Camera System Security Engineer APPLIED AI RE VR HIKVISION DAHUA PROVISION New York, NY / On Site →

Zealot Labs, Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Zealot Labs, Inc. is seeking a security-focused research engineer to reverse engineer IP camera firmware and embedded Linux systems.

You will work on vulnerability discovery across surveillance platforms and develop automation for large-scale analysis, focusing on RTSP/ONVIF, HTTP/HTTPS, and related protocols. The role requires strong C/C++ skills, ARM familiarity, and hands-on experience with firmware extraction tools.

Qualifications

• Experience reverse engineering IP camera firmware and embedded Linux systems.
• Strong C/C++ skills and familiarity with ARM architecture.
• Vulnerability research experience targeting embedded web servers and network services.
• Proficiency with firmware extraction, unpacking and analysis tools (Binwalk, firmware-mod-kit).

Responsibilities

• Research and exploit vulnerabilities in IP cameras, surveillance systems, and video management platforms.
• Reverse engineer camera firmware from vendors like Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, and others.
• Develop exploit chains targeting camera system network stacks, web interfaces, and RTSP/ONVIF protocols.
• Build automated tooling for large-scale camera system analysis and vulnerability discovery.
• Experience reverse engineering IP camera firmware and embedded Linux systems.

Skills

Reverse engineering

Embedded Linux

C/C++

Network protocols

Firmware analysis

Tools

Binwalk

firmware-mod-kit

Ghidra

IDA

Job description

Zealot is deploying AI systems at the center of western cyber operations , backed by tier-1 US VCs and industry leaders. Our team includes alumni of Anthropic, xAI, and Anduril. Soon live with close U.S. allies abroad.

APPLIED AI RE VR HIKVISION DAHUA PROVISION

Compensation 100K-195K + skin in the game equity

Location New York, NY On Site

Stage Early-stage startup backed by tier 1 investors. Small, growing team with exceptionally high ownership.

• + Research and exploit vulnerabilities in IP cameras, surveillance systems, and video management platforms.
• + Reverse engineer camera firmware from vendors like Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, and others.
• + Develop exploit chains targeting camera system network stacks, web interfaces, and RTSP/ONVIF protocols.
• + Build automated tooling for large-scale camera system analysis and vulnerability discovery.
• + Experience reverse engineering IP camera firmware and embedded Linux systems.
• + Strong understanding of network protocols: RTSP, ONVIF, HTTP/HTTPS, UPnP.
• + Vulnerability research experience targeting embedded web servers and network services.
• + Proficiency with firmware extraction, unpacking, and analysis (Binwalk, firmware-mod-kit).
• + Strong C/C++ skills and familiarity with ARM architecture.

Nice to Have

• + Direct experience with Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Uniview, or similar camera platforms.
• + Experience with video codec or media processing vulnerabilities.
• + Familiarity with cloud-connected camera architectures and P2P protocols.
• + Proficiency with Ghidra, IDA, or custom static analysis tooling.
• + Experience building with LLMs and AI agents.
• + Background in physical security system assessments.
• + Fascinated by the intersection of physical security systems and cyber capabilities research.
• + Clearly interested in stepping away from purely manual research and moving toward the development of AI systems.
• + Building something massive matters more to you than comfort, titles, or predictability.
• + You want to be early at a company that will change an industry, and you're ready to do what that actually takes.

Note to recruiting firms: Camera/surveillance system reverse engineering is the core requirement. Embedded Linux and network protocol experience are essential. Familiarity with major camera vendors is a strong plus.

Ready?