Staff Software Engineer

The weaponization of AI is driving a paradigm shift in the cyber security industry from proactive to preemptive security: clients must now invest more intelligence and effort in understanding their vulnerabilities before their adversaries do (Open AI). The only way to achieve this is to simulate future attack scenarios at scale, and to run them in high fidelity digital replicas of production environments (Gartner/Forrester). SimSpace serves as the AI Proving Grounds to generate hypersynthetic data which pressure tests controls, tools, teams, and agentic capabilities in full kill chain attacks hidden in realistic environmental traffic and patterns of life.

Founded in 2015 by experts from U.S. Cyber Command and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the platform was initially conceived to assist in Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO), to quickly replicate target environments to conduct mission rehearsal of human operators and their tools to deny (disrupt, degrade, destroy) or deceive (manipulate or exfiltrate data) adversaries. The company has since expanded to serve over a dozen allied governments in OCO/DCO as well as critical infrastructure enterprises around the world. The company is actively investing in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East through direct sales and channel partners. SimSpace has launched the AI Proving Grounds Consortium, leading the revolution by creating an open platform for the InfoSec ecosystem to train, validate and operationalize their agentic capabilities before committing to production.

Why join SimSpace?

We are a team united by a shared purpose and four core values: Serve to Protect, Acquire Understanding, Teamwork without Borders, and Operate as Innovators. We value candid, constructive feedback and create opportunities for personal, professional, and financial growth. Our vision, “Defend the Free World,” drives our mission: “Defeat Any Adversary in Any Cyber Terrain at Machine Speed.”

How Do We Work?

We listen to customers and colleagues, challenge assumptions, and turn ideas into meaningful results. We expect everyone to embrace emerging technologies, simplify and automate work, and use AI to learn, solve problems, and help deliver quality with speed. We apply human judgment and take responsibility for outcomes. Whether remote or office-based, we collaborate across teams and time zones.

We invite you to apply today!

SimSpace is seeking a Staff Engineer to provide technical leadership for the Range Against the Machine team. RATM creates and maintains reusable virtual-machine templates and the standardized cyber ranges used across the SimSpace platform and by customers. The work spans range architecture, networking, operating systems, virtualization, cybersecurity, automation, and representative enterprise and industrial environments.

This is a hands-on Staff-level role. You will solve selected complex problems directly while increasing the team's ability to deliver independently through architecture, standards, automation, documentation, mentoring, and delegated technical ownership. Success means improving the system and the team's leverage—not becoming the permanent owner of every difficult problem.

What the Team Owns

• Reusable range architectures, blueprints, configuration bundles, and approved custom range capabilities.

• Virtual-machine images and their build, validation, versioning, patching, release, deprecation, and replacement lifecycle.

• Ansible-based configuration automation and repeatable patterns for secure, supportable range construction.

• Representative network, identity, infrastructure, application, and security environments that support defensive operations, offensive workflows, automated attacks, user emulation, tool integration, training, exercises, and approved customer use cases, including ICS/OT where required.

• Quality, documentation, and supportability of team-owned repositories and artifacts, plus bounded integration solutions when range requirements expose platform gaps.

What You'll Do

• Set technical direction for reusable cyber ranges and make explicit trade-offs among realism, security, reliability, scalability, usability, performance, maintainability, customer outcomes, and near-term delivery.

• Improve Ansible and Packer architecture, standards, and automation so configurations and images are modular, idempotent, testable, versioned, secure, dependency-aware, safe in their handling of secrets and errors, repeatable, and resistant to drift.

• Design and troubleshoot complex virtual networks, VMware-based infrastructure, Windows Server and Active Directory, Linux systems, identity services, security tooling, and relevant ICS/OT environments.

• Diagnose failures across networks, operating systems, virtualization, images, blueprints, automation, platform services, and security products using packet-level and system-level evidence.

• Identify gaps between range requirements and platform capabilities, develop bounded interim solutions, and partner with Product, Platform Engineering, Security, and other Staff and Principal Engineers on sustainable long-term outcomes and broader platform strategy.

