CIPHER-IT Operations Student Assistant-Spring 2026

Overview:

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.   

Georgia Tech's Mission and Values

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do: 

1. Students are our top priority.
2. We strive for excellence.
3. We thrive on diversity.
4. We celebrate collaboration.
5. We champion innovation.
6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
8. We act ethically.
9. We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

Job Description

The CIPHER (Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research) Laboratory is a leader in developing the technologies that secure, defend, and respond to threats within our country’s information, distribution, and network systems at GTRI. CIPHER provides high-impact solutions to some of today’s most challenging cybersecurity problems for both government and industry, while also developing far-reaching high-risk high-payoff cyber technologies to respond to future threats. Research areas include cyber threats and countermeasures, secure multi-level information sharing, resilient command and control network architectures, reverse engineering, information operations and exploitation, quantum computing and sensing, and data analytics.

The CIPHER-IT division is looking for a Student Assistant for Spring 2026. The students will be members of our IT Operations technology support team utilizing our Service Desk to help internal customers within CIPHER. Students working for IT Operations will work on service tickets relating to provisioning, maintaining, and securing Windows, macOS, and Linux systems for advanced engineers and developers. Students will also gain experience with IT system management applications, networking, application/machine virtualization, programming/scripting, KPI and metrics building, and team leadership.

Additionally, CIPHER-IT recognizes the development potential of the student and may offer opportunities to work on sponsored GTRI-CIPHER research projects. This collaboration will be in close coordination with other CIPHER divisions and will be contingent on project demands and the student's evolving interests and skill set. This offer of employment and its commitments supersedes all other offers and commitments, oral or written, explicit or implied, made by any person at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Required Minimum Qualifications

Student assistant

• Pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in a technology driven major (Information Systems, Information Technology, Information Security, Computer Science etc.)
• 2.5 or higher cumulative GPA
• Must be registered for at least 6 credit hours with your university during working semesters

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in 1 or more programming languages
• Task / team leadership experience
• Strong math skills and ability to learn complex engineering concepts
• Familiarity with Linux and open source tools
• Configuration management tools
• Ability to clearly communicate technical ideas

Hours per Week

10-20 hours per week

U.S. Citizenship Requirements

Due to our research contracts with the US federal government, candidates for this position are required to be US Citizens.

Clearance Type Required

None

Housing and Relocation

Housing and relocation assistance are not available for this position.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectf