This is a 2 year, Fixed Term position.

The School of Engineering

Stanford Engineering has been at the forefront of innovation for nearly a century, creating pivotal technologies that have transformed the worlds of information technology, communications, health care, energy, business and beyond. Our faculty and students are creative risk-takers who pursue excellence across a breadth of disciplines. Our alumni include some of the world’s most successful leaders in technology and business. Our staff are critical to enabling Stanford Engineering to accomplish its mission: seeking solutions to some of the world’s most urgent challenges and educating leaders who will make the world a better place through the power of engineering principles, techniques and systems.

 

The Empirical Security Research Group in the Stanford Computer Science Department maintains the de facto open source measurement toolkit for conducting large-scale studies of hosts and services on the Internet (ZMap Project). For example, ZMap enables researchers to comprehensively find all public web servers and to collect structured data about their configurations. The suite of ZMap tools have been used to collect data for hundreds of security and networking research studies. They have aided in finding weaknesses in widely-deployed cryptographic protocols like HTTPS and SSH, uncovering attacks against human rights activists and email delivery protocols, understanding botnets and Internet topology, and conducting global vulnerability notifications. A few representative examples can be found at https://zmap.io/research.

 

We are seeking a highly-motivated Software Developer to maintain and build new Internet measurement tools. As part of this position, you will extend and maintain the ZMap toolkit to support new research needs and to adapt to changes in Internet architecture. For example, you will help to extend ZMap to support scanning multiple ports and ZGrab to efficiently scan QUIC and TLS 1.3. You will help to foster an open source community of external researchers as well as to support researchers in their use of the ZMap tools. All development will be public and open source. Are you interested in an opportunity to be involved in cutting-edge security and networking research at Stanford University that will guide the future direction of Internet measurement systems? If so, apply today!

 

Your responsibilities include:

Serve as the primary maintainer of the ZMap suite of open source network measurement tools.
Extend ZMap toolkit to support new network protocols, addressing schemes, and server architectures.
Work with researchers to understand common failure modes that could result in invalid measurements.
Design and implement protections to ensure measurement validity in uncontrolled environments.
Develop a testing and release strategy for safe, long-term maintenance of the ZMap toolkit.
Foster open source community, write and maintain public software documentation, and support researchers in using ZMap. Act as a public face of the open source project.
Create and publish auxiliary datasets to assist researchers in performing Internet measurement.
Provide technical analysis, design, development, conversion, and implementation work. Serve as a technical resource for applications.
Work as a project leader, as needed, for projects of moderate complexity, including for new measurement tools and systems.
*Other duties as assigned

 

Education & Experience (Required):

Bachelor’s degree and five years of relevant experience, or a combination of education and relevant experience.
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities (Required):

Expertise in designing, developing, testing, and deploying applications.
Proficiency with application design and data modeling.
Ability to define and solve logical problems for highly technical applications.
Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical clients.
Ability to lead activities on structured team development projects.
Ability to select, adapt, and effectively use a variety of programming methods.
Knowledge of application domain.
Education & Experience (Desired):

Experience developing software in a low-level programming language like C, C++, Go, and/or Rust.
Strong networking background, including knowledge of Ethernet, IP, TCP, and popular application-layer protocols like HTTP or SSH.
Experience designing, developing, testing, and maintaining network applications on Linux or BSD.
Ability and desire to work independently and to help lead an open source community.
A History of developing documentation and reviewing code written by other developers.
Interest in security, privacy, networking, or Internet measurement research.
Working Conditions:

May work extended hours, evening and weekends.
Physical Requirements*:

Constantly perform desk-based computer tasks.
Frequently sit, grasp lightly/fine manipulation.
Occasionally stand/walk, writing by hand.
Rarely use a telephone, lift/carry/push/pull objects that weigh up to 10 pounds.
*Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job.

 

Work Standards:

Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates the ability to work well with Stanford colleagues and clients and with external organizations.
Promote Culture of Safety: Demonstrates commitment to personal responsibility and value for safety; communicates safety concerns; uses and promotes safe behaviors based on training and lessons learned.
Subject to and expected to comply with all applicable University policies and procedures, including but not limited to the personnel policies and other policies found in the University’s Administrative Guide, http://adminguide.stanford.edu.
Pay Range:

The expected pay range for this position is $98,000 to $144,000 per annum. Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location and external market pay for comparable jobs.

 

Why Stanford is for You:

Imagine a world without search engines or social platforms. Consider lives saved through first-ever organ transplants and research to cure illnesses. Stanford University has revolutionized the way we live and enrich the world. Supporting this mission is our diverse and dedicated 17,000 staff. We seek talent driven to impact the future of our legacy. Our culture and unique perks empower you with:

Freedom to grow. We offer career development programs, tuition reimbursement, or audit a course. Join a TedTalk, film screening, or listen to a renowned author or global leader speak.
A caring culture. We provide superb retirement plans, generous time-off, and family care resources.
A healthier you. Climb our rock wall, or choose from hundreds of health or fitness classes at our world-class exercise facilities. We also provide excellent health care benefits.
Discovery and fun. Stroll through historic sculptures, trails, and museums.
Enviable resources. Enjoy free commuter programs, ridesharing incentives, discounts and more!
How to Apply

We invite you to apply for this position by clicking on “Apply for Job”. To be considered, please submit a cover letter and résumé with your online application.. The cover letter should briefly describe why you believe you are a good fit for this position.

 

The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.

 

Stanford is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.