Senior Vulnerability Researcher

UK Telecoms lab; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 81,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced pension scheme

Flexible working

Diversity & inclusion

Job summary

UK Telecoms Lab in the United Kingdom seeks an experienced vulnerability researcher to lead and contribute to advanced security research across carrier-grade telecom systems. You will shape research priorities, build tooling, and mentor peers while working in a state-of-the-art facility.

Successful candidates will have extensive experience in memory corruption exploitation, reverse engineering with IDA Pro/Ghidra, and strong Linux internals knowledge.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading or contributing to advanced vulnerability research initiatives across multiple roles or organisations.
• Strong expertise across telecom technologies such as 4G/5G, fibre broadband, and OpenRAN.
• Deep understanding of hardware and software development lifecycles, and how they introduce security risks.
• Practical knowledge of cryptographic systems, including encryption, authentication, and digital signatures.
• Solid grasp of data structures, distributed systems, virtualisation, and containerisation.
• Expert-level understanding of network protocols and software internals, from low-level assembly to high-level languages.
• Experience with embedded systems, OS internals, and hardware debugging techniques.
• Strong knowledge of Linux internals, with the ability to quickly adopt new programming languages.
• Demonstrated experience identifying and exploiting memory corruption vulnerabilities, including bypassing modern protections (ASLR, stack canaries, etc.)
• Proficiency in reverse engineering, using tools such as IDA Pro, Ghidra, or equivalent
• Skilled in using debugging tools (e.g., GDB) and advanced exploitation techniques
• Experience building custom tools, research platforms, or test environments to support vulnerability discovery
• Ability to commute to our UKTL offices in Birmingham at least twice a week
• Ability to meet the necessary security standards, including DV clearance with no restrictions; SC clearance may be acceptable to start while DV is in progress

Responsibilities

• Lead advanced vulnerability research across carrier-grade telecom systems
• Drive investigations into complex, real-world technologies and uncover deep, previously unknown security weaknesses
• Shape the vision for vulnerability research within our organisation
• Define priorities, methodologies, and tooling approaches for research efforts
• Provide technical leadership across multiple domains and guide teams through ambiguous and complex problem spaces
• Design and develop advanced research tooling and environments
• Create bespoke fuzzers, software-defined radio solutions, or entirely new frameworks to enable large-scale experimentation and discovery
• Prototype, iterate, and push technical boundaries by leading by example
• Support and develop other researchers through mentoring, knowledge sharing, and work reviews
• Foster a culture of curiosity and technical excellence
• Apply structured research methodologies to understand complex systems, how they behave, where they fail, and how they can be secured
• Connect insights across hardware, software, and networks to solve real-world security challenges
• Operate within a cutting-edge research environment and explore systems at scale
• Design and evolve the infrastructure that underpins advanced telecom security research

Skills

Vulnerability research

Linux internals

C++

Reverse engineering

Tools

IDA Pro

Ghidra

GDB

Job description

Salary: £41,000 - 81,000 per year

Requirements

• Proven experience leading or contributing to advanced vulnerability research initiatives across multiple roles or organisations
• Strong expertise across telecom technologies such as 4G/5G, fibre broadband, and OpenRAN
• Deep understanding of hardware and software development lifecycles, and how they introduce security risks
• Practical knowledge of cryptographic systems, including encryption, authentication, and digital signatures
• Solid grasp of data structures, distributed systems, virtualisation, and containerisation
• Expert-level understanding of network protocols and software internals, from low-level assembly to high-level languages
• Experience with embedded systems, OS internals, and hardware debugging techniques
• Strong knowledge of Linux internals, with the ability to quickly adopt new programming languages
• Demonstrated experience identifying and exploiting memory corruption vulnerabilities, including bypassing modern protections (ASLR, stack canaries, etc.)
• Proficiency in reverse engineering, using tools such as IDA Pro, Ghidra, or equivalent
• Skilled in using debugging tools (e.g., GDB) and advanced exploitation techniques
• Experience building custom tools, research platforms, or test environments to support vulnerability discovery
• Ability to commute to our UKTL offices in Birmingham at least twice a week
• Ability to meet the necessary security standards, including DV clearance with no restrictions; SC clearance may be acceptable to start while DV is in progress

Responsibilities

• Lead advanced vulnerability research across carrier-grade telecom systems
• Drive investigations into complex, real-world technologies and uncover deep, previously unknown security weaknesses
• Shape the vision for vulnerability research within our organisation
• Define priorities, methodologies, and tooling approaches for research efforts
• Provide technical leadership across multiple domains and guide teams through ambiguous and complex problem spaces
• Design and develop advanced research tooling and environments
• Create bespoke fuzzers, software-defined radio solutions, or entirely new frameworks to enable large-scale experimentation and discovery
• Prototype, iterate, and push technical boundaries by leading by example
• Support and develop other researchers through mentoring, knowledge sharing, and work reviews
• Foster a culture of curiosity and technical excellence
• Apply structured research methodologies to understand complex systems, how they behave, where they fail, and how they can be secured
• Connect insights across hardware, software, and networks to solve real-world security challenges
• Operate within a cutting-edge research environment and explore systems at scale
• Design and evolve the infrastructure that underpins advanced telecom security research

Technologies

• Embedded
• Hardware
• Support
• Linux
• Network
• Security
• C++

More

We are UKTL, building leading-edge telecoms testing facilities to keep our telecommunications networks safe, accelerate the roll-out of new technologies, and grow our world-leading telecoms sector with greater resiliency and security. Successful candidates will join a state-of-the-art facility and work alongside our infrastructure and cybersecurity professionals to test and research the latest technologies and innovations in the industry. We work with standards bodies, academia, government departments, communications service providers, and equipment vendors, and are part of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), a world-leading centre of excellence that underpins prosperity and quality of life in the UK through cutting-edge measurement science, engineering, and technology. We offer above-industry-standard benefits including an enhanced pension scheme, flexible working, and more, and we are committed to diversity, equality of opportunity, reasonable adjustments, and a supportive, inclusive environment.

last updated 38 week of 2026