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Offensive Security Engineer Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

Senior Security Engineer

Merrifield, VA · On-site

$131K - $237K/yr

Offensive security background -- penetration testing, red team, or serious CTF experience * Detection engineering or SIEM experience * Experience with embedded, real-time, or otherwise constrained ...

Cloud Security Architect

Fort Belvoir, VA · On-site

$74 - $98.50/hr

... Offensive Security Certified Professional, EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker.) • Formal ... Engineer/Architect. • Knowledge of cloud computing architectures, cloud governance and risk ...

Overview We are seeking an experienced Senior Penetration Tester / Offensive Security Engineer to conduct hands-on security assessments, identify vulnerabilities, evaluate enterprise architectures ...

Senior Networking Security Analyst

Fort Belvoir, VA · On-site

$113K - $145K/yr

Offensive Security Exploitation Expert - Exploit development and reverse engineering at the highest level. * GXPN: GIAC Exploit Researcher & Advanced Penetration Tester - Advanced exploitation and ...

Showing results 41-60

Offensive Security Engineer information

See Virginia salary details

$61K

$151.5K

$203.7K

How much do offensive security engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 4, 2026, the average yearly pay for offensive security engineer in Virginia is $151,463.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $141,800.00 and $157,100.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What does an offensive security engineer do?

An Offensive Security Engineer is responsible for identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and applications to assess an organization's security posture. They conduct penetration testing, simulate real-world cyber attacks, and provide recommendations to strengthen defenses. Their work helps organizations proactively detect and mitigate security risks before malicious hackers can exploit them. They often use tools like Metasploit, Burp Suite, and custom scripts to test security controls.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as an offensive security engineer?

Offensive Security Engineers need expertise in penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, networking, programming, and a solid understanding of security best practices, typically supported by a computer science degree or equivalent experience. Familiarity with tools like Metasploit, Burp Suite, Kali Linux, and certifications such as OSCP or CEH is highly valued. Strong problem-solving ability, effective communication, and a collaborative mindset help professionals excel in this dynamic field. These skills ensure the engineer can identify and exploit security weaknesses while clearly conveying findings to both technical teams and stakeholders, ultimately strengthening organizational security.

What are some common challenges faced by offensive security engineers on the job?

Offensive Security Engineers often encounter challenges such as keeping up with rapidly evolving threats, maintaining deep technical knowledge across various technologies, and identifying vulnerabilities in large or complex systems. They must balance rigorous testing with minimal disruption to live systems, which requires careful planning and coordination with other teams. Additionally, translating technical findings into actionable recommendations that are understandable to both technical and non-technical stakeholders is a key part of the role. These challenges make adaptability, continuous learning, and strong communication skills especially important in this field.

What are the most commonly searched types of Offensive Security Engineer jobs in Virginia?

The most popular types of Offensive Security Engineer jobs in Virginia are:

What are popular job titles related to Offensive Security Engineer jobs in Virginia?

For Offensive Security Engineer jobs in Virginia, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Offensive Security Engineer jobs in Virginia look for?

The top searched job categories for Offensive Security Engineer jobs in Virginia are:

What cities in Virginia are hiring for Offensive Security Engineer jobs?

Cities in Virginia with the most Offensive Security Engineer job openings:

Infographic showing various Offensive Security Engineer job openings in Virginia as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 85% Full Time, 13% Part Time, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 91% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 7% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $151,463 per year, or $72.8 per hour.

Senior Security Engineer

Leidos

Merrifield, VA • On-site

$131K - $237K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Retirement, PTO

Posted 11 days ago


Leidos rating

8.3

Company rating: 8.3 out of 10

Based on 153 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

80th of 500 rated business services


Job description

Description

Who We Are:
Kudu Dynamics is Leidos Owned Company, forged out of a decade of experience in computer network operations and staffed with talent who have built, overseen, and enhanced capabilities throughout the entire USG arsenal. Our team of hackers and engineers have experience spanning centuries of research, development, and operations missions - across desktop, mobile, IoT, and embedded platforms. Kudu Dynamics, a Leidos company is uniquely qualified to anticipate tomorrow’s threats and build the next generation of capabilities.

