As a Principal Red Team Engineer in the telecommunications industry, you will drive the design, development, and execution of advanced offensive security capabilities across Verizon’s network infrastructure and consumer technology. This role requires a balance of deep technical execution, custom exploit and tool development, rigorous code review, and senior technical leadership.

You won't just use offensive security tools, you will build them. You will lead the creation of custom adversary frameworks, conduct high-impact code reviews of internal security platforms and exploit payloads, and leverage on-prem AI infrastructure to push the boundaries of adversary emulation. You will serve as a subject matter expert and mentor, guiding complex offensive engagements to ensure our defensive capabilities evolve alongside modern threat actors.

Key Responsibilities

• Custom Tooling & Exploit Engineering: Lead the architecture, design, and development of custom adversary tools, implants, Command & Control (C2) frameworks, and evasion techniques tailored to complex telecommunications environments.

• Code Review & Quality Assurance: Conduct rigorous code reviews of internal offensive tools, exploit scripts, and automation pipelines to ensure performance, stealth, stability, and adherence to safe execution standards in production environments.

• Offensive AI Integration: Contribute to the deployment, fine-tuning, and operationalization of local, air-gapped Large Language Models (LLMs) to automate exploit generation, payload obfuscation, vulnerability discovery, and attack chaining.

• Advanced Research & Exploitation: Conduct deep-dive security research and reverse engineering across web, mobile, hardware, firmware, and core network architectures to discover zero-days and design novel attack vectors.

• Execution & Campaign Leadership: Plan, scope, and execute high-complexity Red Team campaigns targeting critical wireline/wireless network infrastructure, cloud/edge environments, and in-home devices.

• Automation Infrastructure: Build and maintain scalable, robust continuous-integration and delivery pipelines for offensive tooling, automated fuzzing platforms, and adversary emulation suites.

• Mentorship & Collaboration: Provide technical mentorship to junior and mid-level engineers (Eng III), driving code best practices, research methodologies, and collaborative threat intelligence sharing across the team.

• Strategic Defensive Impact: Work directly with senior defensive stakeholders, Blue Teams, and Remediation Assurance to translate complex offensive discoveries into systemic, long-term defensive architecture improvements.

You’ll need to have:

• Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.

• Six or more years of relevant experience required, demonstrated through one or a combination of work and/or military experience, or specialized training.

• Six or more years of specialized experience in software development, offensive security engineering, red teaming, or exploit development.

• High proficiency in languages commonly used for offensive tool development and low-level engineering (e.g., Python, C/C++, Rust, Go, or Assembly).

• Proven track record of conducting secure code reviews, building maintainable codebases, and designing resilient software architecture.

• Deep understanding of Linux/Unix internals, network protocols, memory management, and modern operating system security controls.

Even better if you have one or more of the following:

• Local AI / LLM Engineering: Hands-on experience deploying, tuning, and weaponizing open-source LLMs in local/air-gapped environments for security applications.

• Reverse Engineering & Hardware Hacking: Expert-level proficiency with reverse engineering platforms (Ghidra, IDA Pro, Binary Ninja) across software, mobile apps, and embedded firmware.

• Telecommunications & Core Architecture Expertise: Deep knowledge of 4G/5G core networks, telco protocols (SIP, SS7/Diameter, TR-069/TR-369), or consumer hardware (routers, wireless extenders).

• Infrastructure & Cloud: Strong experience with containerization, orchestration, and virtualized infrastructure (Kubernetes, Docker, VMware ESXi, Proxmox).

• Advanced Offensive Tradecraft: Demonstrated experience bypassing modern EDRs, crafting evasive payloads, and designing custom C2 infrastructures.

• Industry Certifications: Relevant advanced certifications (e.g., OSED, OSEP, OSWE, GXPN, or equivalent experience).

• Communication & Leadership: Exceptional technical writing, presentation, and mentorship skills, with the ability to articulate complex security risks to both executive leadership and technical teams.

If Verizon and this role sound like a fit for you, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every “even better” qualification listed above.

Our benefits are designed to help you move forward in your career, and in areas of your life outside of Verizon. From health and wellness benefit options including: medical, dental, vision, short and long term disability, basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, AD&D insurance, identity theft protection, pet insurance and group home & auto insurance. We also offer a matched 401(k) savings plan, up to 8 company paid holidays per year and up to 6 personal days per year, paid parental leave, adoption assistance and tuition assistance, plus other incentives, we’ve got you covered with our award-winning total rewards package. Depending on the role, employees have the opportunity to receive compensation in the form of premium pay such as overtime, shift differential, holiday pay, allowances, etc. Newly hired employees receive up to 15 days of vacation per year, which grows with additional service. For part-timers, your coverage will vary as you may be eligible for some of these benefits depending on your individual circumstances.