Staff Threat Researcher

Zscaler•San Jose, CA

1d•$122,500 - $175,000•Remote

About The Position

Zscaler is seeking a Staff Threat Researcher to join their Threat Research Team. This remote role requires a highly technical subject matter expert on adversary tradecraft across endpoint, cloud, and identity environments. The researcher will use formal methodologies to analyze and replicate complex cyber attacks, focusing on how techniques work and how to detect them. The goal is to translate technical discoveries into practical attack automations and scalable detection recommendations, thereby enhancing defensive capabilities, informing detection engineering, contributing to product strategy, and keeping customers ahead of evolving evasion tactics.

Requirements

Foundational understanding of AI/ML technologies and experience leveraging, securing, or positioning AI-driven solutions to optimize outcomes within your functional domain.
Experience working with commercial Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) and/or Cloud-based detection platforms.
Software development experience in at least one scripting language (e.g. PowerShell, Python, etc.) and one compiled language (e.g. C, C++, Go, etc.).
Security experience in at least one cloud service provider (e.g. AWS, GCP, Azure) and Cloud architectures.
Established record of public, community engagement (conference talks, blog posts, or webinars, etc.).
Experience managing code with git/GitHub.

Nice To Haves

Proven ability to leverage AI technologies and workflows to drive measurable operational efficiency.
An established record of public community engagement, such as conference talks, technical blog posts, or webinars.

Responsibilities

Scope and continuously refine research initiatives with an adversarial mindset to analyze emerging attack techniques, customer impact, and detection data sources across at least one operating system (Windows, macOS, Linux) and major Cloud/SaaS providers like AWS, Microsoft 365, and Okta.
Dive deep into the technical components and detection optics underlying specific threats to fully comprehend how adversaries control and manipulate variations of a given technique.
Leverage endpoint and cloud expertise to engineer automated attack code, write test code to validate threat coverage, and develop proofs of concept for new detections.
Collaborate across Zscaler to develop new detection methodologies and engineering recommendations, working closely with detection engineers, intelligence analysts, and threat hunters to prioritize and refine deliverables.
Document and present research findings and operational deliverables in an accessible, actionable manner to internal and external audiences, while serving as a technical mentor for colleagues pursuing research.