---
title: 'OT Cybersecurity Engineer at Vulcan Elements'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ot-cybersecurity-engineer-vulcan-elements-research-triangle-park-7pvtsgbrd3yd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-08'
---

# OT Cybersecurity Engineer at Vulcan Elements

- **Company:** Vulcan Elements
- **Location:** Research Triangle Park, NC
- **Posted:** 2026-09-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-08
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vulcanelements/jobs/5432499008

## Job description

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Integrity.

As an OT Cybersecurity Engineer, you will secure the industrial control systems and manufacturing floor devices that keep Vulcan Elements running, including PLCs, historians, and MES across Rockwell/Allen-Bradley, Siemens, and other platforms as our environment grows. You will design and enforce IT/OT network segmentation, protect OT assets, and lead the OT side of our NIST SP 800-53 (Low-Impact Baseline) assessment and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M). This role works closely with our Automation and Engineering teams and requires a strong safety-first mindset alongside deep security expertise.

## Responsibilities

- Work with the OT Automation group to align on a segmented, defense-in-depth architecture for the OT environment, including PLCs, HMIs, historians, MES, engineering workstations, and virtualized systems.
- Secure Rockwell/Allen-Bradley and Siemens control systems, and support additional ICS/SCADA platforms as the manufacturing environment expands.
- Ensure sufficient IT/OT boundary controls and zone/conduit segmentation, and manage firewall and ACL policy aligned with NIST guidance and industry frameworks such as ISA/IEC 62443.
- Develop, own, align, and enforce internal security standards to be used by manufacturing equipment/OT vendors as the expected contractual handover requirements for anything in the internal OT environment.
- Monitor OT network asset list and industrial protocols (Modbus, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, and others as adopted) for anomalous activity, staying vendor- and protocol-agnostic as new platforms are added.
- Lead the assessment of OT-relevant controls against the NIST SP 800-53 Low-Impact Baseline, contribute to the System Security Plan (SSP), and help build and close out the Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M).
- Partner with our external CMMC compliance partner and IT security team to keep OT controls consistent with our NIST SP 800-171/CMMC Level 2 program.
- Own the specification and implementation of native OT monitoring systems and the development of Incident Response Plans.
- Partner with Automation, Engineering, and IT teams to build security into new production lines and control system upgrades from the start.

Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business.

## Qualifications

- 3+ years of experience in OT/ICS security, controls engineering, or industrial networking, ideally in manufacturing, defense, or critical infrastructure.
- Hands-on experience with Rockwell/Allen-Bradley (ControlLogix, FactoryTalk) and/or Siemens (S7, TIA Portal, WinCC) required; comfort working across other ICS/SCADA platforms and industrial protocols and the associated industrial switch technology (Modbus, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET) as the environment grows.
- Working knowledge of ISA/IEC 62443, NIST SP 800-82, and NIST SP 800-53; experience contributing to an SSP or POA&M for OT systems is a strong plus.

Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience being the point of contact with integrators/OEMs for cybersecurity as contracts are executed and commissioning/implementation is happening
- Worked with advanced monitoring software and hardware products made for OT environments such as Claroty, Dragos, Nozomi
- Experience or knowledge of MQTT, Sparkplug, Kafka, OPCUA
- Prior experience supporting DoD programs, federal contractors, or CUI/export-controlled (ITAR/EAR) environments.
- Ability to work on the manufacturing floor, including around industrial equipment, and to lift up to 50 lbs as needed.
- CMMC Registered Practitioner (RP), CMMC Certified Professional (CCP), GICSP, CCNA, an ISA/IEC 62443 certificate, or CompTIA Security+.

