Director, Penetration Testing

CLS Group; Woodbridge Township (NJ); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Variable compensation

401(k) match

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

A financial services company in New Jersey is seeking a Director of Penetration Testing. The successful candidate will lead the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of penetration testing services for the company's technology estates. This role combines technical execution and program development, with responsibilities including establishing testing standards, managing third-party engagements, and conducting hands-on testing. A strong background in cybersecurity, especially in structured environments, is required for this impactful position.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years conducting hands-on penetration testing.
• Ability to scope and execute penetration testing from planning to reporting.
• Proven ability to lead and operate a penetration testing program.

Responsibilities

• Own the delivery of penetration testing across technology estates.
• Establish and maintain penetration testing standards and methodologies.
• Conduct hands-on penetration testing across applications, APIs, and cloud environments.

Skills

Extensive experience in cybersecurity

Hands-on penetration testing

Leading penetration testing capability

Managing third party penetration test providers

Excellent communication skills

Mentoring and scaling functions

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Cyber Security, Information Technology, or related field

Tools

Penetration testing tools and platforms

Job description

• Department - Cyber Security
• Report to - Director, Application Security
• Location - Iselin, NJ (Hybrid onsite 2 days per week)
• Expected full-time salary range between $170,000 - $210,000 + variable compensation + 401(k) match + benefits.
• Note: Disclosure as required by NJ Pay Transparency Law of the expected salary compensation range for this role.

Summary

As the Director of Penetration Testing, you will be responsible for the design, delivery and continuous improvement of penetration testing across the organization’s technology estates, including on premise and cloud systems.

Based in our Iselin, New Jersey office, you will lead the delivery of penetration testing services across critical financial market infrastructure and internal systems. This includes owning third-party vendor engagements end to end, ensuring testing is appropriately scoped and executed to a high standard. You will also oversee the Penetration Test Coordinator to ensure effective planning, tracking and governance of all testing activities. In parallel, you will establish and build an internal penetration testing capability. You will define methodologies, standards and operating practices, and personally execute penetration testing where appropriate to deliver high quality, defensible results and demonstrate the value of internal testing.

This is hands‑on Director‑level role combining service ownership, technical execution and program development. You will be accountable for the overall effectiveness of penetration testing as a control function, while contributing directly to testing activities as the internal capability matures. The successful candidate will bring deep penetration testing expertise alongside experience managing testing programs and working with third party vendors in a structured, risk‑driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Own the end‑to‑end delivery of penetration testing across the organization’s technology estates.
• Establish and maintain penetration testing standards, methodologies and quality benchmarks.
• Define testing scope, priorities and coverage aligned to system criticality and risk.
• Track remediation progress and validate closure of findings.
• Own the selection, implementation and management of penetration test tooling and platforms.
• Define internal testing methodologies, playbooks, tooling and reporting standards.
• Conduct hands‑on penetration testing across applications, APIs, infrastructure and cloud environments.
• Own third party penetration test engagements, including rules of engagement, vendor selection and onboarding.
• Track and report on third party vendor performance and outcomes.
• Define and maintain KPIs/KRIs to measure penetration testing effectiveness, including severity and trend analysis, time to remediation and recurring control weaknesses.
• Deliver structured reporting for senior stakeholders.
• Line management of the Penetration Test Coordinator.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in cybersecurity with a minimum of 5 years conducting hands‑on penetration testing.
• Ability to scope and execute end‑to‑end penetration testing from planning through to exploitation and reporting.
• Proven ability to lead, design, build and operate a pen testing capability or program.
• Experience managing third party penetration test providers and assuring quality of delivery.
• Experience working in structured risk‑driven environments (financial sector or other highly regulated industries preferred).
• Excellent communication skills for reporting and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience leading or mentoring others and ability to scale a function over time.
• Certifications in offensive security and pen testing (e.g. OSCP, GIAC).
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Cyber Security, Information Technology, or a related field.