Senior Vulnerability Researcher

National Physical Laboratory; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom is seeking a senior researcher to lead vulnerability research in telecom security, defining how weaknesses are found, understood, and mitigated across complex systems. You will drive high-impact initiatives and mentor peers while advancing your own expertise.

You’ll shape technical direction, design innovative tooling, and ensure research remains cutting-edge within a world-class lab environment, enabling large-scale experimentation and secure

Responsibilities

• Lead vulnerability research across carrier-grade telecom systems.
• Set priorities, methodologies, and tooling approaches for research.
• Mentor and elevate the team by sharing knowledge and reviewing work.

Job description

What You’ll Be Doing

Step into a senior position at the forefront of telecom security research. In this role, you won’t just explore vulnerabilities—you’ll define how they are discovered, understood, and mitigated across complex telecom ecosystems. You will lead high-impact research initiatives, guide technical direction, and mentor others while continuing to push the boundaries of your own expertise.

• Lead Vulnerability Research – and take ownership of advanced vulnerability research across carrier‑grade telecom systems. You’ll drive investigations into complex, real‑world technologies, uncovering deep and previously unknown security weaknesses. Your work will directly influence the resilience of critical national infrastructure.
• Set Technical Direction & Strategy – Shape the vision for vulnerability research within the organisation. Define priorities, methodologies, and tooling approaches, ensuring research efforts remain innovative, relevant, and impactful. You will provide technical leadership across multiple domains, guiding teams through ambiguous and complex problem spaces.
  Innovate & Build at Scale -Design and develop advanced research tooling and environments. Whether creating bespoke fuzzers, software‑defined radio solutions, or entirely new frameworks, you’ll enable large‑scale experimentation and discovery. You’ll lead by example—prototyping, iterating, and pushing technical boundaries.
• Mentor & Elevate the Team – Support and develop other researchers by sharing knowledge, reviewing work, and fostering a culture of curiosity and technical excellence. You’ll help build capability across the team, raising standards and accelerating collective impact.
• Deepen Expertise & Drive Insight – Apply structured research methodologies to understand complex systems—how they behave, where they fail, and how they can be secured. You’ll connect insights across domains (hardware, software, and networks) to solve real‑world security challenges.
• Work, Build & Experiment in a World‑Class Lab – Operate within a cutting‑edge research environment where experimentation is encouraged. You’ll have the freedom to deconstruct systems, explore their limits, and rebuild them more securely—at scale. Alongside this, you’ll design and evolve the infrastructure that underpins advanced telecom security research.