Senior Student Cybersecurity Engineer - Nuclei/Scavenger Development UT RSOC

Job Posting Title:

Senior Student Cybersecurity Engineer - Nuclei/Scavenger Development UT RSOC

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Hiring Department:

Information Security Office

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

To Be Determined at Offer

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Earliest Start Date:

Ongoing

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

AUSTIN, TX

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Job Details:

General Notes

The Information Security Office (ISO) assures the security of the university's Information Technology (IT) resources and the existence of a safe computing environment in which the university community can teach, learn, and conduct research. Additional information about ISO can be found here: https://security.utexas.edu/

As part of ISO, the University of Texas Regional Security Operations Center (UT RSOC) will be focused on delivering a variety of cybersecurity services to various non-profit and/or government funded entities throughout the state (e.g., ISDs, municipalities) to raise awareness, improve security posture and resilience, etc. for entities that otherwise might not have much to work with.

This position requires you to maintain Internet service and a mobile phone with voice and data plans to be used when required for work.

Must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis for any employer without sponsorship. 

Purpose

Support the UT RSOCs Attack Surface Intelligence program by developing and testing custom Nuclei detection templates for Scavenger, a proactive scanning tool that identifies vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in Texas public-sector infrastructure. 

Responsibilities

• Develop and Maintain Nuclei Detection Templates: Author custom YAML-based detection templates for use with the Nuclei vulnerability scanner. These templates identify misconfigurations, outdated software, and emerging threats by referencing CVEs and threat intelligence. Templates should follow consistent standards for naming, metadata, logic flow, and detection quality.
• Test and Validate Template Behavior: Run and debug templates in isolated environments such as labs or staging instances to validate behavior, reduce false positives, and ensure no disruptive or unsafe scanning. Testing should be repeatable and documented. Students will also review scan output to refine template logic and increase detection accuracy.
• Integrate Templates into Scavenger Pipeline: Work with RSOC engineers to incorporate validated templates into Scavenger, UT RSOC’s custom scanning framework. Ensure templates are formatted for compatibility, include appropriate tagging and version control, and are regularly updated as threat conditions evolve. Templates will become part of production scanning infrastructure.
• Participate in Threat Research and Intelligence Sprints: Conduct focused weekly or biweekly research on CVEs, public vulnerability feeds, GitHub PoCs, and emerging threats. Identify gaps in existing Nuclei coverage and propose new detection logic. Students will learn to prioritize threats based on relevance to the Texas public-sector landscape and infrastructure.
• Collaborate on Detection Use Cases and Reporting: Join RSOC team discussions to review scan results, investigate false positives, and adapt templates to improve signal-to-noise ratios. Share findings in structured reports. Maintain clear documentation of each template’s purpose, use case, expected behavior, and operational impact to support internal review and reproducibility.
• Contribute to Documentation and Continuous Improvement: Maintain structured records for each detection artifact, including YAML syntax details, expected output, tested services, and change history. Help improve the template lifecycle process by identifying friction points and proposing solutions. Collaborate via GitHub and contribute to internal wikis or SOPs.

Required Qualifications

• U.S. Citizen, resident, or officially recognized asylee - Applicant selected will be subject to government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information at the level appropriate to the project requirements of the position.
• Currently enrolled as a UT Austin undergraduate student 
• Demonstrated interest in cybersecurity, penetration testing or threat detection
• Familiarity with the Nuclei tool or YAML-based templates
• Understanding of web vulnerabilities (e.g.