Senior Principal Engineer, Offensive Security (2026-345)

Astera Labs•San Jose, CA

11d•$190,000 - $240,000•Onsite

About The Position

Astera Labs is building the connectivity fabric powering rack-scale AI, and securing that fabric is mission-critical. As Senior Principal Engineer, Offensive Security, you'll be our most senior technical authority on adversarial testing — proactively finding, exploiting, and helping remediate weaknesses across our silicon, firmware, systems, cloud, and corporate environments before adversaries can. This is a hands-on, deeply technical role for a proven offensive security leader who wants outsized impact at a hyper-growth semiconductor company enabling the world's largest AI clusters. You'll set the technical direction for red teaming, penetration testing, and offensive research, partner closely with product and IT security teams, and help harden the platforms that hyperscalers rely on.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field
12+ years of experience in offensive security, including red teaming, penetration testing, and/or vulnerability research
Demonstrated expertise in at least two of the following domains: hardware/firmware security, embedded systems, cloud (Azure preferred) and SaaS security, network and application penetration testing, or Active Directory / Microsoft enterprise environments
Proficiency with offensive tooling and exploit development in languages such as Python, C/C++, and assembly
Deep understanding of modern attacker tradecraft, TTPs, and frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK
Proven track record of driving remediation and measurable security improvements in partnership with engineering teams

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a security-related discipline
Industry certifications such as OSCP, OSEP, OSED, GXPN, GPEN, or equivalent demonstrated experience
Experience in the semiconductor, hardware, or hyperscale infrastructure industry, including exposure to PCIe, CXL, or high-speed connectivity technologies
Published research, CVEs, conference talks (Black Hat, DEF CON, etc.), or notable open-source contributions
Familiarity with secure development lifecycle, threat modeling methodologies, and product security programs

Responsibilities

Define and lead Astera Labs' offensive security strategy across hardware, firmware, software, cloud, and enterprise IT
Plan and execute red team, penetration testing, and adversary emulation engagements against production and pre-production assets
Establish scope, rules of engagement, and success metrics for offensive programs in partnership with security leadership
Conduct advanced vulnerability research and exploit development across hardware/firmware, embedded systems, and cloud/SaaS environments
Drive threat modeling, attack surface analysis, and adversary simulation aligned to real-world threat actors (e.g., MITRE ATT&CK)
Prototype tooling and automation to scale offensive testing and continuous validation of controls
Partner with product security, engineering, IT, and GRC teams to prioritize findings, drive remediation, and validate fixes
Communicate complex technical risk clearly to engineering leaders and executives, translating exploits into actionable business impact
Contribute to secure-by-design reviews, threat models, and architecture guidance for new products and platforms
Mentor security engineers and elevate offensive security capability across the organization
Represent Astera Labs' security posture with customers, partners, and (as appropriate) the broader research community
Champion a builder mindset that pairs rigorous adversarial testing with pragmatic, engineering-friendly remediation