Cyber Red Team Researcher

Ford; Allen Park (MI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Parental leave

Vehicle discount program

Tuition assistance

Paid time off

Job summary

Ford Motor Company is seeking a senior offensive security professional to lead Red Team engagements across applications, infrastructure, cloud, and identity. You will develop custom tooling, apply AI-enabled workflows, and mentor teammates while communicating complex risks to leadership.

This role demands hands-on expertise and a proactive, collaborative mindset. The team emphasizes curiosity, initiative, and delivering results in dynamic environments, with opportunities to shape how AI and

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on Red Team operations, penetration testing, adversary simulation, or related offensive security disciplines.
• Strong understanding of attack techniques, attacker tradecraft, exploitation methodologies, and modern enterprise attack surfaces.
• Hands-on experience with offensive security tooling and frameworks such as Kali Linux, Burp Suite, Metasploit, Nmap, and related tools.
• Strong scripting or software development skills in Python, Go, JavaScript, PowerShell, C#, or similar languages used for tooling and automation.
• Demonstrated ability to investigate complex problems, develop attack paths, and move from concept to execution with limited direction.
• Ability to succeed in a dynamic, unstructured environment while balancing multiple priorities.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and creative problem-solving skills.
• Excellent collaboration and communication across technical and leadership audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead and execute complex Red Team engagements across applications, infrastructure, cloud, identity, and enterprise environments.
• Operate effectively in ambiguous environments, identifying opportunities and moving from idea to execution with limited direction.
• Identify and exploit vulnerabilities, attack paths, trust relationships, and control weaknesses to demonstrate business risk.
• Develop custom offensive tooling, automation, and capabilities when existing tools are insufficient.
• Apply AI and agentic systems as force multipliers for offensive operations, including research and workflow automation.
• Design and improve autonomous offensive workflows to increase speed, scale, and consistency of Red Team ops.
• Research emerging attack techniques and translate findings into practical capabilities.
• Collaborate with other Red Team members, defenders, engineers, and security partners to communicate findings.
• Mentor teammates through code review, tooling development, and engagement support.
• Clearly communicate complex findings and risk to technical and leadership audiences.
• Continuously challenge approaches and evolve Red Team operations.

Skills

Red Team operations

Penetration testing

Adversary simulation

Security research

Offensive security tooling

Scripting languages

Attack tradecraft

Collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Cybersecurity, or related field

Tools

Kali Linux

Burp Suite

Metasploit

Nmap

C2 frameworks

Job description

We are the movers of the world and the makers of the future. We get up every day, roll up our sleeves and build a better world -- together. At Ford, we’re all a part of something bigger than ourselves. Are you ready to change the way the world moves?

Enterprise Technology plays a critical part in shaping the future of mobility. If you’re looking for the chance to leverage advanced technology to redefine the transportation landscape, enhance the customer experience and improve people’s lives, this is the opportunity for you. Join us and challenge your IT expertise and analytical skills to help create vehicles that are as smart as you are.

Ford’s Red Team operates as a highly technical offensive security team focused on identifying, demonstrating, and helping reduce meaningful risk across the enterprise. Our work spans traditional adversary simulation, application and infrastructure testing, social engineering, attack development, custom tooling, and emerging technologies.

We are looking for a senior offensive security professional who combines deep technical capability with curiosity, initiative, and a strong bias toward action. This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys solving difficult problems, building tools when existing solutions are not enough, and operating effectively in environments where the path forward may not already be defined.

Our team is also increasingly AI-native. We use custom autonomous agents and AI-enabled workflows to expand the speed, scale, and depth of our offensive operations. We do not view AI as a replacement for skilled operators; we view it as a force multiplier for people who already understand how attackers think. The ideal candidate will bring strong offensive fundamentals and be excited to help shape how AI, automation, and agentic systems are applied to real-world security problems.

Just as importantly, this person should make the team better. We value people who share knowledge, collaborate freely, challenge ideas constructively, and bring energy to the work. The strongest candidates will be technically excellent, highly self-directed, and motivated by building, experimenting, and delivering results

What you’ll do...

• Lead and execute complex Red Team engagements that simulate realistic adversary behavior across applications, infrastructure, cloud, identity, and enterprise environments.
• Operate effectively in ambiguous environments, proactively identifying opportunities and moving from idea to execution with limited direction.
• Identify and exploit vulnerabilities, attack paths, trust relationships, and control weaknesses to demonstrate meaningful business risk.
• Develop custom offensive tooling, automation, and capabilities when existing tools are insufficient for the mission.
• Apply AI and agentic systems as a force multiplier for offensive operations, including research, attack development, reconnaissance, analysis, and workflow automation.
• Design, build, and improve autonomous or semi-autonomous offensive workflows that increase the speed, scale, and consistency of Red Team operations.
• Research emerging attack techniques, technologies, and adversary behaviors, and translate that research into practical offensive capabilities.
• Collaborate closely with other Red Team members, defenders, engineers, and security partners to communicate findings and drive meaningful improvements.
• Mentor and share knowledge with other team members through technical collaboration, code review, tooling development, and engagement support.
• Clearly communicate complex technical findings, attack narratives, and risk to both technical and leadership audiences.
• Continuously challenge existing approaches, experiment with new techniques, and help evolve how the Red Team operates.

You’ll have...

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Cybersecurity, or a related field, OR a combination of education and professional experience in offensive security.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in Red Team operations, penetration testing, adversary simulation, security research, or other offensive security disciplines.
  • Strong understanding of common attack techniques, attacker tradecraft, exploitation methodologies, and modern enterprise attack surfaces.
  • Hands-on experience with offensive security tooling and frameworks such as Kali Linux, Burp Suite, Metasploit, Nmap, command-and-control frameworks, and other penetration testing or adversary simulation tools.
  • Strong scripting or software development skills in one or more languages such as Python, Go, JavaScript, PowerShell, C#, or similar languages used for offensive tooling and automation.
  • Demonstrated ability to independently investigate complex technical problems, develop attack paths, and move from concept to execution with limited direction.
  • Ability to succeed in a highly dynamic and unstructured environment while balancing multiple technical priorities.
  • Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and creative problem‑solving skills.
  • Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with teammates and partners across a wide range of technical backgrounds and experience levels.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly explain complex attack scenarios and technical risk.

Even better, you may have...

• Experience developing custom offensive security tooling, frameworks, payloads, automation, or attack infrastructure.
• Experience applying large language models, AI-assisted development, automation, or agentic systems to technical workflows.
• Experience designing or integrating autonomous or semi-autonomous workflows, agents, or orchestration frameworks.
• Experience conducting social engineering, identity-based attacks, cloud exploitation, application security testing, or adversary simulation in large enterprise environments.
• Experience mentoring other security professionals or providing technical leadership during complex offensive engagements.
• Demonstrated curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, offensive research, and experimentation.

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we’ve outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day