IPv6, ARP, ICMP, IGMP, DHCP, TCP, UDP, and NTP.
• Desired: experience implementing and integrating IPsec and IKEv1 and/or IKEv2.
• Desired: experience with hardware-based security such as UEFI, TPM, ARM TrustZone, Secure Boot, or similar root-of-trust technologies.
• Desired: experience with Linux OS security and platform hardening.
• Desired: experience with cryptographic libraries such as OpenSSL and/or wolfSSL.
• Desired: experience with embedded development on an RTOS such as VxWorks or FreeRTOS.
• Desired: experience with cross-domain solutions, trusted data transfer, or high-assurance architectures.
• Desired: experience with anti-tamper, side-channel analysis, redundancy patterns, and other vulnerability avoidance or mitigation techniques.
• Desired: experience with penetration testing, attack vector analysis, threat modeling, or security validation for embedded and networked products.
• Desired: a proven ability to take an idea from concept through productization and deployment.
• Desired: strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Desired: experience with Agile program execution and development methods.

Conditions

Location is Grand Rapids, MI. The role is fully onsite, five days per week.

The base pay range is $167,000.00 to $223,000.00 USD per year. Final pay depends on factors such as experience, education, and skill set.

The posting is expected to close on 11/30/26.

The role requires access to U.S. export-controlled information, so employment depends on proving U.S. Person status: lawful permanent resident, U.S. citizen, or granted asylee or refugee status (a protected individual under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)).

The company will only employ people legally authorized to work in the United States for this role. Any offer is conditional on passing a drug screen where applicable, and employees may be subject to random and reasonable-suspicion drug and alcohol testing.

Relocation assistance is provided, and a comprehensive corporate relocation package is available for eligible candidates.

Benefit plans may be changed or ended by the company at any time, and they do not form a contract of employment.

Benefits

• Eligible for an annual discretionary bonus based on a percentage of base salary or commission under the plan.
• Healthcare covering medical, dental, vision, and prescription drugs, plus access to a company Health Coach and HealthAhead programs for physical, emotional, financial, and social wellbeing.
• A 24/7 confidential Employee Assistance Program for assessment, counseling, and referrals.
• A 401(k) savings plan with company matching and company retirement contributions, plus Fidelity resources and planning consultants.
• Tuition assistance, adoption assistance, paid parental leave, disability insurance, life insurance, and paid time off for vacation or illness.