Senior Penetration Tester - DoD HVA Security (Onsite MD)

Cybersecurity Jobs; Beltsville (MD); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

SkyePoint Decisions is seeking a Senior Penetration Tester / PenTest Operator to support a Department of State program focused on High Value Asset security assessments. You will lead penetration testing across networks, apps, and cloud-connected systems, validating security controls and communicating risk to critical assets.

The role requires extensive hands-on offensive security experience, including internal/external testing, AD attack paths, and red team activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field; additional relevant experience may be considered in lieu of degree.

Responsibilities

• Lead penetration testing across internal networks, external networks, web applications, enterprise systems, cloud-connected systems, and mission environments.
• Support HVA cybersecurity assessments by identifying and communicating exploitable vulnerabilities, validating security control effectiveness, and determining risk to critical systems and data.
• Perform network mapping, reconnaissance, vulnerability validation, exploitation, post exploitation analysis, and document attack paths in accordance with approved Rules of Engagement.
• Contribute to Rules of Engagement, test plans and objectives, scope inputs and assessment documentation, and update assessment procedures for management and stakeholder approval.
• Conduct external testing to determine what an outside attacker may access, exploit, or exfiltrate within approved scope.
• Conduct internal testing to evaluate risk from users or systems with different access levels, including privilege escalation, lateral movement, persistence, and Active Directory attack paths.
• Support purple team and detection validation by mapping attacker behavior to defensive telemetry, identifying detection gaps, and recommending improvements to SIEM, EDR, and incident response processes.
• Analyze logs, endpoint artifacts, and network telemetry during exercises or assessments to validate detection and escalation of adversary behaviors.
• Produce clear, evidence-based reports covering findings, affected assets, exploitability, business or mission impact, and prioritized remediation recommendations.
• Deliver technical and executive out-briefs to client stakeholders, including system owners, security operations teams, engineering teams, and senior leaders.
• Stay current on emerging attack techniques, offensive tooling, detection approaches, and federal cybersecurity requirements to strengthen client security posture.

Skills

Penetration testing

Red team

Adversary emulation

Web application testing

Active Directory

Windows

Linux

Burp Suite

Metasploit

Nmap

Nessus

Kali Linux

Wireshark

Cobalt Strike

Sliver

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field; additional relevant experience may be considered in lieu of degree.

Tools

Burp Suite

Metasploit

Nmap

Nessus

Kali Linux

Wireshark

BloodHound

Impacket

Responder

Hashcat

John the Ripper

Cobalt Strike

Sliver

Job description

SkyePoint Decisions is seeking a Senior Penetration Tester / PenTest Operator to support a Department of State program focused on High Value Asset security assessments. You will lead penetration testing across networks, apps, and cloud-connected systems, validating security controls and communicating risk to critical assets.

The role requires extensive hands-on offensive security experience, including internal/external testing, AD attack paths, and red team activities.