Jhon B. Arango

Senior Cybersecurity Systems Engineer

Odenton, MD

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A Senior Cybersecurity Systems Engineer with 23+ years of experience across USAF, NSA, and defense industry, now building production agentic AI systems with defense-grade rigor. Diverse expertise spans aircraft avionics, acquisitions, systems engineering, test & evaluation, weapon system cybersecurity, and offensive/defensive cyber operations. Adaptive leader of technical teams with deep comprehension of system threat analysis and vulnerability assessments. NSA CNODP graduate. Creator of the ARKONA autonomous ecosystem, COMET AI governance framework, and local model fine-tuning research pipeline.

Key Skills

  • Multi-Agent Architecture
  • AI Governance Frameworks
  • Local Model Fine-Tuning (QLoRA)
  • Hybrid LLM Routing
  • Cyber Threat Analysis
  • Offensive / Defensive Cyber Ops
  • Operational Technologies (OT/ICS)
  • System Analysis / Reverse Engineering
  • Systems Engineering (DoDAF, JCIDS)
  • Risk Management (NIST, EVM)
  • Requirements Engineering & CCB
  • Production AI Deployment

    • Experience

    2025 – Present
    Senior Cybersecurity Systems Engineer / Agentic AI Systems Engineer
    ARKONA Ecosystem
    Odenton, MD
    • Architected and deployed a 6-domain autonomous ecosystem with 47 services and 18 AI agents running in production.
    • Designed agent harness with persistent memory, context compression, and structured communication architectures (COMET framework).
    • Built hybrid LLM routing system (MuXD) with prompt optimization across cloud and local models — 47% API cost savings.
    • Developed quantitative benchmarking and automated evaluation pipelines for agentic task performance.
    • Created longer-horizon autonomous agents (research, build, publish) operating on daily schedules with persistent memory.
    • Developed software factory (FORGE) with 7 specialized AI agents and a Skill Builder pipeline that auto-generates agents from governance tasks, collects training data, and fine-tunes local models via QLoRA on dual P40 GPUs.
    • Researched and implemented local model fine-tuning infrastructure: QLoRA 4-bit quantization, DeepSpeed ZeRO-3 multi-GPU parallelism, automated training data curation, and model evaluation pipelines across Llama 3.1, Phi-4, Gemma 2, and Nemotron architectures.
    • Engineered a closed-loop inference cost optimization system: governance classification (COMET) → agent construction (Agent SDK) → training data collection → local model fine-tuning → intelligent routing (MuXD), reducing cloud API dependency by routing graduated tasks to on-premise models.
    2024 – Present
    Director of Operations
    Percival Engineering
    Fort Meade, MD
    • Lead the operational and strategic employment of both OCO & DCO cyber system engineering capabilities against USG priority systems.
    • Team lead for highly skilled and capable cross-functional cybersecurity team(s) in pursuit of cyber hardening Cyber Physical System(s) (CPS).
    2023 – 2024
    Director of Operations
    659th Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance Group
    Fort Meade, MD
    • Directed operational employment of AF offensive & defensive cybersecurity capabilities for 1,800 Airmen / $7.3M across 4 NSA operational locations.
    • Applied systems engineering principles to optimize cybersecurity strategies and resource allocation across multiple mission sets.
    • Led professionals executing complex operational strategies using SE methodologies; conducted analysis and continual refinement of cybersecurity operational procedures.
    2021 – 2023
    Chief Cybersecurity Engineer / Deputy Military Technical Director
    7th Intelligence Squadron / NSA-C32 WSC
    Fort Meade, MD
    • Provided technical leadership and direction to Weapons and Space Cybersecurity Labs — 250+ employees / $36.8M.
    • Derived system requirements and stakeholder needs for complex cyber-physical systems.
    • Established and secured approval for system/component definitions: requirements, designs, interfaces, and test procedures.
    • Assessed program risks: probability of occurrence and quantified consequence of failure.
    • Maintained knowledge of agency/national/international standards; enforced compliance. Developed CCB Charter and served as active CCB member.
    2018 – 2021
    Cyber Exploit Engineer, NSA CNODP
    70th Operational Support Squadron / NSA
    Fort Meade, MD
    • Completed 22-week PhD-level Computer Network Operations Development Program (CNODP): Advanced Software Analysis, Reverse Engineering, Network Security, Cryptography, Programming, Windows/Linux System Internals, and OS Security.
