Enterprise Router Exploitation Engineer

Zealot Labs, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Zealot Labs, Inc. is recruiting for a security researcher to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in enterprise routers and network appliances. You will reverse engineer RouterOS and FortiOS, develop exploit chains, and build tooling to enable automated vulnerability discovery at scale.

Based in New York, NY and on-site, the role offers a compensation range of 100k–195k plus equity. You will join a small, ownership-driven startup backed by premier investors and work with a team of experts to

Qualifications

• Experience in researching and exploiting vulnerabilities in enterprise routers and network appliances.
• Strong reverse engineering of RouterOS, FortiOS, and network OSes.
• Deep understanding of networking protocols and routing (BGP/OSPF/IPsec).
• Experience with exploit chain development and automated tooling.

Responsibilities

• Research and exploit vulnerabilities in enterprise routers and network appliances from MikroTik, Fortinet, and similar vendors.
• Reverse engineer RouterOS, FortiOS, and proprietary network operating systems.
• Develop exploit chains targeting management interfaces, routing protocols, and VPN implementations.
• Build automated tooling for router firmware analysis and vulnerability discovery at scale.
• Demonstrate deep experience with MikroTik RouterOS and/or Fortinet FortiOS internals.
• Show strong reverse engineering skills targeting network appliance firmware.
• Leverage understanding of networking (BGP, OSPF, IPsec, SSL-VPN) to identify weaknesses.

Skills

Reverse engineering

Exploit development

Networking knowledge

Vulnerability research

Scripting

Tools

MikroTik RouterOS

Fortinet FortiOS

Network protocol analysis

Fuzzing

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 FORTINET MIKROTIK

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 enterprise routers and network appliances from MikroTik, Fortinet, and similar vendors.
• + Reverse engineer RouterOS, FortiOS, and proprietary network operating systems.
• + Develop exploit chains targeting management interfaces, routing protocols, and VPN implementations.
• + Build automated tooling for router firmware analysis and vulnerability discovery at scale.
• + Deep experience with MikroTik RouterOS and/or Fortinet FortiOS internals.
• + Strong reverse engineering skills targeting network appliance firmware.
• + Experience exploiting vulnerabilities in network services, management planes, and routing protocols.
• + Strong understanding of networking: BGP, OSPF, IPsec, SSL-VPN, firewall internals.

Nice to Have

• + Published CVEs or advisories against MikroTik, Fortinet, Cisco, Juniper, or similar vendors.
• + Experience with proprietary OS reverse engineering (non-Linux-based network OSes).
• + Familiarity with SNMP, TR-069, and network device management protocols.
• + Experience with fuzzing network protocol implementations.
• + Experience building with LLMs and AI agents.
• + Background in red team operations targeting enterprise network infrastructure.
• + Obsessed with understanding how enterprise networks can be compromised at the infrastructure level.
• + 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: Router and network appliance vulnerability research is the core requirement. MikroTik and/or Fortinet experience is strongly preferred. Deep networking knowledge is essential.

Ready?