Senior Red Team Operator / SME

CACI; United States; On-site; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

CACI is seeking a Senior Red Team Operator and subject-matter expert to lead adversary-emulation engagements across federal cyber assets. You will design campaigns, oversee infrastructure, and ensure safe, credible assessments that drive measurable defensive improvements. You will mentor junior operators, review tooling, and deliver clear technical and executive briefings.

The role requires U.S. citizenship, eligibility for Public Trust, and hands-on experience with modern attack techniques,

Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship is required.
• Eligible for Public Trust (High Risk).
• Work in customer-provided remote environments with rules of engagement.
• 5+ years hands-on red-team or adversary-emulation experience; 2+ years leading teams.
• Campaign planning across recon to exfiltration with MITRE ATT&CK alignment.
• Proficiency with Sliver/Mythic/Havoc and cloud attack architectures.
• Advanced certifications such as OSEP/OSCE, OSCP, GXPN, GPEN, CRTO/CRTL, CRTP, OSED.

Responsibilities

• Lead red-team engagements from design through reporting and customer out-briefs.
• Develop multi-vector campaigns aligned to MITRE ATT&CK profiles.
• Design adversary infrastructure, C2 channels, and payload delivery.
• Construct secure cloud-based attack infrastructure and teardown workflows.
• Lead hands-on execution of advanced identity, endpoint, network, cloud, and phishing simulations.
• Mentor junior operators and enforce OPSEC and safety controls.
• Review tooling for evasion capabilities within authorized scope.
• Coordinate with stakeholders to validate detections and translate observations into improvements.
• Own operator logs, narratives, evidence, and mitigation recommendations.
• Escalate risks and scope changes to the Technical Lead.

Skills

Red team operations

Threat emulation

Windows & Linux tradecraft

Cloud attack paths

OPSEC & safety controls

Scripting / tooling

Education

Advanced certifications (OSEP/OSCE, OSCP, GXPN)

Tools

Sliver

Mythic

Havoc

Job description

Job Title: Senior Red Team Operator / SME

Job Category: Information Technology

Time Type: Full time

Minimum Clearance Required to Start: Public Trust

Employee Type: Regular

Percentage of Travel Required: Up to 25%

Type of Travel: Continental US

The Opportunity:

CACI is seeking a Senior Red Team Operator and subject-matter expert to lead assigned adversary-emulation engagements. This role translates threat behavior and customer objectives into safe, realistic campaigns; directs operator execution; maintains operational security; and ensures evidence, reports, out-briefs, and recommendations are technically sound. The role leads individual engagements. This SME role includes cradle‑to‑grave engagement ownership, ensuring operational safety, evidence integrity, and measurable defensive improvement outcomes. This position will provide continuous technical assessment support for full‑time, proactive testing of externally and internally visible federal cyber assets. This expands federal visibility by conducting continual assessments of .gov domains, subdomains, and internet‑facing assets to uncover unknown exposures, validate vulnerabilities, and provide agencies with actionable remediation guidance. This role supports the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program's mission to safeguard and secure cyberspace in an environment where the threat of cyber-attack is continuously growing and evolving and is responsible for enhancing the security, resilience, and reliability of the Nation's cyber and communications infrastructure. The CDM Program defends the United States (U.S.) Federal Information Technology (IT) networks from cybersecurity threats by providing continuous monitoring sensors (tools), diagnosis, mitigation tools, and associated services to strengthen the security posture of Government networks.

Responsibilities:

• Lead assigned red-team engagements from scenario design and rules-of-engagement planning through infrastructure build, execution, deconfliction, reporting, and customer out-briefing.
• Develop multi-vector campaigns aligned to MITRE ATT&CK and modern APT profiles, integrating identity-layer exploitation, cloud lateral movement, and infrastructure pivoting.
• Design and oversee adversary infrastructure, redirectors, command-and-control channels, payload-delivery methods, operator access, logging, and teardown procedures.
• Construct secure cloud-based attack infrastructure and teardown workflows consistent with modern adversary tradecraft.
• Lead hands‑on execution of advanced identity, endpoint, network, web, cloud, phishing, defense‑evasion, persistence, and exfiltration‑simulation techniques when authorized.
• Mentor junior operators, review tradecraft and scripts, enforce OPSEC and safety controls, and make real‑time technical decisions during operations.
• Review payload/tooling for evasion capabilities (EDR/AV bypass and living‑off‑the‑land techniques) within authorized scope.
• Coordinate with stakeholders to validate detection and response, develop hand‑crafted purple‑team scenarios, and translate observations into measurable defensive improvements.
• Own technical quality for operator logs, attack narratives, evidence, mitigation recommendations, assessment reports, and customer out-briefs.
• Escalate material risks, scope changes, operational impacts, and cross‑engagement issues to the Technical Lead.

Qualifications:

Required:

• U.S. citizenship is required.
• The selected candidate must meet eligibility requirements for access to sensitive information and be able to obtain a Public Trust fitness determination (High Risk).
• Ability to work in customer‑provided remote environments, use customer‑approved tools, and comply with rules of engagement, data‑handling requirements, evidence controls, deconfliction procedures, and stop‑work criteria.
• Five or more years of hands‑on red-team , defensive‑adversary‑emulation, or advanced penetration‑testing experience, including at least two years leading defensive detection engineering activities and engagements or small operator teams.
• Demonstrated campaign‑planning experience across reconnaissance, initial access, credential access, privilege escalation, lateral movement, persistence, command and control, defense evasion, and simulated exfiltration.
• Advanced experience with C2 frameworks, adversary infrastructure, Active Directory/Entra ID, Windows and Linux tradecraft, cloud attack paths, and operator scripting/tool development.
• Strong understanding of operational security, deconfliction, legal/ethical boundaries, evidence handling, and safe execution in production environments.
• Ability to write and technically review assessment reports and deliver clear customer out‑briefs to technical and executive audiences.
• Proficiency with advanced tooling (Sliver, Mythic, Havoc) and secure cloud attack architecture.
• One or more advanced hands‑on certifications such as OSEP/OSCE, OSCP, GXPN, GPEN, CRTO/CRTL, CRTP, OSED, or equivalent.

Desired:

• Eight or