Senior Engineer - Red Team Operator

Target; United States; Hybrid; USD 98,000 - 176,000; Full time

Job summary

Target seeks a Senior Engineer for its Red Team to design, execute, and document adversary emulation operations that reveal security gaps and guide defenses.

The role requires a 4-year degree and 3+ years in security with strong OS internals knowledge, plus ability to collaborate across teams. Remote or Hybrid work arrangements are possible, with U.S. residency expected.

Qualifications

• 4-year degree or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years minimum experience in technology; time in offensive security or defensive is preferred.
• Strong offensive security knowledge.
• Proficiency in Windows, Linux, or Mac internals and native tools.
• Understands impact of Red Team work on an organization and customers.
• Seeks cross-functional collaboration opportunities.
• Designs new testing methods and resolves routine/ non-routine issues with minimal assistance.
• Stays current on relevant technologies with self-directed learning.

Responsibilities

• Consult on, design, and execute adversary emulation operations.
• Conduct research into threat actor tactics to develop proof-of-concept tools and playbooks.
• Bypass security controls to accomplish operational goals.
• Partner with Incident Response and other stakeholders to identify improvements.
• Collaborate with Threat Intelligence, Detection, and Threat Hunting on research.
• Educate non-security engineering teams and align on objectives.
• Execute adversary emulation and simulation operations.
• Take direction from lead/principal engineers on tool documentation tasks.
• Grow in abilities and improve tools and procedures.

Skills

Strong offensive security knowledge

OS internals

Programming: C/C++, C#, Go, Rust

Python

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

4-year degree or equivalent

Job description

The pay range is $98,000.00 - $176,000.00 Pay is based on several factors which vary based on position. These include labor markets and in some instances may include education, work experience and certifications. In addition to your pay, Target cares about and invests in you as a team member, so that you can take care of yourself and your family. Target offers eligible team members and their dependents comprehensive health benefits and programs, which may include medical, vision, dental, life insurance and more, to help you and your family take care of your whole selves. Other benefits for eligible team members include 401(k), employee discount, short term disability, long term disability, paid sick leave, paid national holidays, and paid vacation. Find competitive benefits from financial and education to well-being and beyond at https://corporate.target.com/careers/benefits.

JOIN TARGET CYBERSECURITY AS A SENIOR ENGINEER - RED TEAM

Working at Target means helping all families discover the joy of everyday life. We bring that vision to life through our values and culture. Learn more about Target here. The Cyber Fusion Center is the heart of Target’s security team and a place where innovation happens daily. Interested in a culture that combines ongoing learning, engineering excellence, and stellar outcomes? We are too and that’s why we work here. Join our team to work on ops that drive real change by leveraging adversary behavior to communicate discovered risk effectively, and benefit from continuous development and research.

About Red Team

Target's Red Team uses adversary simulation to uncover risk in our environment, provide training opportunities to defenders, and measure the processes and technology defending the organization. We leverage a high level of collaboration between teams as we drive organizational improvement. Our objective-driven operations are supplemented with direct training and development, Purple Team work, and consulting within the company on security. As a Red Team Senior Engineer, you will conduct operations, contribute to the team, and influence team direction.

Red Team members regularlly:

• Consult on, design, and execute adversary emulation operations
• Conduct research into real-world threat actor tactics, techniques, and procedures to develop proof-of-concept tools and playbooks
• Bypass preventative and detective security controls to accomplish operational goals
• Partner with the Cyber Security Incident Response Team and other stakeholders in the organization to identify improvement opportunities
• Collaborate with Cyber Threat Intelligence, Detection, and Threat Hunting engineers and analysts on research
• Work with non-security engineering teams to educate, and collaborate on operational objectives

Expect To:

• Execute adversary emulation and simulation operations
• Bypass preventative and detective controls to accomplish operational goals
• Conduct research into the real-world threat actors, techniques, and procedures to develop and document proof-of-concept tools and playbooks
• Take direction from Lead and Principal engineers on specific tool documentation tasks to advance team's overall strategic goals
• Partner with the cybersecurity Incident Response Team, Threat Management, and other stakeholders in the organization to identify improvement opportunities
• Collaborate with Cyber Threat Intelligence, Detection, and Threat Hunting engineers and analysts on research
• Work with non-security engineering teams to educate, and collaborate on operational objectives
• Consistently grow in your abilities
• Partner with other Team Members to improve tools and procedures, including development

About You

• 4-year degree or equivalent experience
• 3+ years minimum experience in technology, time in offensive security or defensive is preferred
• Strong offensive security knowledge
• Proficiency in Windows, Linux, or Mac internals and native tools
• Demonstrates understanding of the impact of Red Team work on an organization and its customers
• Seeks out cross-functional collaboration opportunities
• Designs new testing methods and resolves routine and non-routine technical issues with minimal assistance
• Stays current on relevant technologies with self-directed learning

Desirable Skills:

• Deep Red Team adversary emulation experience
• Experience working on or with Blue Teams, including Incident Response, or Detection
• Experience working in large, complex organizations
• Python, C#, Rust, Go, or C skills
• Solving difficult problems, and creatively subverting systems
• Ability to replicate the tools and techniques of in-the-wild threat actors
• Follows Threat Actor trends impacting organizational security

This position may be considered for a Remote or Hybrid (known internally at Target as "Flex for Your Day") work arrangement based on Target's needs.

A Remote work arrangement means the team member works full-time from home or an alternate location that's not a Target location, does not have a desk at a Target location and may travel to HQ up to 4 times a year.

A Hybrid/Flex for Your Day work arrangement means the team member's core role may be performed either remote or onsite at a Target location depending upon what your role, team and tasks require for that day.

Work duties cannot be performed outside of the country of the primary work location, unless otherwise prescribed by Target.

Benefits Eligibility Please paste this url into your preferred browser to learn about benefits eligibility for this role: https://tgt.biz/BenefitsForYou_D

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) In compliance with state and federal laws, Target will make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please reach out to [e-mail]. Non-accommodation-related requests, such as application follow-ups or technical issues, will not be addressed through this channel.

Application deadline is : 11/29/2026

Target is one of the world’s most recognized brands and one of America’s leading retailers. We make Target our guests’ preferred shopping destination by offering outstanding value, inspiration, innovation and an exceptional guest experience that no other retailer can deliver. Target is committed to responsible corporate citizenship, ethical business practices, environmental stewardship and generous community support. Since 1946, we have given 5 percent of our profits back to our communities. Our goal is to work as one team to fulfill our unique brand promise to our guests, wherever and whenever they choose to shop. We’ll contact you if you're selected for next steps. In the meantime, follow us at A Bullseye View for the latest news. Our Benefits We care about and invest in you as a team member, so that you can take care of yourself and your family. Target offers eligible team members and their dependents comprehensive health benefits and programs, which may include medical, vision, dental, life insurance and more, to help you and your family take care of your whole selves. Other benefits for eligible team members include 401(k), employee discount, short term disability, long term disability, paid sick leave, paid national holidays, and paid vacation. Find competitive benefits from financial and education to well-being and beyond at https://corporate.target.com/careers/benefits.