Penetration Tester Team Lead

The U.S.Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Security Operations Center (SOC) is a U.S.Government program responsible to prevent identify contain and eradicate cyber threats to CBP networks through monitoring intrusion detection and protective security services to CBP information systems including local area networks/wide area networks (LAN/WAN) commercial Internet connection public facing websites wireless mobile/cellular cloud security devices servers and workstations. The CBP SOCis responsible fortheoverall security of CBP Enterprise-wide information systems and collects investigates and reports any suspected and confirmed securityviolations.

Weareseekinga highly skilled and experienced PenetrationTesting Team Leadto join our team supportingCBP.As the leader of this highly technical Penetration Testing Team supporting CBP youwill be responsible formanaging theday-to-dayoperations of the teamcoordinating efforts of the team leading by example andconducting comprehensive security assessments ofCBPFISMA systems with the purpose of identifying vulnerabilities and providing actionable recommendations to enhance the security posture of CBPs critical systems and networks. This role requires a deep understanding of offensive cybersecurity techniques strong analytical capabilities detailed report writing skills and the ability toleada teamofskilled penetration testers.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Responsible for managing the team of Penetration Testers penetration tests theschedulingand coordination ofpentests

• Lead and execute advanced penetration testing purple team engagements andred team engagements across complex enterprise environments including internal/external network infrastructureActive Directory domains APIshybrid cloud architecturesand on-prem systems.

• Developcoordinateandenforce Rules of Engagement (ROE) for penetration testslead stakeholder planning sessions to define scope and constraintsof upcomingpentestsand deliver clear actionableoutbriefingson findings impact and remediation to technical and executive audiences.

• Developmodify and deploy custom exploits payloads and tooling including scripting in PythonRubyPowerShell Bash andother languagesto bypass security controls automate attack paths and enhance tradecraft.

• Conduct penetration testing activities aligned with CBP and industry best practices.

• Provide real-time technical mentorship during engagements including pairedtesting whiteboarding attack paths and guiding junior testers through exploitation chainsand industry best practices.

• Maintain accountability for engagement quality and technical depth reviewing findingsvalidatingexploit paths and ensuring reports accurately reflect risk attack feasibilitypotentialimpacts and recommended remediations.

• Conduct technical oversight and quality assurance across all engagements reviewing testing approachesvalidatingexploit chains and ensuring consistency inmethodology depth and reporting standards across the teamand engagements.

• Lead purple team collaboration effortsfrom thepentestperspective working directly withthe CBP SOCdetection engineering team and Cyber Threat Hunt teamtoexecute actions designed tovalidatedetections tune SIEM use cases and improve defensive posture.

• Mentor and develop team members through structured andad hoctechnical coaching raising the overall capability of the team whilemaintainingindividual technicalskillsets and experience.

• Utilize the MITRE ATT&CK framework to understandand emulateTTPs of adversaries threat actors APTs and threats targetingCBPand mapoperationsto ATT&CK techniques and sub-techniques.

• Create detailed reports listing vulnerabilitiesidentifiedduringpentests with actionable mitigation recommendations following completion ofpentestengagements.

• Stay actively engaged in emerging vulnerability research exploit techniques and adversary methodologies rapidly integrating new capabilities into both personal and team operations.

• Foster a high-performance technically rigorous team culture driving continuous learning through labs internal exercises and knowledge-sharing sessions whilenurturingcutting-edgeoffensive skillsets.

Basic Qualifications:

T5:Candidate shall have a minimum of a Bachelors andtwelve(12) years of professional experiencepenetration testing red teaming or offensive securityexperiencewith a minimum of four (4) years of experience directly leading a Penetration Testing Team.Additional years of experience can be accepted in lieu of degree.

T6:Candidate shall have a minimum ofa Bachelors and fifteen(15) years of professional experiencepenetration testing red teaming or offensive securityexperiencewith a minimum of four (4) years of experience directly leading a Penetration Testing Team.Additional years of experience can be accepted in lieu of degree.

• Must have an active TS/SCI.

• Demonstratedexpertisein multi-layer exploitation with the ability toidentify chain and execute attacks across network infrastructure operating systems (Windows/Linux) web applications APIs and cloud platforms; proven capability to move frominitialaccess through full domain or environment compromise.

• Proficiencywith offensive security tooling and frameworks including Cobalt Strike Mythic Sliver Metasploit Burp Suite ProBloodHound Nmap and similar toolswith specificexperiencemodifyingand extending tools to evade controls.

• Strong understanding of enterprise networking and protocolswith theability toenumerate pivot and exploit across complex segmented network environments.

• Hands-on experience with cloud and modern infrastructure security familiarity with IAM abuse privilege escalation token theft insecure configurations and lateral movement within cloud-native services and hybrid environments.

• In-depth knowledge of operating systems and security controls including Windows/Linuxinternals endpoint protections logging mechanisms and common defensive controlswith ademonstrated ability to bypass or evade these protections during engagements.

• Proven leadership and team management experience including leading technical teams through complex engagements mentoring junior and mid-level testers conducting quality assurance on deliverables and managing multiple concurrent assessments without sacrificing technical depth.

• Strong communicationskills with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical findings attack paths and risk implications to both technical stakeholders and executive leadership through written reports and verbal briefings

• Must be a US Citizen

• Must be able to travel to the Ashburn VA office location up to 5 days per week

Core Certifications:At least one certificationfrom thebelowlist:

• OSCP

• OSCE

• OSWP

• OSEE

• GPEN

• GISF

• GXPN

• GWAPT

Clearance:

• All CBP SOC employeesare required tofavorably pass a 5-year Background Investigation(BI)

• The candidate must currentlypossessaTop SecretClearance with the ability to obtain a Top Secret/SCI Clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience conducting full-scope red team operations and adversary emulation campaigns.

• Familiarity with MITRE ATT&CK framework and threat-informed testing methodologies.

• Knowledge of container and Kubernetes security testing.

• Prior experience supporting federal or regulated environments.