Senior Vulnerability Researcher

Research Innovations Incorporated; San Antonio (FL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work schedules

Health insurance

Paid time off

401k with company match

Paid parental leave

Wellness programs

Job summary

Research Innovations Inc. in the United States seeks a Senior Security Researcher to lead vulnerability research across OSes, kernels, firmware, and embedded platforms.

You will scope attack surfaces, drive research from hypothesis to validated findings, and perform deep reverse engineering on diverse architectures. You will design novel exploitation techniques and evaluate mitigations, while mentoring peers and translating findings for stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Conducted high-impact vulnerability research on real-world systems with minimal guidance, producing findings that influenced security decisions or mitigations.
• Demonstrated deep understanding of operating system internals (Windows, Linux, macOS), kernel subsystems, and low-level execution models.
• Reverse engineered complex binaries, firmware, or kernel components and reasoned about their behavior in memory.
• Developed proof-of-concept exploits or mitigation bypasses that go beyond simple crashes and demonstrate meaningful impact.
• Shown strong intuition for exploit mitigations such as ASLR, DEP/NX, stack canaries, CFI, and where their assumptions break down.
• Written research tooling, scripts, or frameworks (e.g., Python, C/C++) to support analysis, exploitation, or automation.
• Collaborated closely with other researchers, provided technical feedback, and influenced how work is approached or evaluated.
• Communicated complex technical concepts clearly in writing and discussion, including with other experts.

Responsibilities

• Lead advanced vulnerability research efforts across operating systems, kernels, firmware, hypervisors, embedded platforms, and complex application stacks.
• Independently scoping ambiguous or underexplored attack surfaces and driving research from initial hypothesis through validated findings.
• Performing deep reverse engineering and in-memory analysis of compiled binaries across multiple architectures (x86/x64, ARM, PowerPC, etc.).
• Designing and executing novel exploitation techniques and mitigation evaluations, including identifying real-world weaknesses in modern defense mechanisms.
• Analyzing undocumented or partially documented system behavior and extending internal interfaces or tooling to support research goals.
• Collaborating with other senior researchers to shape technical direction, review complex work, and raise the overall quality of research output.
• Translating low-level technical findings into clear, actionable insights for internal stakeholders and, when appropriate, customers.
• Contributing to research culture through mentorship, knowledge sharing, and improvements to tools, methodologies, and workflows.

Skills

Vulnerability research

Reverse engineering

OS internals

Exploit development

Exploitation techniques

Research tooling

Mentoring

Tools

Python

C/C++

Job description

Position Title: Senior Security Researcher

Location: St. Petersburg, FL | Melbourne, FL | San Antonio, TX

Clearance Requirement: Top Secret/SCI

Employment type: Full Time

Research Innovations Inc. (RII) is redefining defense technology. We combine mission-driven impact with cutting-edge research and a culture that values autonomy, creativity, and technical excellence.

We are seeking security researchers to independently explore and exploit complex systems, from kernels to embedded platforms, to solve the unsolvable. This role combines deep technical problem-solving with real-world impact on defense and homeland security systems.

Get s#it done.

This position requires an Active US Top Secret security clearance, and the ability to upgrade to TS/SCI Special Access Program access

What You Will Be Doing

• Leading advanced vulnerability research efforts across operating systems, kernels, firmware, hypervisors, embedded platforms, and complex application stacks.
• Independently scoping ambiguous or underexplored attack surfaces and driving research from initial hypothesis through validated findings.
• Performing deep reverse engineering and in-memory analysis of compiled binaries across multiple architectures (x86/x64, ARM, PowerPC, etc.).
• Designing and executing novel exploitation techniques and mitigation evaluations, including identifying real-world weaknesses in modern defense mechanisms.
• Analyzing undocumented or partially documented system behavior and extending internal interfaces or tooling to support research goals.
• Collaborating with other senior researchers to shape technical direction, review complex work, and raise the overall quality of research output.
• Translating low-level technical findings into clear, actionable insights for internal stakeholders and, when appropriate, customers.
• Contributing to research culture through mentorship, knowledge sharing, and improvements to tools, methodologies, and workflows.

What You Have Done

• Conducted high-impact vulnerability research on real-world systems with minimal guidance, producing findings that influenced security decisions or mitigations.
• Demonstrated deep understanding of operating system internals (Windows, Linux, macOS), kernel subsystems, and low-level execution models.
• Reverse engineered complex binaries, firmware, or kernel components and reasoned about their behavior in memory.
• Developed proof-of-concept exploits or mitigation bypasses that go beyond simple crashes and demonstrate meaningful impact.
• Shown strong intuition for exploit mitigations such as ASLR, DEP/NX, stack canaries, CFI, and where their assumptions break down.
• Written research tooling, scripts, or frameworks (e.g., Python, C/C++) to support analysis, exploitation, or automation.
• Collaborated closely with other researchers, provided technical feedback, and influenced how work is approached or evaluated.
• Communicated complex technical concepts clearly in writing and discussion, including with other experts.

EVEN BETTER

• Experience with hypervisors, virtualization stacks, firmware boot chains, or trusted execution environments.
• Background in embedded systems, RTOS environments, or mobile platforms (iOS/Android).
• Familiarity with networking or wireless stacks (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular) and their security models.
• Contributions to the vulnerability research community (publications, talks, open source).
• Experience with symbolic execution, constraint solving, fuzzing frameworks, or advanced program analysis techniques.
• Malware analysis experience, including deobfuscation, behavioral analysis, or adversarial tooling.
• Interest in shaping long-term research direction, mentoring other researchers, or acting as a technical authority without moving into management.

At RII, we believe that diversity in our workforce is critical to our success. We strive to hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes us stronger. We work to help your intellectual passions and creativity thrive. It’s one of our core values: Let your geek flag fly.

We also offer all employees comprehensive benefits including:

• flexible work schedules
• health insurance coverage
• paid time off
• 401k with a company match
• paid parental leave
• access to wellness programs and much more

You get this all from day one, and all paid for by RII.

It’s all part of another of our core values: Stay human. It’s why our comfortable and colorful offices such as our headquarters, include a community game room, pantry, massage chair, and an escape room, among other amenities.

It’s why we have community ambassadors and regular community events.

Research Innovations, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, genetics, disability status, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal or local law.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.