Principal Red Team Operator

Verizon•Ashburn, VA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

When you join Verizon, you want more out of a career. A place to share your ideas freely — even if they’re daring or different. Where the true you can learn, grow, and thrive. At Verizon, we power and empower how people live, work and play by connecting them to what brings them joy. We do what we love — driving innovation, creativity, and impact in the world. Our V Team is a community of people who anticipate, lead, and believe that listening is where learning begins. In crisis and in celebration, we come together — lifting our communities and building trust in how we show up, everywhere & always. Want in? Join the #VTeamLife. As an experienced Red Team Operator in the telecommunications industry, you will play a critical role in proactively identifying vulnerabilities and security gaps within Verizon’s infrastructure, applications, and processes. This role focuses on emulating real-world adversarial techniques to evaluate and improve Verizon’s defensive capabilities, ensuring the security of customer data and network infrastructure. You will collaborate closely with internal teams to simulate advanced persistent threats (APTs) and execute red team engagements tailored to the unique challenges of the telecommunications sector. This position requires a deep understanding of telco-specific systems, such as enterprise-scale complex networks, 4G & 5G wireless network infrastructure, cloud technology, and more. Strong understanding of network equipment and networking protocols is required. With the right mindset, this is a great opportunity to leverage deep mobile network experience to shift into an offensive cybersecurity role.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.
Six or more years of relevant experience required, demonstrated through one or a combination of work and/or military experience, or specialized training.
Strong understanding of 4G/5G protocols and interfaces to include GTP, Diameter, SS7, S1-MME, S1-U, and S11, HTTP/2 Service-Based Architecture.
Strong understanding of 4G/5G core network architecture, and supporting systems.

Nice To Haves

A degree in engineering, cyber security or computer science.
Knowledge of 3GPP standards relevant to EPC, 4GCore, 5GSA, 5GCore, and 5G/ LTE radio access, VoLTE/VoNR.
Strong foundational knowledge in enterprise networking technologies and protocols (routers, switches, VPN, load balancers, TCP/IP, Internet numbering – IP, ASN, CIDR, subnetting, etc).
Strong Linux skills.
Strong coding and scripting skills (Python, Bash, PowerShell, etc.).
Ability to vet exploit code to understand what it does.
Knowledge of network architecture and cloud environments (e.g., Kubernetes, OpenStack, OpenShift).
Ability to think like an attacker and devise innovative attack scenarios targeting telco environments.
Strong communication and teamwork skills, with the ability to effectively interact with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Certifications such as OSCP, OSCE, or OSEP or GIAC certifications like GPEN, GXPN, or GWAPT.
Familiarity with security challenges in running Internet-scale networks, wireless core components, cloud, and edge computing.

Responsibilities

Conduct red team exercises that emulate realistic threats targeting telco-specific systems, including wireline/wireless network infrastructure and supporting systems.
Identify, exploit, and report vulnerabilities in critical telco systems and infrastructure.
Deliver comprehensive technical reports and executive summaries that outline findings, exploit paths, and remediation recommendations.
Work closely with blue team to develop detection and prevention strategies informed by red team exercises.
Stay updated on the latest attack techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) relevant to the telecommunications industry.
Provide insights to enhance the organization’s security posture through collaboration with peers in both security and operations.