Senior Associate, Cyber Resilience and Red Teaming

Alvarez & Marsal; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Alvarez & Marsal seeks a Senior Associate in Global Cyber Risk Services to lead offensive security engagements. You will perform hands-on pentests, emulate adversaries, and test AI-enabled applications across networks, apps, and cloud environments. You will mentor junior staff and contribute to client security programs.

You will work with cross-functional teams to deliver actionable findings and drive risk reduction for diverse clients in a fast-paced consulting environment.

Qualifications

• Active OSCP certification required.

Responsibilities

• Plan and perform hands-on penetration tests across networks, apps, APIs, and AD.
• Conduct red team and adversary emulation engagements aligned to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
• Operate and customize command-and-control (C2) frameworks and offensive tooling, developing custom scripts as needed.
• Conduct cloud penetration tests across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Plan and run purple team exercises with client security teams to validate detection and response.
• Perform social engineering assessments (phishing, vishing, etc.).
• Test AI-enabled applications and agentic systems.
• Produce clear, actionable reports with remediation guidance.
• Mentor junior consultants and share assets with the team.

Skills

Adversarial mindset

Communication

Offensive tradecraft

Project management

Automation scripting

Thought leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Burp Suite

Nmap

Metasploit

BloodHound

Impacket

Cobalt Strike

Sliver

Mythic

Havoc

Job description

Description

About Alvarez & Marsal

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is a global consulting firm with entrepreneurial, action- and results-oriented professionals. We take a hands-on approach to solving our clients' problems and helping them reach their potential. A&M is different by design: we give people ownership and impact from day one, fuel development through real opportunity, and provide direct access to leaders who invest in our growth. Our culture celebrates independent thinkers and doers who positively impact clients and shape our industry. Guided by A&M's core values of Integrity, Quality, Objectivity, Fun, Personal Reward, and Inclusive Diversity, our collaborative, globally minded environment is why our people love working at A&M.

The Team

Alvarez & Marsal’s (A&M’s) Global Cyber Risk Services (GCRS) practice helps Boards and management teams understand and manage cyber risk, strengthen resilience, support transactions, and respond with confidence when incidents occur. As the cyber landscape continues to evolve, we help clients see that cybersecurity is not a technology issue, but a business issue. Our methods are grounded in guidance from the regulatory and industry frameworks and best practices that govern our clients’ specific business. Our team of cybersecurity experts provides prioritized findings, observations, recommendations, and a roadmap for gap closure, using expertly developed methodologies, tools, and techniques to identify vulnerabilities, system misconfigurations, and program deficiencies and improve our clients’ overall cyber posture and process maturity.

Our Services

A&M’s team includes former Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), forensic investigators, offensive security practitioners, and senior information security professionals who help organizations articulate a strategic vision that goes well beyond the day-to-day management of cybersecurity. GCRS delivers across four service lines:

• Cyber Risk Advisory: program maturity assessments (ISO 27001, NIST, CIS Controls), risk-based program prioritization, security and privacy governance, data privacy and cyber compliance (GDPR, CCPA, NYDFS, HIPAA, PCI-DSS), third-party risk, AI security assessments, and board reporting.
• Incident Response & Forensic Investigations: breach and ransomware response, cyber war room management, comprehensive forensic investigations and log analysis, malware reverse engineering, Microsoft 365 investigations, AI incident response, expert witness and litigation support, and incident response retainers.
• Cyber Resilience: incident response program development, ransomware readiness and playbooks, cyber threat simulations and tabletop exercises, red teaming and penetration testing, threat hunting and compromise assessments, application, network, cloud and OT security assessments, and secure DevOps.
• Cybersecurity Transaction Advisory: buy-side, sell-side, and carve-out cybersecurity due diligence, Day 1 readiness, separation and integration support (IMO/SMO), TSA governance and exit planning, and post-close performance improvement.

Our clients choose A&M for our technical depth, board-level judgment, and product-agnostic approach. A&M is accredited by the National Security Agency (NSA) as a Cyber Incident Response Assistance (CIRA) firm and is a CREST Cybersecurity Incident Response provider, with a global footprint and dedicated cyber and forensics labs that enable in-region data handling and rapid on-the-ground response.

Across GCRS, we are building practical capability to help clients navigate the security implications of artificial intelligence, including AI governance, model and pipeline security, and the emerging risks of agentic AI systems, as well as the use of AI by threat actors.

How you will contribute

Our Global Cyber Risk Services (GCRS) team is seeking a Senior Associate – Cyber Resilience and Red Teaming. You will be a key part of the continued growth of our practice. Working with organizations across all industries, you will develop your career by listening to and understanding our clients and communicating creative solutions for their specific needs, in a field where there really are no off-the-shelf recommendations.