Full Job Description:

We are looking for a Security Engineer to own the security posture of the environments where we build, test, and deliver advanced AI-cyber capabilities. You will be embedded with software engineers, reverse engineers, and vulnerability researchers, hardening the infrastructure, supply chains and pipelines on while guiding their secure development.

 The work includes guiding and reviewing build integrity and supply chain review to threat modeling our own tooling. If you have ever looked at a supply chain & development environment and immediately started listing the ways you would secure it, this is the job. You will be the person the team trusts to tell them when something is a real risk and when it is just noise 

As an AI Security Integration Engineer on our team, you will bridge the gap between traditional security infrastructure and modern programmatic defense. You will guide the secure development and evolution of software vulnerability tooling. Your primary focus will be working with the development team to maintainmaintaining the tool security posture utilizing continuous ATO. review workflows and pipelines by leveraging Python, assessing robust API integrations, maintained exploring AI/LLM orchestration to rapidly scale threat detection and response capabilities.  Support ATO and continuous vuln management.

Responsibilities Include:
  • 8+ years of professional experience in security engineering, secure software development, or infrastructure security.
  • Experience securing and using agentic tooling for writing and maintaining production code, managing cloud infrastructure, and release management frameworks.
  • Experience owning security outcomes for a technical product from ideation to production, and influencing engineering teams toward secure design without direct authority.
  • Experience hardening software deployments, networks, and production infrastructure at scale.
  • Experience securing software clusters for online/cloud as well as on-prem or air-gapped installations.
  • Experience with threat modeling, vulnerability management, and secure development practices across first- and third-party code.
  • Familiarity with NIST RMF, continuous ATO, and control automation.
Minimum Qualifications:
  • 15+ years Hands-on experience securing and hardening Linux systems at the OS and network layer

  • Expertise in at least one scripting language (Python preferred)

  • Working knowledge of network protocols, cryptographic fundamentals, and key management

  • Experience with infrastructure-as-code and containerization (Ansible/Terraform, Docker/Kubernetes)

  • Experience administering or securing a CI/CD system (GitLab CI, Jenkins, or similar)

Nice-to-have Qualifications:
  • Experience working in accredited/classified environments, including cross-domain solutions

  • Offensive security background — penetration testing, red team, or serious CTF experience

  • Detection engineering or SIEM experience

  • Experience with embedded, real-time, or otherwise constrained platforms

  • Exposure to reverse engineering or vulnerability research

  • Relevant certifications (CISSP, OSCP, GCIH) — useful, not required

  • Non-human/agent identity and secrets management — short-lived credentials, scoping, and audit for autonomous actors, which is a genuinely different problem than human IAM.

  • Sandboxing and egress control for code-executing agents.

  • Familiarity with NIST AI RMF and the fact that continuous-ATO control automation now has to cover AI system controls, not just traditional ones. 

  • Using LLMs to accelerate the compliance grind control narrative drafting, evidence collection, POA&M triage.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:August 24, 2026

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range:Pay Range $131,300.00 - $237,350.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

About Leidos

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Pay and Benefits

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at www.leidos.com/careers/pay-benefits.

Securing Your Data

Beware of fake employment opportunities using Leidos’ name. Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information during any part of the employment application process (i.e., ask you for money), nor will Leidos ever advance money as part of the hiring process (i.e., send you a check or money order before doing any work). Further, Leidos will only communicate with you through emails that are generated by the Leidos.com automated system – never from free commercial services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or via WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. If you received an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information (e.g., about you or your previous employer), and you are concerned about its legitimacy, please make us aware immediately by emailing us at LeidosCareersFraud@leidos.com.

If you believe you are the victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and report the incident to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.

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About Leidos

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers' success. We empower our teams, contribute to our communities, and operate sustainable practices. Everything we do is built on a commitment to do the right thing for our customers, our people, and our community.

Industry

It services

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Reston, VA, US

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