Embedded Software Engineer at Join our team at Root Source!
Glen Burnie, MD
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Jul 28, 2026
Glen Burnie, MD
Jul 29, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
An embedded software engineering role supporting national security and intelligence missions. Day-to-day work involves developing embedded systems, performing software reverse engineering and vulnerability analysis, and writing code in C/C++, x86 Assembly, and Python. The role suits a hands-on engineer comfortable with low-level systems programming, debugging tools, and working within classified environments requiring a full-scope polygraph.
Mid level · Bachelor's required · TS/SCI clearance
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 29, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
No work location is specified in the posting; CBSA and state fields are left blank. Given the TS/SCI + full-scope polygraph requirement, the role is almost certainly on-site at a cleared facility, but the specific location cannot be determined from the text.
The clearance section explicitly states 'TS/SCI with FS polygraph required,' which is a hard gate. The qualifications section also lists 'Active TS/SCI clearance with a polygraph' as a requirement, consistent with TopSecretSci.
C and C++ are listed together ('C, C/C++') in the required qualifications and are treated here as a single combined hard gate with each as an alternative of the other, since the posting uses 'or' phrasing. x86 Assembly is called out in the responsibilities as a core skill and is treated as required.
Python appears only under Preferred Qualifications and is marked accordingly. Ghidra is named in the required reverse-engineering tools list alongside IDA Pro/OllyDbg/gdb; since the posting frames these as alternatives ('or'), Ghidra is captured as an alternative to IDA Pro rather than a separate required skill, but is also surfaced separately as a preferred skill for visibility.
The alt SOC (15-1212 Information Security Analysts) reflects the significant vulnerability analysis and reverse engineering component; however, the primary framing is software development of embedded capabilities, so 15-1252 is the primary code.
No total years of experience are stated in the posting.
Requires a TS/SCI clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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