Senior Penetration Tester / Red Team Engineer

Cognizant; New York (NY); On-site; USD 134,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off

401(k) plan and contributions

Long-term/Short-term Disability

Paid Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an experienced Senior Penetration Tester / Red Team Engineer to perform advanced offensive security assessments across applications, networks, cloud, APIs, and endpoints. You will simulate real-world attacks to identify weaknesses and improve enterprise cyber resilience.

The role requires hands-on testing, vulnerability analysis, and clear remediation recommendations, plus the ability to communicate risk to technical and leadership audiences and to work with cross-functional

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on experience in Penetration Testing, Red Teaming, Offensive Security, or Security Engineering.
• Expert-level experience conducting penetration tests across web apps, networks, APIs, endpoints, cloud, and enterprise infra.
• Strong expertise in vulnerability exploitation, attack-path analysis, credential security, authentication testing, and security control validation.
• Advanced hands-on experience with Burp Suite, Metasploit, Nmap, Kali Linux, Pentera Console/Surface, and vulnerability scanners.
• Strong scripting and automation skills using Python, Bash, PowerShell, or similar technologies.
• Deep understanding of OWASP, CVE/CVSS, MITRE ATT&CK, network security, app security, and modern attack methodologies.
• Experience working with development and infra teams to provide remediation guidance and perform validation/retesting of fixes.
• Strong technical reporting skills with the ability to communicate vulnerabilities, business impact, and remediation priorities to technical and leadership audiences.
• Relevant certifications such as OSCP, OSEP, OSWE, GPEN, GXPN, CRTO, or equivalent offensive security certifications are preferred.

Responsibilities

• Conduct penetration testing across web apps, APIs, networks, cloud environments, mobile apps, and Windows/Linux systems.
• Perform vulnerability assessments using automated scanners and manual testing.
• Simulate adversary scenarios to evaluate authentication, authorization, access controls, and network defenses.
• Identify and validate vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, exposed credentials, insecure code, and attack paths.
• Utilize offensive security tools such as Burp Suite, Metasploit, Nmap, Kali Linux, Pentera, and scanners.
• Develop Python and Bash scripts and automation utilities to improve testing efficiency.
• Document methodologies, evidence, risk impact, and findings with remediation recommendations.
• Partner with application, infra, cloud, and security teams to remediate and retest findings.
• Research emerging threats, CVEs, OWASP vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques, and evolving offensive security methodologies.
• Support security assessments, risk reviews, and continuous improvement of offensive security capabilities.

Skills

Penetration testing

Red Teaming

Offensive security

Security engineering

Python scripting

Bash scripting

PowerShell

Tools

Burp Suite

Metasploit

Nmap

Kali Linux

Pentera

Vulnerability scanners

Job description

Practice - CIS - Cloud, Infrastructure, and Security Services

About Cloud Infrastructure & Security Services: Cognizant’s Cloud, Infrastructure, and Security Services Practice (CIS), is all about embracing digital transformation by driving core modernization holistically across layers. We help customers transform infrastructure and workplace to meet the rapidly evolving needs of the digital era. Our holistic approach delivers key results for our customers by achieving cloud driven modernization and workplace and operational transformation to run the business in a secure environment.

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Senior Penetration Tester / Red Team Engineer to conduct advanced offensive security assessments across applications, networks, infrastructure, cloud, APIs, and endpoint environments. This role will simulate real-world cyberattacks to identify exploitable weaknesses, validate security controls, and improve enterprise cyber resilience. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in penetration testing, exploitation, security automation, and vulnerability analysis. The position requires strong hands‑on technical skills combined with the ability to clearly communicate security risks and remediation recommendations.

In this role, you will:

• Conduct comprehensive penetration testing across web applications, APIs, networks, cloud environments, mobile applications, and Windows/Linux systems.
• Perform vulnerability assessments using automated scanning platforms and advanced manual testing techniques to identify exploitable security weaknesses.
• Simulate realistic adversary scenarios to evaluate authentication, authorization, access controls, network defenses, and overall security resilience.
• Identify and validate vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, exposed credentials, insecure code, and potential attack paths across enterprise environments.
• Utilize offensive security tools such as Burp Suite, Metasploit, Nmap, Kali Linux, Pentera, and vulnerability scanning platforms.
• Develop Python and Bash scripts, automation utilities, and custom testing approaches to improve penetration testing efficiency and coverage.
• Document assessment methodologies, technical evidence, risk impact, and findings while providing clear remediation recommendations to stakeholders.
• Partner with application, infrastructure, cloud, and security teams to remediate identified vulnerabilities and validate fixes through retesting.
• Research emerging threats, CVEs, OWASP vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques, and evolving offensive security methodologies.
• Support security assessments, compliance initiatives, risk reviews, and continuous improvement of enterprise offensive security capabilities.

What you need to have to be considered

• 8+ years of hands‑on experience in Penetration Testing, Red Teaming, Offensive Security, or Security Engineering.
• Expert-level experience conducting penetration tests across web applications, networks, APIs, endpoints, cloud platforms, and enterprise infrastructure.
• Strong expertise in vulnerability exploitation, attack‑path analysis, credential security, authentication testing, and security control validation.
• Advanced hands‑on experience with offensive security tools such as Burp Suite, Metasploit, Nmap, Kali Linux, Pentera Console/Surface, and vulnerability scanners.
• Strong scripting and automation skills using Python, Bash, PowerShell, or similar technologies.
• Deep understanding of OWASP, CVE/CVSS, MITRE ATT&CK, network security, application security, and modern attack methodologies.
• Experience working with development and infrastructure teams to provide remediation guidance and perform validation/retesting of security fixes.
• Strong technical reporting skills with the ability to communicate vulnerabilities, business impact, and remediation priorities to technical and leadership audiences.
• Relevant certifications such as OSCP, OSEP, OSWE, GPEN, GXPN, CRTO, or equivalent offensive security certifications are preferred.

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Applications will be accepted until 30 Oct 2026.

Salary and Other Compensation:

The annual salary for this position is between $[134,000 - 154,500] depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan