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Lab Engineer Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

ARSIEM

Lab Manager III

Arlington, VA

ARSIEM is looking for a motivated Network Engineer to implement, maintain, and support the lab network infrastructure. This position will support one of our Government clients in Arlington, VA.

ARSIEM

Lab Manager III

Arlington, VA · On-site

ARSIEM is looking for a motivated Network Engineer to implement, maintain, and support the lab network infrastructure. This position will support one of our Government clients in Arlington, VA.

ARSIEM

Lab Manager III

Arlington, VA · On-site

ARSIEM is looking for a motivated Network Engineer to implement, maintain, and support the lab network infrastructure. This position will support one of our Government clients in Arlington, VA.

CACI

Network Testing Lab Infrastructure Lead

Sterling, VA · On-site

$100K - $138K/yr

Collaborate with network engineers, developers, and QA teams to understand testing requirements and design appropriate lab setups. Implement and maintain automation frameworks for lab provisioning ...

Jefferson Lab

Safety & Health Engineer

Newport News, VA · On-site

$73K - $105K/yr

At Jefferson Lab, you'll champion cutting-edge science and operational excellence while shaping the ... Bachelor's Degree occupational safety & health, environmental health, science, or engineering ...

Rocket Lab

Senior DevOps Engineer II

Chantilly, VA

$133K - $171K/yr

ABOUT ROCKET LAB Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and ... ENGINEER II Rocket Lab's Optical Systems division solves mission-critical space domain and ...

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Lab Engineer information

See Virginia salary details

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How much do lab engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Sep 2, 2026, the average hourly pay for lab engineer in Virginia is $47.50, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $36.44 and $59.57 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a lab engineer?

A lab engineer is responsible for the IT infrastructure of a laboratory. As a lab engineer, your job duties include conducting technical evaluations of hardware equipment and software, deploying code, troubleshooting and fixing issues, maintaining the server and network systems, and coordinating with scientists, lab technicians, system engineers, and operations staff. You need a bachelor’s degree in a technical field and experience with networking principles, middleware platform, and database connectivity. You can find lab engineer jobs in the science and medical research industry.

What does a lab engineer do?

Lab Engineers are professionals responsible for designing, maintaining, and operating laboratory equipment and systems. They work in various fields such as electronics, chemistry, or biomedical engineering, ensuring experiments and tests are conducted accurately and safely. Lab Engineers also troubleshoot technical issues, calibrate equipment, and often assist researchers or students with their projects. Their work is critical for supporting research and development, quality control, and product testing.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a lab engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Lab Engineer, you need a strong background in engineering or applied sciences, analytical problem-solving abilities, and typically a bachelor's degree in a relevant field. Familiarity with lab instrumentation, data acquisition systems, and standard safety protocols is essential, and certifications such as OSHA or Six Sigma can be beneficial. Strong attention to detail, effective communication, and organizational skills set standout candidates apart. These competencies ensure accurate experimentation, reliable results, and a safe, efficient laboratory environment.

What are some common challenges faced by lab engineers and how can they be addressed?

Lab Engineers often encounter challenges such as troubleshooting complex equipment malfunctions, managing multiple experiments simultaneously, and ensuring strict adherence to safety protocols. Staying organized and maintaining detailed documentation can help manage workload and prevent errors. Regular communication with team members and ongoing training on new technologies are also essential for staying current and effective in the role.

What is the difference between Lab Engineer vs Laboratory Technician?

AspectLab EngineerLaboratory Technician
Required CredentialsBachelor's degree in engineering, science, or related fieldDiploma or associate degree in laboratory technology
Work EnvironmentDesign, develop, and oversee laboratory experiments and equipmentPerform routine tests, prepare samples, and maintain lab equipment
Employer & Industry UsageResearch labs, manufacturing, quality controlMedical labs, research facilities, industrial testing

Lab Engineers focus on designing and managing laboratory processes and equipment, often requiring engineering degrees. Laboratory Technicians perform routine testing and sample preparation, typically with technical diplomas. Both roles are essential in lab settings but differ in responsibilities and qualifications.

