Penetration Tester - Hybrid in London - Inside IR35 - 6 months

ZipRecruiter; London; Hybrid; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading recruitment platform is seeking a Penetration Tester for a hybrid role in London. The position involves conducting manual and automated security assessments to identify vulnerabilities across various environments. Ideal candidates should have extensive experience in penetration testing and suitable offensive security tooling expertise. The contract lasts for 6 months with a daily rate up to £500, inside IR35.

Qualifications

• Strong grasp of OWASP Top 10 and API security issues.
• 3-7+ years in penetration testing, red teaming, or offensive security.
• Ability to produce professional pentest reports.

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute penetration tests across various environments.
• Identify, exploit, and validate vulnerabilities in networks and applications.
• Simulate real-world attacks and assess security controls.
• Develop detailed reports outlining findings and remediation steps.

Skills

Application security knowledge

Hands-on pentesting experience

Offensive security tooling

Reporting expertise

Tools

Nmap

Nessus

Burp Suite

Metasploit

Cobalt Strike

SQLmap

Job description

Overview

Penetration Tester - Hybrid in London - Inside IR35 - 6 months

We are seeking an experienced Penetration Testing & Offensive Security Consultant to join our team. This critical role, based in London (2-3 days per week on-site), requires deep expertise in conducting manual and automated security assessments across networks, applications, cloud platforms, and infrastructure. You will identify and exploit vulnerabilities, simulate real-world attacks, and deliver actionable remediation guidance to strengthen defenses. As a trusted advisor on offensive security practices, reporting standards, and threat simulation, you will play a key role in enhancing collaboration with development, cloud, and infrastructure teams, while ensuring robust security outcomes in sensitive and compliance-driven environments.

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute penetration tests - perform manual and automated testing across applications, APIs, internal/external networks, cloud environments, and Active Directory.
• Identify, exploit, and validate vulnerabilities - uncover security flaws such as insecure authentication, authorization bypasses, misconfigurations, and privilege escalation paths.
• Simulate real-world attacks - use adversary techniques and offensive tools to test the resilience of networks, systems, and security controls.
• Develop detailed reports - produce both technical and executive-level documentation outlining findings, risk impact, and remediation steps

What You Will Ideally Bring

• Application security knowledge - strong grasp of OWASP Top 10 and API security issues
• Hands-on pentesting experience - 3-7+ years in penetration testing, red teaming, or offensive security across networks, cloud, AD, and web apps.
• Offensive security tooling - expertise with Nmap, Nessus, Masscan, Burp Suite, Metasploit, Cobalt Strike, Mimikatz, SQLmap, ScoutSuite, Pacu, etc.
• Reporting expertise - ability to produce professional pentest reports with CVSS scoring and MITRE ATT&CK mapping for both technical and executive stakeholders.

Contract Details

• Duration: 6 months (with view to extend)
• Day Rate: Up to £500 per day (Inside IR35)
• Location: London (3x a week)
• Start Date: ASAP