AVP, Penetration Tester (LLM)

LPL Financial; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

LPL Financial is seeking an AVP Penetration Tester within the Cyber Security team to lead internal pentesting initiatives focusing on LLM/AI applications and API security.

The role involves hands-on testing, collaboration with stakeholders across the company, and developing tooling and mitigations to strengthen security across applications and infrastructure. Applicants should have deep technical expertise and strong communication skills.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5+ years in application/API and network penetration testing.
• Experience with AI/LLM and agentic applications security.
• Strong knowledge of security testing methodologies and risk assessment.
• Ability to document findings clearly and provide remediation guidance.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end pentesting activities with product stakeholders.
• Perform hands-on testing of LLM/AI applications and APIs.
• Identify vulnerabilities and propose mitigations for AI systems.
• Stay current on emerging TTPs, zero-days, and remediation strategies.
• Develop/modify tooling for pentesting using models like Claude.
• Document findings with risk ratings and remediation recommendations.
• Communicate results to leadership and assist with remediation.

Skills

Penetration testing

Application/API security

Network security

OWASP Top 10

LLM/AI security

Stakeholder collaboration

Scripting/tooling development

Tools

Claude

Job description

Where Ambition Meets Innovation

Build a career that matches all your initiative with an impressive dose of innovation. Fromcutting-edgeresources and a collaborative environment to the freedom to make an impact and more,you’llfind the ingredients you need at LPL Financial to shape your success while helping clients pursue their financial goals.

Job Overview

As a member of the Cyber Security team, an AVP Penetration Tester of Offensive Security will be responsible for helping with the scheduling, scoping, and execution of internal penetration testing with a strong focus on Large Language Model (LLM), agentic built applications, and supporting API penetration testing.

This role will perform, at advanced levels, manual penetration testing to validate the security of resources across the company as assigned. Candidates will perform hands‑on testing as well as serve as the point of contact for the assigned penetration testing activities as a part of their regular duties. The ideal candidate must possess a highly technical skill set, the ability to collaborate with stakeholders across the company to help recommend, as well as test mitigation strategies for challenging, systemic issues, across LPL applications.

Offensive Security is a top area of focus at LPL. This is an exciting time to join the Information Security team as we look for highly skilled people to help expand the current program.

Please note

This position does not offer work authorization sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have valid U.S. work authorization that does not require employer sponsorship.

Responsibilities

• Partner with product stakeholders to drive end‑to‑end pentesting activities. Including working with Security Architects during the SDLC processes for LLM / AI to make recommendations and offer our ability to identify security weaknesses in applications prior to production deployment.
• Conduct tactical security penetration test assessments to validate the security of company applications (LLM, agentic built applications, and supporting APIs) against OWASP Top 10 threats work with the Application Security team to provide feedback, and recommendations to increase automated capabilities to include ai assisted tooling.
• Think creatively and strategically to circumvent security guardrails, identify vulnerabilities, and develop effective mitigation strategies for ai.
• Stay informed on ever‑emerging and fast‑changing TTPs, zero‑days and remediation strategies for Agentic developed applications, systems, and their supporting infrastructure.
• Develop/modify custom tooling to solve new needs with the use of models such as Claude.
• Document and formally report testing initiatives, test findings, justified risk ratings, remediation recommendations, and validation results in a clear and concise manner.
• Partnering with technology teams to present security testing results, highlight the threat presented, and consult on remediation guidance in a way that is easy IT stakeholders to understand.
• Perform assessments of internal/external networks, infrastructure, cloud environments, along with a wide array of internally developed and commercial products.
• Help develop and maintain tools or scripts used in agentic penetration testing.
• Lead the execution of assigned Ai/LLM penetration testing initiatives to communicate status to leadership.
• Oversee communication and reporting of findings identified during testing activities and performing retesting to validate successful closure of previously identified findings.
• Develop tooling for agentic assisted LLM pentesting.

What are we looking for?

We’re looking for strong collaborators who deliver exceptional client experiences and thrive in fast‑paced, team‑oriented environments. Our ideal candidates pursue greatness, act with integrity, and are driven to help our clients succeed. We value those who embrace creativity, continuous improvement, and contribute to a culture where we win together and create and share joy in our work.

Requirements

• 5+ years’ experience conducting application/API and network‑based