More about Lab Engineer jobs

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For Lab Engineer jobs in Virginia, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Lab Engineer jobs in Virginia look for?

The top searched job categories for Lab Engineer jobs in Virginia are:

What are popular job titles related to Lab Engineer jobs in VA?

For Lab Engineer jobs in VA, the most frequently searched job titles are:

Lab Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Lab Engineer job openings in Virginia as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 57% Full Time, 14% Part Time, and 29% Contract. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $98,810 per year, or $47.5 per hour.

Cybersecurity Lab Engineer

Merlin International Inc

Mclean, VA • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Posted 13 days ago

Job description

About Merlin Group

 

Merlin Group operates at the intersection of cyber innovation, national security, and technology-driven transformation. With a mission to accelerate the adoption of high-impact technologies across the U.S. public sector and regulated commercial markets, Merlin is uniquely structured around three core tenets – Invest, Enable, and Scale – each designed to address a specific stage of the technology lifecycle. Together, our affiliates – Merlin Ventures, CGC, and Merlin Cyber – form a flywheel that builds enduring capability for customers, partners, and the broader cyber ecosystem, operationalizing technological advancement into mission-ready, enterprise-grade solutions. 


At Merlin, we believe our strength lies in our people. Team members are encouraged to be creative, collaborative, and nimble, pursuing paths to deliver the cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions that our customers rely on. From next-generation cyber defense to secure cloud and AI, we are united by one purpose – transforming innovation into mission impact.

 

The Opportunity

 

Merlin Labs builds the solutions Merlin Cyber takes to market. Working with Merlin Cyber’s technical and sales teams and with our technology partners, we turn partners’ products into working, documented, repeatable solutions for federal customers. We keep a pipeline of those solutions moving, and we are hiring a Cybersecurity Lab Engineer to build them.


You will take products from across our partner ecosystem, integrate them into functioning solutions in our labs, prove they work, and document them well enough that other people can deploy and demonstrate them. Work arrives through a prioritized queue and gets delivered in sprints, so you will deliver on a regular cadence and own the delivered solution. Most of what we build is for federal agencies, so you will design with compliance requirements in mind.


AI tooling is part of how we work. Our engineers use coding agents and LLM APIs every day to get integrations built faster, and we expect the solutions we produce to be AI-enabled themselves.


This role is primarily remote. Candidates in the DC/MD/VA are preferred, since we hold occasional working sessions, Lab Day support, and partner sessions at our headquarters in McLean/Tysons Corner, VA.


 Primary Duties & Responsibilities


Solution Development

  • Build integrated solutions out of partner products: design the architecture, stand up the environment, connect the products, and get them working together.
  • Keep several solutions moving through the pipeline at once, carrying each one through design, build, validation, and release. Expect to deliver multiple solutions a year, not one long project.
  • Map the solution to control frameworks, including NIST SP 800-53 and the CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model, and produce the supporting evidence that can accelerate authority to operate (ATO) and solution deployment.
  • Test each solution against realistic federal architectures and capture the results that back up the claims Merlin makes about it.
  • Automate the build. Use scripting, infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, and vendor APIs so any environment can be rebuilt from source, and any demonstration runs the same way twice.
  • Run adversary emulation against what you build, using tools such as Metasploit mapped to MITRE ATT&CK, so the solution is tested against the attacks it claims to stop.
  • Build reusable components, patterns, and templates so the next solution takes less time than the last one. Cycle time is a real measure of this job.
  • Keep everything in version control, including environment definitions, integration code, and the documentation that goes with them, so a solution can be handed to someone else without a translation step.

