Red Team Penetration Tester

Take2 Consulting, LLC; Virginia Beach (VA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Take2 Consulting, LLC seeks a senior Red Team Penetration Tester to support a critical U.S. Navy cybersecurity program at NSWC.

The role is hands-on offensive security, focusing on real-world penetration testing, adversary emulation, exploit development, post-exploitation, and privilege escalation. The candidate will work within enterprise and Active Directory environments, communicating findings clearly to government customers and collaborating with Blue Teams and SOC to drive practical

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a cybersecurity-related field.
• One of OSCP/OSCE/OSEE/OSWP or contract-approved equivalent.
• 10+ years of hands-on penetration testing/offensive cyber operations.

Responsibilities

• Plan, execute, and document advanced red team engagements and penetration tests across enterprise environments.
• Emulate APT behaviors and attacker TTPs in practice scenarios.
• Conduct exploitation, post-exploitation, lateral movement, persistence, and privilege escalation activities.
• Develop and use offensive security tooling and scripts to reproduce threat actor capabilities.
• Assess Windows, Linux, and macOS environments for weaknesses and propose remediation actions.
• Collaborate with Blue Teams and SOC to explain findings and recommended mitigations.
• Produce clear technical reports detailing findings, risks, and recommendations.

Skills

Strong communication

Problem solving

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity / related field

Tools

Metasploit

Nmap

Kali Linux

Cobalt Strike

Burp Suite

Job description

Take2 Consulting is seeking a senior Red Team Penetration Tester to support a mission-critical U.S. Navy cybersecurity program at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). This is a true hands-on offensive cyber role focused on assessing and strengthening mission systems through real-world penetration testing, adversary emulation, exploit development, post-exploitation, lateral movement, privilege escalation, and technical security assessments.

This position is designed for an experienced offensive security professional who can think and operate like an adversary, work deeply within enterprise and Active Directory environments, and clearly communicate technical findings to government customers.

What You’ll Do

Plan, execute, and document advanced red team engagements and penetration tests across enterprise environments.

Emulate advanced persistent threat (APT) behaviors and real-world attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Conduct exploitation, post-exploitation, lateral movement, persistence, and privilege escalation activities.

Develop and use offensive security tools including Cobalt Strike, Metasploit, Nmap, Kali Linux, Burp Suite, and similar toolsets.

Perform exploit development and create custom scripts or tooling to replicate threat actor capabilities.

Assess Windows, Linux, and macOS environments and identify weaknesses in systems, applications, security controls, and defensive technologies.

Conduct Active Directory attacks and assessments, including credential abuse, lateral movement, and privilege escalation scenarios.

Apply at least two programming or scripting languages such as Python, C++, Java, Rust, Assembly, or C#.

Collaborate with Blue Teams and SOC personnel to explain findings and recommend practical remediation actions.

Develop clear technical reports and brief findings, risks, and recommendations to customers and technical stakeholders.

What You Bring

Active TS/SCI clearance.

10+ years of full-time professional experience conducting penetration testing or offensive cyber operations.

Demonstrated hands‑on red team / penetration testing experience; general cybersecurity, vulnerability scanning, or compliance experience alone is not sufficient.

Deep experience with Metasploit, Nmap, Kali Linux, Cobalt Strike, and comparable offensive security tools.

Strong Active Directory offensive security experience, including lateral movement and privilege escalation.

Experience working across Linux, Windows, and macOS environments.

Development or scripting experience in at least two languages such as Python, C++, Java, Rust, Assembly, or C#.

Strong technical writing and customer briefing skills.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Cyber Operations, Cyber Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics with a concentration in Computer Science, or an equivalent qualifying discipline.

Required Certifications

One qualifying Offensive Security certification: OSCP, OSCE, OSEE, or OSWP (or contract-approved equivalent, if applicable).

Work Location & Compensation

Location: Dam Neck / Virginia Beach, Virginia. This role is 100% onsite and requires the ability to support the customer in a secure government environment.