    • Followed by 30 months of technical tours applying exploit development and vulnerability research methodologies.
    • Developed derived requirements for IA Services: Confidentiality, Integrity, Non-repudiation, and Availability.
    • Defined security mechanism technology: cryptography, DAC, MAC, hashing, key management; fully specified software and hardware interfaces.
    2017 – 2018
    Flight Commander, Cybersecurity Test Flight
    18th Flight Test Squadron
    Hurlburt Field, FL
    • Led the stand-up of Operational Test Cyber Flight conducting cybersecurity tests of AFSOC/SOCOM aircraft & weapon systems.
    • Participated in Integrated Product Teams to design new capabilities; allocated real-time and error process budgets to systems and subsystems.
    • Conducted end-to-end system trade analyses to optimize lifecycle system operations.
    • Provided technical direction for development, engineering, integration, and testing of complex HW/SW systems.
    • Supported development and review of JCIDS documents (ICD, CDD, IA Strategy).
    2016 – 2017
    Deputy Flight Commander, Cyber Test Flight
    46th Test Squadron
    Eglin AFB, FL
    • Directed 63-member flight of engineers & analysts conducting cybersecurity tests of DoD aircraft & weapon systems.
    • Co-developed the ‘Cyber System Risk Analysis’ (CSRA) methodology.
    • Conducted quantitative analysis in Reliability, Maintainability, Vulnerability, Survivability, and Produceability.
    • Utilized validated models, simulations, and prototyping to mitigate risk; developed alternative courses of action for each identified risk.
    • Monitored and re-evaluated risks at milestones using Earned Value Management data.
    2015 – 2016
    Executive Officer
    46th Test Squadron
    Eglin AFB, FL
    • Led staff for Squadron Commander, 2 Detachments & 7 Flights at 11 operating locations with 511 personnel; managed critical unit programs.
    • Coordinated resolution of action items from CCB meetings, design reviews, program reviews, and test reviews.
    2014 – 2015
    Lead Test Engineer, C2 Air Operations
    46th Test Squadron
    Eglin AFB, FL
    • Led multi-discipline government & industry team conducting developmental testing for Air Operations Center customers.
    • Generated alternative system concepts, physical architectures, and design solutions.
    • Managed and ensured technical integrity of system baseline throughout lifecycle; implemented operational/technical/system views per DoDAF standards.
    • Established formal process for controlling and managing requirements changes; planned verification efforts for new and unproven designs early in development lifecycle.
    2012 – 2014
    Systems Engineer, Non-Kinetic Counter Electronics
    AFLCMC
    Eglin AFB, FL
    • Led multi-discipline government & industry team conducting weapon lethality assessments of AF non-kinetic weapons.
    • Managed system and derived requirements for DoDAF and SOA-compliant architectures.
    • Contributed to SE documentation: SEPs, ICDs, Requirements Specifications.
    • Developed system design alternatives considering lifecycle cost, reuse, complexity, risk, and growth.
    • Participated in Analysis of Alternatives (AoA); recommended preferred solutions based on adjusted selection criteria.
    2005 – 2012
    Team Lead, F-15 Intermediate Shop
    33d Maintenance Squadron
    Eglin AFB, FL
    • Managed repair of 600+ F-15 Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) to lowest indenture level across 47 radar, navigation, electro-optical, communication, and armament avionics systems.
    • Applied SE principles to streamline LRU repair processes and reduce turnaround times.
    • Coordinated cross-functional troubleshooting of complex LRU components; developed tracking and management strategies with meticulous documentation.
    2003 – 2005
    Team Member, F-15 Intermediate Shop
    18th Component Maintenance Squadron
    Kadena AFB, Japan
    • Diagnosed and resolved intricate issues within 300+ F-15 C/D LRUs using SE methodologies.
    • Maintained detailed documentation and process tracking; contributed to continuous improvement of repair techniques and procedures.
    2002 – 2003
    Trainee, F-15 Avionics
    Lackland / Sheppard AFB
    TX
    • Top graduate in Air Force Avionics Principles; top 5% of graduating class.
    • Led setup of new avionics test station; coordinated with vendor engineers. Troubleshot and repaired sophisticated avionics systems in record time.

