Sr. Threat Researcher

Illumio • Sunnyvale, CA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

Illumio is seeking a talented Senior Threat Researcher to join their Threat Research Team. This role will serve as a long-term subject matter expert (SME) for the Illumio Insights product team, focusing on providing ongoing guidance on threats, threat intelligence, attacker behaviors, and TTP mapping. The researcher will analyze large-scale security datasets, map adversary activity, identify detection gaps, and collaborate with product teams to enhance detection, data enrichment, and strategic direction. This position bridges threat research, detection engineering, and product innovation, aiming to improve how global organizations defend against advanced cyber threats.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in threat research, incident response, detection engineering, or adversary emulation.
• Strong understanding of attacker tradecraft across enterprise, cloud, and hybrid environments.
• Deep familiarity with the MITRE ATT&CK framework and real-world TTP mapping.
• Hands-on experience working with security telemetry sources.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex findings into clear, actionable insights.
• Comfort working in ambiguous environments and helping define new functions.
• Experience writing detection rules, analytics queries, or conducting threat hunting.

Nice To Haves

• 7–10+ years in threat intelligence or security research roles.
• Experience analyzing security graphs or graph-based analytics for threat detection.
• Background in network segmentation, zero-trust architecture, or micro-segmentation.
• Proven ability to influence product development in a fast-paced environment.
• Previous experience at a cybersecurity product company.
• Track record of publishing threat research or speaking at industry conferences.
• Experience integrating external threat intelligence feeds.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., GCIH, GCFA, or similar).

Responsibilities

• Analyze large-scale security datasets to identify attacker behaviors, patterns, TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures), and emerging risks.
• Map observed behaviors to the MITRE ATT&CK framework and real-world adversary tradecraft.
• Leverage the security graph to model attack paths and uncover opportunities to reduce the risk of lateral movement.
• Identify gaps in detection coverage, data enrichment, and segmentation effectiveness.
• Develop and validate hypotheses about evolving threats using research and intelligence sources.
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering teams to translate research findings into concrete improvements: Enhanced detection logic and analytics, Improved data tagging, enrichment, and graph quality, More actionable customer-facing risk insights.
• Recommend segmentation strategies and policy improvements to strengthen breach containment and limit lateral movement.
• Contribute to internal threat models and risk frameworks that directly inform product roadmap decisions.
• Provide expert guidance on emerging threats observable in our platform and their implications for customers.
• Support product, sales, and customer-facing teams with research-backed insights and threat context.
• Contribute to internal research, patents, and future external publications as the function matures.
• Track global adversary evolution to help shape long-term detection and risk strategies.

Benefits

• Illumio believes that an environment of unique backgrounds, experiences, viewpoints, and individual contributions creates a culture of belonging, drives our future, and makes us stronger together in support of our customers and their success.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed