Senior Attack Engineer, Kubernetes

horizon3ai; United States; Remote; USD 206,000 - 243,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Health coverage

Dental coverage

Flexible vacation

Parental leave

Job summary

horizon3ai in the United States is seeking a Lead Kubernetes security researcher to lead research and product development for offensive security capabilities focused on Kubernetes. The role follows realistic attack paths from a compromised workload or identity through a cluster and connected cloud environments, turning validated research into safe, repeatable assessments with clear evidence of impact.

You will build production-quality Python capabilities, validate paths, and collaborate with

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on experience with Kubernetes security and offensive testing.
• Expert knowledge of Kubernetes architecture: authorization, service accounts, workloads, and cluster boundaries.
• Strong Python engineering skills and automation experience.
• Background in penetration testing, red teaming, vulnerability research, or offensive security tooling.
• Ability to lead complex technical work and explain attack paths and impact to different audiences.

Responsibilities

• Research security weaknesses across clusters, workloads, identities, configurations, and cloud-connected environments.
• Build production-quality Python capabilities modeling attacker starting points.
• Develop and validate paths involving permissions, service accounts, credentials, secrets, network access, cluster boundaries, and managed Kubernetes integrations.
• Test weaknesses for meaningful impact, including safe validation and negative testing.
• Set technical plans, priorities, and coordinate delivery with product, platform, and engineering partners.
• Integrate findings into assessment workflows; document methods and limitations, review designs, and mentor teammates.

Skills

Kubernetes security

offensive security testing

Python engineering

penetration testing

red teaming

vulnerability research

container security

automation

Tools

Python

Job description

Role overview

Lead research and product development for offensive security capabilities focused on Kubernetes. The role follows realistic attack paths from a compromised workload or identity through a cluster and connected cloud environments, turning validated research into safe, repeatable assessments with clear evidence of impact.

Responsibilities

• Research security weaknesses across clusters, workloads, identities, configurations, and cloud-connected environments.
• Build production-quality Python capabilities that model realistic attacker starting points, including access to a pod or workload.
• Develop and validate paths involving permissions, service accounts, credentials, secrets, network access, cluster boundaries, and managed Kubernetes integrations.
• Test whether weaknesses produce meaningful impact, including safe validation and negative testing.
• Set technical plans, prioritize research, and coordinate delivery with product, platform, and engineering partners.
• Integrate findings into assessment and results workflows; document methods and limitations, review designs, and mentor teammates.

Requirements

• Deep hands-on experience with Kubernetes security and offensive testing of containerized environments.
• Expert knowledge of Kubernetes architecture, particularly authorization, service accounts, workloads, and cluster boundaries.
• Strong Python engineering skills and experience converting security research into reliable automation.
• Background in penetration testing, red teaming, vulnerability research, container security, or offensive security tooling.
• Ability to lead complex technical work, make sound trade-offs, and explain attack paths and impact to different audiences.
• A safety-focused approach that distinguishes theoretical weaknesses from reproducible, actionable findings.

Benefits and work setup

The source describes the organization as remote and lists a base salary range of $206,278-$242,680, stock options for full-time employees, health and dental coverage, flexible vacation, and parental leave.