AI-Assisted Development

  • Use agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Codex, GitLab) and LLM APIs in your daily engineering work: writing and refactoring integration code, generating test data and harnesses, and drafting documentation from working configurations.
  • Build reusable AI workflows for the Labs team, including MCP integrations that connect coding agents to our lab tooling and partner APIs, plus agent definitions other engineers can pick up and run.
  • Put AI capability inside the solutions themselves: LLM-backed triage and enrichment in SOAR playbooks, retrieval over partner and lab documentation, and natural-language access to lab environments.
  • Use AI responsibly in a federal context. Respect data-handling boundaries for partner and customer information, watch for prompt injection and model abuse, and review generated output before it reaches a customer.

Collaboration and Delivery

  • Work in a pod plus partner engineers: a Solution Architect, a Technical Product Manager, and you. The architect owns design direction, the TPM owns prioritization, and you own the build. 
  • Serve as Merlin’s hands-on technical contact for partner engineering teams. Run joint working sessions, resolve API and interoperability problems, and track partner-side defects until they are closed. 
  • Own your solutions through release. Write the technical content for the Merlin Validated Solution Brief, integration guide, and runbook that ship with each one, and ensure handoff to delivery and support.
  • Keep released solutions working. Maintain integrations as partner products change and scope the enhancement requests. Conduct quarterly or bi-annual solution reviews to inform solution roadmap.
  • Support Merlin Cyber sellers, solution architects, and Executive Mission Lab Days with environment build-out, dry runs, and live technical help. Feed what you learn in those sessions back into the solution.
     
     

Qualifications 

  • 7+ years in cybersecurity engineering, systems integration, or a similar hands-on role, with a track record of shipping working integrations between security products.
  • Productive daily use of AI coding assistants to optimize build tasks and workflows
  • Working knowledge of US federal compliance frameworks: NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-171, NIST SP 800-207, FedRAMP, FISMA, and the CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model, including the ability to tie a technical capability to specific controls.
  • Scripting and automation in Python, PowerShell, Bash, or Go, plus infrastructure-as-code and Git-based workflows (Terraform, Ansible, GitHub Actions or GitLab CI).
  • Hands-on work with SIEM and SOAR platforms (Cortex XSIAM, Splunk, or Elastic), EDRs (CrowdStrike, SentinelOne) and experience with API-driven integration between varying security tools.
  • Containers and virtualization (Docker, Kubernetes, VMware, Proxmox) and hands-on AWS or Azure, with the ability to stand up a multi-tier environment in our hybrid cloud environment.
  • Integration experience with identity platforms (Okta, Entra ID, SAML and OIDC) and with ticketing or workflow systems (ServiceNow, Jira).
  • Clear technical writing. In addition to solution documentation, you will write deliverables that will help marketing and sales create customer-ready products.


Preferred Skills & Certifications

  • Hands-on Claude Code or a comparable agentic coding tool in a real production workflow; familiarity with MCP; awareness of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
  • Federal depth: NIST SP 800-53, DISA STIGs, CISA and DoD Zero Trust Strategy, FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography.
  • Custom tooling development for integration or adversary emulation.
  • Relevant cybersecurity or cloud security certification.

 

Success Attributes


  • Commitment to personal and professional integrity and respect for others.
  • Roll-up-your-sleeves attitude and low-ego approach.
  • Commitment to teamwork and professional relationship development.
  • Passion for lifelong learning, growth, and development.
  • Flexible and nimble; comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change.
  • Strong communication and functional project management skills.
  • Desire to innovate, try new things, and creatively explore novel solutions to business challenges.
  • Professional and respectful approach to the diversity of thought, action, identity, and attributes.

 

Benefits & Perks


We want to empower and inspire employees to be and do their best. Our workdays are dynamic, collegial, and fun. Our office features multiple places to work unconstrained by typical office barriers. Our wellness package provides access to an on-site gym and includes medical, dental, and vision insurance along with options for FSA and EAP. We offer 401(k) with employer match, unlimited PTO, and a culture respectful of the reality that not everything in one’s personal life is guaranteed to happen only after hours.


All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local, or international law.


www.themerlingroup.com