As a Senior Associate within our Cyber Resilience and Red Teaming practice, you will think and operate like an adversary to help clients find and fix weaknesses before real attackers exploit them. You will perform hands-on penetration testing and red team exercises, emulate realistic threat actors, and work with client security teams to test and improve their ability to prevent, detect, and respond to attacks.

Our offensive security work spans network, application, API, cloud, and Active Directory penetration testing, adversary emulation and full-scope red teaming, purple team exercises, social engineering, ransomware simulation, and threat hunting. We work closely with our incident response colleagues, so our testing is informed by what we see in real breaches. You will also help clients understand and test the security of AI-enabled applications and agentic systems.

As cyber-crime continues to threaten businesses large and small, threat actors are improving their tactics, techniques, and procedures faster than corporate security teams can keep up, and are increasingly organized, collaborative, and AI-enabled. When our clients do not have the knowledge or resources to take on the threat of a cyber-attack, they look to us for expertise and partnership.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan and perform hands-on penetration tests across external and internal networks, web applications, APIs, mobile applications, wireless, and Active Directory and hybrid identity environments.
• Plan and execute red team and adversary emulation engagements aligned to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, using realistic tactics, techniques, and procedures, including initial access, privilege escalation, lateral movement, persistence, and objective-based operations.
• Operate and customize command-and-control (C2) frameworks and offensive tooling, develop custom scripts and payloads where needed, and evade or test defensive controls within agreed rules of engagement.
• Conduct cloud penetration tests and configuration attack-path analysis across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments.
• Plan and run purple team exercises with client security operations and detection engineering teams to validate and improve detection, logging, and response capability.
• Perform social engineering assessments, including phishing, vishing, and physical or hybrid scenarios, within approved scope.
• Test the security of AI-enabled applications and agentic systems (AI red teaming), including prompt injection, jailbreaks, insecure output handling, excessive agency, tool and plugin abuse, data leakage, and model and supply chain risks, aligned with the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications and MITRE ATLAS; and apply AI-assisted techniques to enhance testing.
• Support ransomware simulation, cyber threat simulation and war-gaming, and tabletop exercises, and contribute to threat hunting and compromise assessments.
• Establish and adhere to scoping, authorization, and rules of engagement for all testing; manage client communication, test safety, and data handling responsibly.
• Produce clear, accurate, and actionable reports and executive readouts that explain technical findings, attack narratives, business impact, and prioritized remediation guidance.
• Develop and share tools, techniques, and reusable assets for the team, and mentor junior consultants and interns.

Skills and Attributes for Success

• Apply an adversarial mindset and strong creativity to solve problems with persistence, discipline, and professionalism.
• Work safely and ethically within the scope and rules of engagement, protecting client systems and data at all times.
• Stay current with offensive tradecraft, vulnerability research, and the evolving attack surface, including AI and agentic systems.
• Take responsibility for managing workstreams, including ownership of client communication, coordination of internal resources, and planning and execution of assessment or response activities.
• Communicate information security and technology issues verbally and in writing, formally and informally, to all levels of client staff, from senior executives to technical users, and produce high-quality written reports and documents.
• Work independently to manage and execute multiple engagements in diverse client environments, keep management apprised of status, bring engagements to completion, and follow up with clients on results.
• Develop tools, scripts, and documentation for internal team use, and actively contribute to the maintenance and enhancement of team systems, playbooks, and processes.
• Develop and complete an education plan to grow your skills consistent with client needs, and support the development of junior team members through coaching and feedback.
• Promote awareness of the team by building relationships, publishing whitepapers or advisories, contributing to marketing materials, or presenting at conferences.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience), supported by approximately 3-6 years of relevant experience in penetration testing, red teaming, or offensive security; consulting experience preferred.
• Active Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) certification, at minimum.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience performing penetration tests across network, web application, and Active Directory environments, including exploitation, privilege escalation, and lateral movement.
• Experience with standard offensive tools and frameworks (e.g., Burp Suite, Nmap, Metasploit, BloodHound, Impacket, Cobalt Strike, Sliver, Mythic, Havoc, or similar).
• Proficiency in scripting or programming (e.g., Python, PowerShell, Bash, C/C#, or Go) for tool development and automation.
• Working knowledge of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, OWASP Top 10, and common penetration testing methodologies (e.g., PTES, OWASP WSTG).
• Strong report-writing skills, with the ability to explain technical findings and risk to both technical and executive audiences.
• Ability to occasionally work weekends and/or off hours as