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Offensive Security Researcher Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Owl Ventures

Greenlight is looking for a Staff Offensive Security Engineer for our Security team. This ... Vulnerability Research: Conduct deep‑dive research into high‑risk areas of our ecosystem ...

Fortra

Sr. Cybersecurity Researcher, Cobalt Strike

Research modern adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures, with a focus on post-exploitation ... Help evaluate how offensive security techniques interact with modern Windows security features ...

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How much do offensive security researcher jobs pay per hour?

As of Sep 11, 2026, the average hourly pay for offensive security researcher in the United States is $51.44, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $49.76 and $53.12 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is an offensive security researcher?

Offensive Security Researchers are cybersecurity professionals who identify, analyze, and exploit vulnerabilities in software, systems, or networks to help organizations strengthen their security. They perform penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and develop attack simulations to uncover weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Their work often involves staying updated on the latest threats and attack techniques, as well as creating tools or proof-of-concept exploits to demonstrate potential risks. By thinking like attackers, they help organizations proactively protect their assets and data.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as an offensive security researcher, and why are they important?

To thrive as an Offensive Security Researcher, you need a deep understanding of cybersecurity principles, penetration testing, vulnerability research, and programming, typically supported by a degree in computer science or related certifications like OSCP or CEH. Familiarity with tools such as Metasploit, Burp Suite, IDA Pro, and scripting languages like Python is essential for identifying and exploiting security flaws. Analytical thinking, creativity, and strong written and verbal communication skills help researchers document findings and collaborate with teams. These skills are crucial for proactively uncovering vulnerabilities and strengthening organizational security before malicious actors can exploit weaknesses.

What types of collaboration can an offensive security researcher expect with other teams in an organization?

Offensive Security Researchers frequently collaborate with various teams, including incident response, software development, and IT operations. They share their findings about vulnerabilities and attack techniques, helping to inform security improvements and incident mitigation strategies. Regular interaction with development teams is common to ensure secure coding practices, while partnerships with security operations help prioritize threats and remediation efforts. This collaborative environment not only enhances the organization's security posture but also provides researchers with a broader perspective and learning opportunities.

What is the difference between Offensive Security Researcher vs Penetration Tester?

AspectOffensive Security ResearcherPenetration Tester
CertificationsOSCP, OSWE, GPENOSCP, CEH, GPEN
Work EnvironmentResearch-focused, developing exploits, analyzing vulnerabilitiesClient engagement, conducting security assessments
Industry UsageSecurity firms, research labs, product companiesConsulting firms, security service providers

While both roles involve identifying security weaknesses, Offensive Security Researchers focus on discovering new vulnerabilities and developing exploits in a research setting. Penetration Testers typically perform simulated attacks on client systems to evaluate security posture. The roles overlap in skills and certifications but differ mainly in scope and environment.

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What are popular job titles related to Offensive Security Researcher jobs?

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Infographic showing various Offensive Security Researcher job openings in the United States as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 60% Full Time, and 40% Contract. Highlights an 60% In-person, and 40% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $107,000 per year, or $51.4 per hour.

Senior Offensive Security Engineer, Vulnerability Operations

Santa Clara, CA

Nvidia
Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing • 10K+ employees
Learn more about Nvidiaexternal

$134K - $184K/yr

Full-time

Posted 9 days ago

Nvidia rating

9.6

Company rating: 9.6 out of 10

Based on 18 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

Job description

NVIDIA's Product Security organization is looking for a Senior Offensive Security Engineer to push the frontier of AI-driven offensive security. We already run language model agents that audit source code and attack live web applications at fleet scale. These include multi-agent orchestration, adversarial verification, exploit-confirmation harnesses, and sandboxed execution. Your job is to make these agents meaningfully better attackers: new attack capabilities, new target classes, higher true-positive rates, and safer autonomy. This is a hands-on role for someone who is both a strong offensive security practitioner and a builder of agentic systems. Join us!

What you'll be doing:

  • Crafting and building new red team agents: autonomous and semi-autonomous LLM agents that perform reconnaissance, hypothesis-driven exploitation, and evidence capture against NVIDIA-owned targets

  • Extending our existing agent harnesses (multi-phase orchestration, parallel specialist subagents, judge/verifier stages, out-of-band callback infrastructure) across multiple agent runtimes and model providers

  • Encoding real operator tradecraft into prompts, tools, and playbooks - web app exploitation, auth bypass, SSRF/deserialization chains, cloud and Kubernetes attack paths - so agents find what a skilled human would

  • Building the verification layer: exploit-confirmation harnesses that prove findings are real before a human ever sees them, driving false-positive rates down

  • Engineering the safety side of autonomy: sandboxing, scope enforcement, tool allowlists/blocklists, credential isolation, and prompt-injection defenses for agents operating with offensive capability

  • Evaluating and benchmarking frontier models for offensive tasks; partnering with our human red team to turn their engagements into repeatable agent capabilities

  • Mentoring engineers on the team and setting the technical bar for agentic offensive tooling

What we need to see:

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

  • 12+ years in security engineering, with at least 4 years in offensive security: penetration testing, red teaming, exploit development, or vulnerability research

  • Deep, hands-on exploitation skill in at least one domain (web application, cloud/Kubernetes, or systems/binary) - you can build and prove an exploit chain, not just run a scanner

  • Strong software engineering ability in Python; you ship production code, not just PoCs

  • Practical experience building with LLMs: agent frameworks, tool use/function calling, multi-agent orchestration, or coding agents (Claude Code, Codex CLI, or similar)

  • Sound judgment about autonomous offensive tooling - scoping, authorization, and blast-radius thinking are second nature

  • Respectful, responsible approach to offensive testing - we break things carefully and fix them fast

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

  • Published security research, CVEs, conference talks, or notable CTF results

  • Certifications like OSWE, OSEP, OSCP, or GXPN

  • Experience with SAST/DAST internals, fuzzing, or program analysis

  • Experience red-teaming AI systems themselves (prompt injection, jailbreaks, model evaluation) or contributing to AI-security research

  • Familiarity with Kubernetes/OpenShift, GitOps, and operating worker fleets at scale

With competitive salaries and a generous benefits package, NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world's most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and talented people in the world working for us and, due to unprecedented growth, our elite engineering teams are rapidly growing. If you're a creative and autonomous engineer with a real passion for technology, we want to hear from you!

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 224,000 USD - 356,500 USD for Level 5, and 272,000 USD - 431,250 USD for Level 6.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until September 6, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

What Nvidia employees say

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Benefits

Hours and flexibility

Workplace

Get the full story on Breakroom

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About Nvidia

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It's a unique legacy of innovation that's fueled by great technology--and amazing people. Today, we're tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what's never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world's best talent.

Industry

Computer and electronic product manufacturing

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Santa Clara, CA, US

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