• Strengthen repository, review, automated build and validation, release, documentation, runbook, and support-handoff practices across team-owned work.

• Lead cross-team technical decisions, create standards and automation that can benefit teams beyond RATM, communicate dependencies and risks early, mentor engineers, delegate meaningful ownership, and reduce single-person dependencies.

Required Qualifications

• 6-8 years of experience; a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science is preferred, but an equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.

• Experience designing, building, automating, and supporting complex infrastructure or cybersecurity environments at a scope consistent with Staff-level engineering.

• Advanced enterprise-networking and troubleshooting capability across routing, switching, segmentation, firewalls, NAT, DNS, DHCP, VPNs, proxies, and multi-hop traffic paths.

• Hands-on experience with Windows Server and Active Directory—including domain, authentication, authorization, DNS, Group Policy, certificates, or trusts—and with Linux administration across multiple distributions.

• Production experience with Ansible, Packer, VMware vCenter, and at least one additional hypervisor, virtualization platform, or cloud environment.

• Experience integrating enterprise security technologies and practical knowledge of offensive and defensive workflows, security telemetry, and ICS/OT architecture and constraints.

• Proficiency with Git and evidence of improving automated validation, testing, security, versioning, and release practices for infrastructure code, configuration, or virtual-machine images.

• Demonstrated ability to lead ambiguous technical initiatives across teams, influence senior technical stakeholders, mentor and delegate to engineers, communicate with technical and nontechnical audiences, and balance implementation detail with product, customer, and business outcomes.

Equivalent combinations of education, professional experience, certifications, and demonstrated technical achievement will be considered.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing cyber ranges, digital twins, training environments, simulation platforms, or representative enterprise networks.

• Experience with Kubernetes, containers, routing software, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, artifact management, or automated security scanning.

• Experience working with both offensive- and defensive-security teams or supporting disconnected, restricted, regulated, or high-security environments.

• Relevant networking, security, Linux, Windows, virtualization, cloud, or ICS/OT certifications.

Technology Environment

Ansible, Packer, VMware vCenter, Git, Windows Server, Active Directory, Linux, enterprise networking, security tooling, and ICS/OT technologies.

We’re proud to offer a competitive and comprehensive package designed to support your well-being, growth, and success:

• Compensation. Base salary range: $185,000 - $260,000, reflecting our confidence in your expertise and impact, with the opportunity for annual bonuses tied to company performance and individual contributions.

• Health & Wellness. Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits, plus savings plans—coverage starts on day one!

• Mental Health Support. Access to company-paid counseling, coaching, and resources for you and your family through Spring Health.

• Financial Well-Being. Plan for your future with a 401(k)-retirement savings plan featuring a company match.

• Flexible Time Off. Take the time you need with flex vacation, company holidays, and dedicated health & wellness days. SimSpace provides flexible solutions to meet the diverse work-life needs of team members.

• Parental Leave. Paid leave plans to support you and your loved ones during life’s most important moments.

• Ownership Opportunities: Equity stock options at hire, with annual performance-based grants—become an invested stakeholder in our shared success.

• Peloton Interactive Wellness Program: Full- and partial- subsidized membership plans and equipment discounts to help you reach your personalized fitness goals.

• Continuous Learning: Access a LinkedIn Learning membership to prioritize your personal and professional development.

• Social Connections: Monthly reimbursements for meaningful connections with teammates through our SocialSpace Community.

• Extra Perks: Legal plan coverage, pet insurance, wellness reimbursements, and more to simplify life’s details.

SimSpace is an Equal Opportunity Employer:

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

SimSpace is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, clients, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients.

Research shows that women and people from underrepresented groups only apply to jobs if they meet all of the qualifications. However, no one ever meets 100% of the qualifications. SimSpace encourages you to break that statistic and to apply. We look forward to your application!

We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, in accordance with applicable law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability, please contact [email protected].

SimSpace does not accept unsolicited resumes from employment agencies.

Actual compensation for the position is based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to affordability, skills, qualifications and experience, and may vary from the range.