Senior Penetration Tester - National Security Impact

gdit; Ashburn (VA); On-site; USD 143,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

GDIT seeks a Senior Penetration Tester in Ashburn, VA to support CBP Cyber Security Directorate. You will lead complex assessments, emulate adversaries, and deliver detailed reports for mission-critical systems.

You will guide junior testers, plan approaches, and collaborate with system owners and risk teams to validate fixes and strengthen protections for national security interests.

Qualifications

• Minimum of five years of offensive security or penetration testing experience.
• Strong leadership and communication abilities.
• Advanced proficiency with penetration testing tooling and exploitation techniques, including network, application, and wireless vectors.
• Strong technical writing and oral presentation skills that meet audit and executive communication standards.
• Ability to collaborate with technical and non-technical stakeholders across federal and enterprise.
• Preferred certifications: OSCP, GPEN, CRT.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex penetration testing engagements and guides junior and mid-level testers in scoping, tooling, exploitation techniques, documentation quality, and professional development.
• Plan test approaches, perform advanced exploitation, and deliver detailed reporting that informs corrective actions across critical systems.
• Define objectives, rules of engagement, and test boundaries in partnership with system owners, ISSOs, engineering leads, and mission stakeholders.
• Design tailored test plans that reflect system architecture, threat scenarios, and compliance requirements.
• Lead hands-on penetration testing across network, application, wireless, and enclave targets, using modern red-team methodologies to discover and validate exploitable weaknesses.
• Employ industry tools and frameworks such as Nmap, Nessus, Metasploit, Burp Suite, CANVAS, and Kismet to enumerate, exploit, and confirm vulnerabilities at scale.
• Develop proofs of concept, chained exploits, and post-exploitation procedures that demonstrate realistic impact and support prioritization of remediation by system owners.
• Produce comprehensive technical reports that include vulnerability descriptions, reproduction steps, affected assets, exploit evidence, and prioritized remediation recommendations suitable for engineering and executive audiences.
• Present findings, defend methodologies, and translate technical risk into mission-aligned decisions during briefs and touchpoints.
• Partner with developers, system engineers, SOC, and risk teams to advise on mitigation strategies and validate fixes during retesting cycles.

Skills

Cybersecurity Operations

Network Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing Software

Vulnerability Management

Education

Degree in cybersecurity / computer science / information technology

Tools

Nmap

Nessus

Metasploit

Burp Suite

CANVAS

Kismet

Job description

GDIT seeks a Senior Penetration Tester in Ashburn, VA to support CBP Cyber Security Directorate. You will lead complex assessments, emulate adversaries, and deliver detailed reports for mission-critical systems.

You will guide junior testers, plan approaches, and collaborate with system owners and risk teams to validate fixes and strengthen protections for national security interests.