Penetration Tester Mid-Level

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Cyber Security Directorate (CSD) is leading one of the most comprehensive, mission critical cybersecurity operations in the federal government, protecting the digital infrastructure that safeguards America’s borders. This multifaceted program spans 24/7/365 Security Operations Center (SOC) monitoring, advanced threat intelligence, forensics, incident response, cloud and network security engineering, zero trust modernization, vulnerability assessment, and enterprise-wide risk and compliance activities. The Penetration Tester will support teams at the forefront of national security, supporting sophisticated cyber operations that defend vital systems, enable secure mission execution, and counter rapidly evolving threats. You will find this work uniquely impactful, fast-paced, and deeply collaborative, offering the opportunity to lead high performing technical teams, shape CBP’s cybersecurity strategy, and contribute directly to the protection of the nation.

MEANINGFUL WORK AND PERSONAL IMPACT

The Penetration Tester plays a critical role in assessing the security of enterprise systems by emulating real‑world adversary behaviors to identify, validate, and help remediate vulnerabilities across networks, applications, and infrastructure. Operating within a high‑stakes cybersecurity mission environment, this role contributes directly to strengthening defensive capabilities and ensuring mission resilience. The candidate will:

• Conduct hands‑on penetration testing of networks, applications, endpoints, cloud workloads, and mission systems to uncover exploitable security weaknesses.
• Use industry‑standard tools—including Nmap, NESSUS, Metasploit, Burp Suite, CANVAS, Kismet, and other offensive frameworks—to identify misconfigurations, privilege escalation paths, insecure protocols, and exploitable application flaws.
• Perform credentialed and non‑credentialed testing, including reconnaissance, enumeration, exploitation, post‑exploitation analysis, and vulnerability validation.
• Evaluate discovered vulnerabilities to determine exploitability, impact, and potential operational risk.
• Analyze complex environments (hybrid cloud, containerized platforms, mobile, or legacy systems) to identify cross‑domain security issues.
• Produce detailed technical assessment reports, including vulnerability descriptions, exploitation steps, affected assets, and prioritized remediation recommendations.
• Participate in follow‑up assessments and retesting cycles to ensure remediation completeness and risk reduction.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED

• Minimum of three (3) years of penetration testing or offensive security experience.
• Strong understanding of exploit development concepts, offensive tooling, and common security control weaknesses.
• Experience performing network, application, and wireless assessments using modern red‑team methodologies.
• Ability to develop structured documentation, perform technical writing, and have effective communication with both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Preferred certifications:
  • CompTIA PenTest+
  • eJPT / eCPPT
  • OSCP (highly valued)
  • GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN)

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, cybersecurity or a related field preferred.
• Previous or Current CBP Background Investigation desired.