    Education

    Starting May 2026
    PhD in AI/ML
    Focused on agentic AI systems, multi-agent communication, and governance frameworks
    2015 – 2021
    MS — Systems Engineering
    Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
    2009 – 2011
    BS — Electrical Engineering
    University of West Florida

    Research

    2025 – Present
    Local Model Fine-Tuning & Inference Optimization
    ARKONA Research
    • Designed and built an end-to-end fine-tuning pipeline on consumer-grade hardware (2× NVIDIA Tesla P40, 48 GB total VRAM) using QLoRA 4-bit quantization with LoRA ranks of 32–64.
    • Evaluated US-origin foundation models (Meta Llama 3.1 8B, Microsoft Phi-4 14B, Google Gemma 2 9B, NVIDIA Nemotron 8B) for task-specific specialization across 7 agent roles.
    • Developed automated training data curation: schema validation, confidence filtering, human feedback integration, and deduplication — minimum 1,000 validated examples per skill before fine-tuning.
    • Implemented DeepSpeed ZeRO-3 for multi-GPU parallelism, enabling fine-tuning of models exceeding single-GPU VRAM capacity.
    • Built governance-driven model graduation system: tasks start on cloud inference (Claude), accumulate training data, fine-tune locally, then route to on-premise models via intelligent routing layer — targeting 60–80% local inference at near-zero marginal cost.
    2025 – Present
    Hybrid LLM Routing & Cost Optimization
    ARKONA Research
    • Built MuXD, a hybrid LLM router that classifies prompt complexity and routes to the most cost-effective model (cloud vs. local) while maintaining output quality.
    • Researched prompt-level complexity classification, embedding-based task familiarity scoring, and confidence-threshold routing for tiered inference architectures.
    • Achieved 47% API cost reduction while maintaining equivalent output quality through intelligent routing decisions.
    2025 – Present
    AI Governance & Task Delegation Frameworks
    ARKONA Research
    • Developed COMET, a structured 5-level delegation framework for classifying organizational tasks by AI suitability, grounded in NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, and IEEE standards.
    • Researched quantitative risk scoring for autonomous AI task execution: reversibility, safety criticality, regulatory exposure, and novelty detection.

    Certifications

    DAWIA APDP Level II, Test Engineer2018
    EC-Council CEH2017
    CompTIA CASP2016
    CompTIA Sec+2015
    DAWIA APDP Level II, Engineering2014
    DAWIA APDP Level I, Program Management2013
    DAWIA APDP Level I, Scientist (Manager)2013
    CompTIA A+2001

    Achievements

    2021

    NSA CNODP Graduate

    Computer Network Operations Development Program

    2017

    1st Place Spark Tank Innovation

    USAF/AFSOC MAJCOM Winner — ‘benign malware’

    2012

    BSEE Senior Design Published

    Embedded Microcontrollers 3(2012)609-615 | DOI:10.17265.1934-7332/2012.09.004

    2005

    John L. Levitow Award

    USAF, Airman Leadership School

    2002

    Top Graduate

    USAF, F-15 Avionics

    Professional Traits

    Analytical Mindset Curious / Creative Data Driven Decisive / Grit Management Skills Problem-solving Teamwork Technical Proficiency Visionary / Strategic

    Interests

    Building Cycling Electronics Fishing Graphics Research
    CASE NUMBER: RES-2023-01510