Penetration Tester - Hardware (Texas/Florida)

Packetlabs Ltd. • Remote (Texas), TX

14d • $80,000 - $120,000 • Remote

About The Position

Packetlabs is seeking a hardware penetration tester to lead security assessments of embedded and IoT devices across industries. The role involves hands-on evaluation of physical products, including their silicon, firmware, board layouts, and exposed interfaces, to determine what an attacker with physical or local access could do. The tester works directly with clients to understand their devices and deliver credible findings that improve security posture.

The position combines offensive security skills with hardware fundamentals. It includes planning and executing assessments, extracting and reverse engineering firmware, analyzing embedded communications, and evaluating physical attack surfaces. The tester also advises clients on remediation, produces reports for technical and non-technical stakeholders, maintains lab tooling and methodology, and contributes to research and knowledge-sharing. The role is fully remote but requires the employee to be located in Texas or Florida.

Requirements

• Graduate of an Information Security, Computer Science, or Computer/Electrical Engineering degree program, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Strong electronics fundamentals, including the ability to read schematics and datasheets and reason about a board from them.
• Hands-on soldering ability, including surface-mount (SMD) rework and basic chip removal.
• Demonstrated experience accessing debug interfaces such as JTAG, SWD, and UART and extracting firmware from real devices.
• Comfort using core bench instruments, including a logic analyzer, oscilloscope, and multimeter.
• Firmware reverse-engineering skills and scripting proficiency in Python, plus enough C to read embedded code.
• Familiarity with embedded architectures such as ARM/Cortex-M, MIPS, AVR, and RISC-V, as well as RTOS and bare-metal concepts.
• Clear written and verbal communication.
• Must be located in Texas or Florida.
• Able to adapt to rapidly changing consulting environments and take ownership of work and outcomes.
• Demonstrates professional, responsive communication with clients, project managers, and teammates.
• Uses sound judgment and restraint in sensitive OT environments where high-risk activity is not appropriate.

Nice To Haves

• Side-channel or fault-injection experience, such as with ChipWhisperer.
• RF and wireless experience, including SDR, BLE, sub-GHz, or Wi-Fi.
• Knowledge of secure boot chains, TEEs, secure elements, and HSMs.
• PCB design familiarity with tools such as KiCad or Altium.
• Published CVEs, conference talks, CTF placements, or open-source tooling.
• Relevant certifications, such as OSCP or hardware-focused training.

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute end-to-end hardware penetration tests against embedded and IoT devices according to defined scopes and rules of engagement.
• Identify, access, and exploit on-board debug interfaces such as JTAG, SWD, and UART to obtain code execution or memory access.
• Extract firmware through debug ports, in-circuit flash reads (SPI, I2C, or NAND), or chip-off procedures when required, and analyze it for vulnerabilities.
• Intercept and analyze data on embedded buses such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, and USB using logic analyzers and protocol decoders.
• Perform in-scope side-channel analysis and fault injection, including power analysis and voltage or clock glitching, to assess bypasses of secure boot, readout protection, or authentication.
• Reverse engineer firmware and embedded binaries to identify logic flaws, hardcoded secrets, and exploitable conditions.
• Assess physical attack surfaces, tamper resistance, and key or secret storage.
• Distinguish theoretical risks from operationally relevant risks and make findings actionable.
• Write technical reports and present findings to technical and non-technical client stakeholders.
• Advise clients on practical, prioritized remediation.
• Build client confidence through credible work, clear communication, and demonstrated impact.
• Build and maintain lab tooling, test rigs, and internal methodology.
• Contribute to research, responsible disclosure, and internal knowledge-sharing.
• Stay current on hardware attack techniques, embedded architectures, and defensive controls.
• Help improve Packetlabs' hardware security practice, methodology, and lab capabilities.
• Manage engagement scope and rules of engagement as engagements evolve, surfacing risks early and clearly.

Benefits

• Immediate and ongoing offensive security training, mentorship, and professional development.
• Competitive compensation and growth opportunity.
• Paid education and professional development reimbursement for continued learning, certifications, and technical growth.
• Flexible work environment.
• Paid volunteer day each year.
• Paid birthday day off.
• Paid U.S. public holidays.
• Fully remote work within Texas or Florida.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time