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Northrop Grumman
Exploit Developer/Penetration Tester 2/3
Career Insights for Vulnerability Analyst / Penetration Tester
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What they do
A Vulnerability Analyst or Penetration Tester probes for and exploits security vulnerabilities in web-based applications, networks and systems. Penetration Tests are designed to achieve a specific, attacker-simulated goal and should be requested by customers who are already at their desired security posture. A typical goal could be to access the contents of the prized customer database on the internal network, or to modify a record in an HR system. Vulnerability Assessments are designed to yield a prioritized list of vulnerabilities and are generally for clients who already understand they are not where they want to be in terms of security. The customer already knows they have issues and simply need help identifying and prioritizing them.
$121,440 / year median in Virginia
+4% projected growth
Job Description
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE
No relocation assistance availableCLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START
NoCLEARANCE TYPE
Top Secret TRAVEL:
Yes, 25% of the Time ## Description At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history. At the heart of Defining Possible is our commitment to missions. In rapidly changing global security environments, Northrop Grumman brings informed insights and secure technological solutions to enable strategic objectives. We're looking for innovators who can help us keep building on our wide portfolio of secure, affordable, integrated, and multi-domain systems and technologies that fuel those missions. By joining in our shared mission, we will support yours of expanding your personal network and developing skills, whether you are new to the field or an industry thought leader. At Northrop Grumman, you will have the resources, support, and team to do some of the best work of your career. Northrop Grumman's Corporate Sector's Chief Information & Digital Office (CIDO) is seeking a Exploit Developer/Penetration Tester 2 or 3 to support the CISO & Global Cybersecurity organization. Do you think Rocket Science is cool? How about hacking it? Northrop Grumman is adding to our internally-focused penetration testing group, the Cyber Assessment Tiger Team (CATT). We are charged with emulating and staying at least one step ahead of the most sophisticated attackers in the world, and improving the survivability & resilience of our products, platforms and environments, worldwide. Here, penetration testing isn't for compliance, it's for making a difference in the success of our customers' missions. Successful CATT members are intensely curious, excellent communicators, brilliant researchers, skilled hackers, and disciplined engineers. If you enjoy continuously learning new platforms/APIs/protocols/architectures/languages, and leveraging that knowledge to reverse engineer, develop, and demonstrate exploits against some of the most sophisticated technologies anywhere, let's talk. Between engagements, our teams enjoy continuous education, cross-training, and independent R D, and are responsible for sharing within the team and among our customers and the greater company CISO/Global Secure Solutions organization.Key Responsibilities:
- Code analysis & hardware/binary reverse engineering to identify functionality and vulnerabilities on hardware & software including avionics and embedded systems.
- Evaluate system security configurations for effectiveness and exploitation opportunities.
- Develop and execute complete adversarial cyber testing scenarios against components, applications, operating systems, or complete integrated systems.
- Contribute to the design, development, implementation, and integration of Offensive Cyber Operations tools against platforms, payloads & systems.
- Contribute to the design, development, implementation, and integration of system Cyber Survivability Attributes.
- Contribute to the preparation and presentation of technical reports and briefings.
- Continually improve the knowledge and capabilities of yourself & the greater team.
Basic Qualifications:
- For level 2: a minimum of High School Diploma, or a GED, and 6 years of experience with Cyber Security, Red Team, Penetration Testing, or Exploit Development is required.
- For level 3: a minimum of High School Diploma, or a GED, and 9 years of experience with Cyber Security, Red Team, Penetration Testing, or Exploit Development is required.
- Must have experience in software development to support penetration testing, including vuln dev, R/E tool modules, covert tunneling, scanning scripts, and passive collection.
- Must have 2 years of experience in at least three (3) of the following languages:
C, C++, C
#, Python, Ruby, Rust, Bourne/Bash, PowerShell, Visual Basic, Go, PHP, Javascript, HTML.- Must be willing to travel domestically and internationally (up to 25% per year)
- Must have the ability to obtain, and maintain, a DOD Top Secret security clearance as a condition of continued employment.
Preferred Qualifications:
- The ideal candidate will have a BS degree in Software Development, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or other similar STEM related degree, to include 9 years of experience in Cyber Protection.
- Technical computer/network knowledge and understanding of common computer hardware, software, networks, communications and connectivity.
- Experience conducting full-scope assessments and penetration tests including: social engineering, server & client-side attacks, protocol subversion, physical access restrictions, and web application exploitation.
- Proficiency in the internal workings of either Linux, Unix, and/or Windows operating systems.
- Experience using scan / attack / assess tools and techniques.
- Ability and desire to learn additional Operating Systems, Computing Architectures, and Programming languages.
- Demonstrated experience in technical report writing.
- Technical certifications that support pen testing such as
OSCP/OSCE/OSEE, GPEN/GXPN.
- Software/hardware reverse engineering for vulnerability and exploit R D.
- RTOS experience (Integrity, Nucleus, VxWorks, etc.).
- Experience developing, exploiting and jailbreaking GenAI and Agentic solutions.
- PowerPC, ARM, Xilinx FPGA, RISCx, other hardware computing development experience.
- Assembly language experience (any current architecture/OS).
- TCP/IP MITM, spoofing, exploitation experience.
- Platform communications protocol expertise (ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553, Spacewire, etc.).
- Cryptanalysis and cryptosystem exploitation experience.
- In depth understanding of layer 2-7 communication protocols, common encoding and encryption schemes and algorithms.
- Understanding of and experience either executing or defending against complex, targeted cyber threats to high-value systems and data.
- Active Top Secret, and/or SCI access with an SSBI completed within the past 4 years, is highly desirable.