Vulnerability Researcher Intern - 2026

Nightwing provides technically advanced full-spectrum cyber, data operations, systems integration and intelligence mission support services to meet our customers’ most demanding challenges. Our capabilities include cyber space operations, cyber defense and resiliency, vulnerability research, ubiquitous technical surveillance, data intelligence, lifecycle mission enablement, and software modernization. Nightwing brings disruptive technologies, agility, and competitive offerings to customers in the intelligence community, defense, civil, and commercial markets.

At Nightwing, we value collaboration and teamwork. You’ll have the opportunity to work alongside talented individuals who are passionate about what they do. Together, we’ll leverage our collective expertise to drive innovation, solve complex problems, and deliver exceptional results for our clients.
Vulnerability Researcher Interns at Nightwing CODEX learn to analyze systems to understand how they work and how they behave when they break. Candidates must be able to play both sides of the fence, both developing and defeating new and advanced security techniques. Projects are undertaken in small teams with close coordination with mentors. All our engineers write code, but many of our engineers spend as much time taking systems apart as building new ones. A typical day can involve studying disassembly or writing Python to audit a piece of C++ code.
Responsibilities to Anticipate:

• Growth in knowledge of target being researched
• Regular documentation on research results
• Evaluation of research results
• Modifications to research tools and directions
• Productizing successful research to deliver to a customer

Required:

• GPA of 3.0+ in a 4.0 grade scale
• Must be enrolled in a Bachelor’s or Masters degree program in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM)
• The ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government issued security clearance is required. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance
• Experience with C or C++

Preferred qualifications:

• Understanding of OS Internals (any major OS)
• Experience reading or writing assembly (x86, x64, ARM, PPC, MIPS, SPARC, 68k, or others)
• Understanding of network protocols (TCP/IP stacks, wire-level protocols, RF communications, BGP, routing protocols, or others)
• Understanding of exploit mitigations such as DEP and ASLR
• Experience using reverse engineering tools such as IDA Pro, HexRays, Ghidra, Binary Ninja, or objdump
• Experience using debuggers such as gdb, WinDbg, OllyDbg
• Experience building and using tools to find, exploit, and productize vulnerabilities in complex software systems

#Codex #NWInterns2026

At Nightwing, we value collaboration and teamwork. You’ll have the opportunity to work alongside talented individuals who are passionate about what they do. Together, we’ll leverage our collective expertise to drive innovation, solve complex problems, and deliver exceptional results for our clients.

Thank you for considering joining us as we embark on this new journey and shape the future of cybersecurity and intelligence together as part of the Nightwing team.

Nightwing is An Equal Opportunity/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 or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.