## About Vulcan Elements

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Vulcan Elements manufactures American rare-earth permanent magnets to build a resilient, Western supply chain for critical industries including defense, aerospace, automotive, and AI datacenters.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed + Series A + Debt financing)
- **Headquarters**: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (primary R&D operations also in Research Triangle Park, NC)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: John Maslin (CEO) and Dr. Piotr Kulik (CTO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Advanced manufacturing of rare earth permanent magnets (neodymium).
- Target customers: B2B and government/defense – enterprise customers in defense, aerospace, automotive, industrial, consumer electronics, AI datacenters, semiconductor fabrication.
- Mission: "Improving U.S. and allied security by producing the Rare Earth Magnets that are critical to economic and national security." – [vulcanelements.com](https://vulcanelements.com/)

## Products & Services
- **Rare Earth Permanent Magnets (Neodymium)**: High-performance sintered and bonded magnets used in motors, generators, sensors, and actuators. Application areas include defense systems, satellites, AI datacenters, semiconductor fabrication, consumer electronics, industrial motors, power tools, and non-drive train motors. – [vulcanelements.com](https://vulcanelements.com/)
- **R&D and Process Optimization**: Developing next-generation magnetic technologies and advanced manufacturing processes focused on efficiency, cost competitiveness, and supply chain transparency. – [vulcanelements.com](https://vulcanelements.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Total Funding**: $690.2 million (as of November 2025) across three rounds:
  - Seed Round (Dec 2023): $5.2M – 3 investors.
  - Series A (Sep 2025): $65M – led by Washington Harbour Partners and Altimeter.
  - Debt Financing (Nov 2025): $620M – led by the Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC). – [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/vulcan-elements) / [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/vulcan-elements)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding $690.2M; production output of 10 metric tons in 2025.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital, Washington Harbour Partners, Altimeter.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Announced a $1.4 billion partnership with the United States government.
  - Selected Benson, North Carolina, for a 1.1 million sq ft facility – the largest magnet manufacturing plant outside China.
  - Employee headcount of 38 (+200% YoY) as of mid-2026.
  - Rapidly scaling pilot operations; 37 open job listings on Greenhouse. – [vulcanelements.com](https://vulcanelements.com/) / [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/vulcan-elements) / [greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vulcanelements)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Domestic Supply Chain**: The only U.S. company vertically integrating rare earth magnet production, reducing reliance on Chinese supply.
- **Technical Expertise**: Co-founder Dr. Piotr Kulik is one of four rare earth magnet science professors in the U.S. and opened the first academic rare earth magnetics lab in the country in over 20 years.
- **Government Backing**: Strong ties to U.S. national security agencies and over a billion dollars in government-funded partnerships.
- **Process Innovation**: Proprietary process optimization methods aimed at cost competitiveness without sacrificing performance.
- **National Security Focus**: All operations require U.S. Person status, aligning with defense and aerospace customer needs.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale Production**: Transition from pilot-scale (10 metric tons/year) to mass production at the Benson, NC facility to meet surging demand from defense, AI, and automotive sectors.
- **Supply Chain Resilience**: Partnering exclusively with U.S. and allied-country suppliers (UK, Australia, Japan).
- **R&D**: Developing next-generation magnetic materials and advanced manufacturing processes.
- **Talent Acquisition**: Actively hiring engineers, scientists, operations, and business development talent to support rapid growth. – [greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vulcanelements)

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven Culture**: Employees contribute directly to national security and economic resilience, with values of Mission Focus, Technical Excellence, and Transparency. – [vulcanelements.com](https://vulcanelements.com/careers/)
- **Benefits**: Competitive equity, unlimited PTO, 90% health insurance (100% for employee), 99% dental and vision, 401K, fully stocked kitchen. – [vulcanelements.com](https://vulcanelements.com/careers/)
- **Work Environment**: Fast-paced startup with a "startup manufacturer" ethos; roles are largely on-site in Research Triangle Park, NC or Benson, NC. Internship opportunities available with mentorship and real impact on critical projects.
- **Growth Opportunity**: Extremely high headcount growth (+200% YoY) and large-scale facility expansion offer rapid career advancement.
- **U.S. Person Requirement**: Many positions require U.S. Person status due to government contracts.

## Sources
1. [vulcanelements.com](https://vulcanelements.com/)
2. [vulcanelements.com/careers](https://vulcanelements.com/careers/)
3. [greenhouse.io (Vulcan Elements jobs)](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vulcanelements)
4. [linkedin.com/company/vulcan-elements](https://www.linkedin.com/company/vulcan-elements)
5. [cbinsights.com/company/vulcan-elements](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/vulcan-elements)

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- [Career Fair - Warehouse](https://feeny.ai/job/career-fair-warehouse-vulcan-elements-benson-n5405817jadv) — Benson, NC
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