Senior Cyber Investigator

TaskUs; Austin (TX); Remote; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

TaskUs, a provider of outsourced digital services, is seeking a Senior Cyber Investigator to own high-consequence misuse escalations and threat actor profiling within a specialized cyber investigations pod supporting frontier AI safety initiatives. The role emphasizes rigorous analysis and defensible decision-making.

You will apply SQL and Python to analyze telemetry, mentor junior investigators, and deliver concise intelligence briefs for client safety leads in a remote US-based role, with

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in cyber threat intelligence (CTI), incident response (DFIR), digital investigations, offensive security, or technical OSINT.
• Adversary tradecraft: Strong applied knowledge of the MITRE ATT&CK matrix, modern malware/ransomware delivery chains, and common exploitation techniques.
• Investigative telemetry & tooling: Working proficiency in SQL and Python (or similar scripting) to query logs, parse structured data, and identify anomalous actor behavior.
• Defensible decision-making: Proven track record of evaluating ambiguous, incomplete evidence, making high-confidence determinations, and articulating technical findings clearly in written case logs.
• Quality & mentorship: Experience conducting peer reviews, QA, or mentoring junior analysts in a SOC, CIRT, or trust and safety environment.
• Location & authorization: Based in the United States with unrestricted work authorization (Texas residency preferred).

Responsibilities

• Investigate high-severity abuse escalations and threat activity across priority areas.
• Pivot across accounts, telemetry, and external threat intel to uncover campaigns and profile actor tradecraft (TTPs).
• Evaluate dual-use scenarios, distinguishing legitimate defensive research from malicious intent.
• Review junior investigators' casework and lead calibration sessions to maintain labeling standards.
• Use SQL, Python, or investigative tooling to analyze usage telemetry and surface emerging abuse trends.
• Author concise intelligence briefs and enforcement recommendations for investigators and client leads.

Job description

About TaskUs

TaskUs is a provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to fast-growing technology companies, helping its clients represent, protect and grow their brands. Leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure, TaskUs serves clients in the fastest-growing sectors, including social media, e-commerce, gaming, streaming media, food delivery, ride-sharing, HiTech, FinTech, and HealthTech.

Job Description

TaskUs partners with pioneering technology companies to build the safety, intelligence, and human-in-the-loop operations powering next-generation artificial intelligence.

In this role, you will join a specialized cyber investigations pod supporting one of the world's foremost frontier AI research and safety companies. Their Safeguards mission is clear: prevent state-of-the-art AI systems from being leveraged by malicious actors to cause harm. While automated detection systems catch abuse at scale, seasoned human investigators provide the crucial analytical ground truth.

Senior Cyber Investigator

As a Senior Cyber Investigator, you will take ownership of complex, high-consequence misuse escalations and threat actor profiling. You will evaluate sophisticated cyber abuse, distinguish malicious intent from benign dual-use security research, mentor Junior Investigators, and deliver high-fidelity labels that train automated safety classifiers.

What You Will Do

• Tackle High-Severity Escalations: Investigate complex abuse cases and appeals escalated by automated detection systems and Junior Investigators across priority threat areas:
  • Ransomware and malware authoring / obfuscation
  • Local and remote exploit discovery and weaponization
  • Large-scale data scraping and automated exfiltration
  • Offensive operations, recon, and intrusion staging
• Threat Actor & Campaign Analysis: Pivot across accounts, telemetry, and external threat intelligence to uncover coordinated adversarial campaigns and profile actor tradecraft (TTPs).
• Evaluate Dual-Use Scenarios: Make sound, defensible determinations separating legitimate defensive security tasks (e.g., authorized auditing, academic research) from active malicious intent.
• Review & Mentor: Review Junior Investigators' casework, provide actionable feedback, and lead calibration sessions to maintain rigorous labeling standards across the pod.
• Data-Driven Threat Hunting: Use SQL, Python, or investigative tooling to analyze usage telemetry, identify anomalous behavior, and surface emerging abuse trends across large datasets.
• Reporting & Escalations: Author concise intelligence briefs and enforcement recommendations for the Principal Investigator and client safety leads; elevate critical threats and zero-day discoveries promptly.

What You Bring

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in cyber threat intelligence (CTI), incident response (DFIR), digital investigations, offensive security, or technical OSINT.
• Adversary Tradecraft: Strong applied knowledge of the MITRE ATT&CK matrix, modern malware/ransomware delivery chains, and common exploitation techniques.
• Investigative Telemetry & Tooling: Working proficiency in SQL and Python (or similar scripting) to query logs, parse structured data, and identify anomalous actor behavior.
• Defensible Decision-Making: Proven track record of evaluating ambiguous, incomplete evidence, making high-confidence determinations, and articulating technical findings clearly in written case logs.
• Quality & Mentorship: Experience conducting peer reviews, QA, or mentoring junior analysts in a SOC, CIRT, or trust and safety environment.
• Location & Authorization: Based in the United States with unrestricted work authorization (Texas residency preferred).

Nice To Have

• Prior background in military intelligence, law enforcement cyber units, or government national security operations.
• Direct experience analyzing AI misuse, LLM prompt exploitation/jailbreaks, or automated abuse vectors.
• Technical certifications such as GCFA, GCTI, GREM, OSCP, or CySA+.
• An active or recent U.S. Government Security Clearance (valued, not required).
• Experience tracking threat actors across dark web and closed criminal forums.

Good To Know

• Material Exposure: Daily responsibilities involve reviewing flagged prompts, exploit instructions, offensive scripts, and potentially malicious payloads.
• On-Call & Escalations: Role may involve rotational escalation coverage, including occasional weekend or holiday support for critical incidents.
• Security Screening: Selected candidates may be subject to client-directed insider threat screening and specialized background checks prior to and during engagement.

Location: US (Texas preferred)

Work Setup: Remote

Type: Full time

Salary Range: $120,000 - $160,000

DEI

In TaskUs we believe that innovation and higher performance are brought by people from all walks of life. We welcome applicants of different backgrounds, demographics, and circumstances. Inclusive and equitable practices are our responsibility as a business. TaskUs is committed to providing equal access to opportunities. If you need reasonable accommodations in any part of the hiring process, please let us know.

EEO

TaskUs is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We celebrate and support diversity; we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. TaskUs people first culture thrives on it for the benefit of our employees, our clients, our services, and our community.

DEI

In TaskUs we believe that innovation and higher performance are brought by people from all walks of life. We welcome applicants of different backgrounds, demographics, and circumstances. Inclusive and equitable practices are our responsibility as a business. TaskUs is committed to providing equal access to opportunities. If you need reasonable accommodations in any part of the hiring process, please let us know.

EEO

TaskUs is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We celebrate and support diversity; we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. TaskUs people first culture thrives on it for the benefit of our employees, our clients, our services, and our community.