Penetration Tester, Senior

Peraton•Herndon, VA

84d•$86,000 - $138,000•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a highly skilled and innovative Penetration Tester to join our team in the greater DMV area, supporting the Army National Guard. This role involves planning and leading advanced penetration testing operations to emulate adversary threat models against Army networks. The position requires executing complex network, host, and web application assessments, designing and conducting social-engineering campaigns, and supporting Network Damage Assessments. The successful candidate will produce technical reports and briefings, coordinate testing activities with various teams, and translate assessment results into actionable recommendations. Additionally, the role includes maintaining pentest toolchains, developing repeatable test procedures, and mentoring junior testers.

Requirements

Minimum of 5 years with BS/BA; Minimum of 3 years with MS/MA; Minimum of 0 years with PhD
Active TS/SCI clearance.
Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field; OR Relevant DoD/military training (documented advanced offensive/cyber operations training); OR Relevant professional certification or equivalent experience (examples: CISSP‑ISSEP; ISC2 CSSLP; GIAC GWAPT).
Offensive security, red‑team, or penetration testing experience with at least 3 years leading complex, high‑impact assessments in enterprise or DoD environments.
Expert proficiency in reconnaissance, exploitation, post‑exploitation, web application testing (OWASP), phishing/social‑engineering tactics, and evidence preservation.
Hands‑on experience with advanced tooling (e.g., Burp Suite, Metasploit, Cobalt Strike, custom exploit development) and validation of detection/response capability.
Proven ability to produce executive‑grade reports, technical evidence packages, and decision‑grade remediation recommendations under time pressure.
Strong coordination skills for multi‑team operations, adherence to rules of engagement, and safe execution in operational environments.

Nice To Haves

Prior DoD/ARNG CDAP, red/blue team, or Persistent Penetration Testing mission experience.
Background in malware analysis or exploit development and experience integrating findings into detection engineering and SOC tuning.

Responsibilities

Plan and lead advanced penetration testing operations (Network Assistance Visits, Persistent Penetration Testing) to emulate adversary threat models against Army networks.
Execute complex network, host, and web application assessments to identify vulnerabilities, lateral attack paths, privilege escalation, and control weaknesses.
Design and conduct advanced phishing and social‑engineering campaigns to evaluate user awareness and defensive effectiveness.
Support Network Damage Assessments: validate suspected compromises, determine adversary presence/scope/impact, and provide technical findings to inform containment and remediation.
Produce timely technical reports, evidence bundles, and executive‑level briefings to support incident response and leadership decision‑making.
Coordinate testing activities with cybersecurity, SOC/CIRT, operations, and engineering teams to deconflict missions and enable rapid mitigation and retest.
Translate assessment results into actionable recommendations: detection enhancements, configuration changes, and resilience improvements.
Maintain pentest toolchains, develop repeatable test procedures, and mentor junior testers to build sustained offensive capability.