Software Engineer III - Security

F5 Networks, Inc; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

F5 Networks, Inc. is seeking a Software Engineer III to research, analyze, and validate emerging cyber threats targeting applications, APIs, AI/LLM systems, cloud-native environments, and enterprise infrastructure.

You will develop proof-of-concept attacks, detection techniques, and security tools to strengthen F5 ADSP, including BIG-IP and NGIX, while collaborating with multiple teams. The role combines threat intelligence, automation, and security content creation to improve F5 products,

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of application security, API security, cloud security, and AI/LLM security.
• Strong understanding of OWASP Web Application Top 10, OWASP API Security Top 10, and OWASP LLM Top 10.
• Strong programming skills in Python for automation, tooling, validation, and security research.
• Knowledge of threat intelligence and attack techniques using MITRE ATT&CK and MITRE ATLAS frameworks.
• Experience with networking fundamentals and security concepts.
• Experience with security tooling, automation frameworks, and threat simulation capabilities.
• Experience with offensive security tools (Burp Suite, Nmap, Metasploit, ffuf, sqlmap).
• Experience with CI/CD, Agile software development, and test automation.

Responsibilities

• Research emerging cyber threats targeting web apps, APIs, AI/LLM applications, and cloud workloads.
• Analyze attacker tactics using MITRE ATT&CK, MITRE ATLAS, and OWASP lists.
• Develop proof-of-concept exploits, threat emulation scenarios, and validation frameworks.
• Build reusable tools, scripts, demos, and validation assets for marketing and customer use cases.
• Publish technical content and demos highlighting F5 security capabilities.
• Contribute to code reviews and review automation tooling.

Skills

Application security

API security

Python

MITRE ATT&CK

MITRE ATLAS

OWASP Top 10

Security tooling

Networking fundamentals

CI/CD

Agile

Threat emulation

GitHub

Education

BA/BS in CS/Engineering

Tools

Burp Suite

Nmap

Metasploit

ffuf

sqlmap

GitHub

Job description

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation.

Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

Position Summary:

The Software Engineer III is responsible for researching, analyzing, and validating emerging cyber threats targeting applications, APIs, AI/LLM systems, cloud native environments, and modern enterprise infrastructure. This engineer develops proof of concept attacks, detection techniques, security validation frameworks, and security tools that help strengthen F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), including BIG-IP, NGINX, F5 AI Guardrails, F5 AI Gateway, and F5 Distributed Cloud solutions.

This role combines threat intelligence, offensive security research, automation, security tool development, and technical content creation to improve F5 security products and support technical marketing engineering with demos, validation assets, tools, and customer facing content. The engineer collaborates closely with Product Security, Engineering, Product Management, Security Research, Threat Intelligence, Technical Marketing Engineering, and architects to identify emerging attack trends, validate F5 protections, and create reusable technical assets.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Research emerging cyber threats targeting web applications, APIs, AI/LLM applications, cloud workloads, Kubernetes, and enterprise infrastructure.
• Analyze attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures using frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, MITRE ATLAS, OWASP Web Application Top 10, OWASP API Security Top 10, and OWASP LLM Top 10.
• Develop proof of concept exploits, attack simulations, and threat emulation scenarios to reproduce real world threat conditions.
• Design, implement, and maintain automated security validation frameworks, detection tools, and supporting security tools for threat detection, testing, and mitigation.
• Evaluate and validate F5 security products and platform capabilities against emerging threats and evolving attack techniques.
• Build reusable tools, scripts, demos, and validation assets that support technical marketing engineering use cases, customer demonstrations, and technical enablement.
• Publish and create technical content, demos, and security focused materials for internal teams and customers, highlighting F5 application delivery and security capabilities.
• Participate actively in code reviews by contributing scripts, incorporating feedback, and reviewing automation and tooling developed by team members.
• Contribute to repeatable methodologies for security testing, threat emulation, and use case validation across product and marketing engineering needs.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strong knowledge of application security, API security, cloud security, and AI/LLM security.
• Strong understanding of OWASP Web Application Top 10, OWASP API Security Top 10, and OWASP LLM Top 10.
• Strong programming skills in Python for automation, tooling, validation, and security research.
• Knowledge of threat intelligence, attack techniques, threat detection, and security validation using frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK and MITRE ATLAS is required.
• Strong knowledge of security and networking fundamentals.
• Experience building or supporting security tools, automation frameworks, validation environments, or threat simulation capabilities.
• Experience with offensive security tools such as Burp Suite, Nmap, Metasploit, ffuf, sqlmap, or similar.
• Strong experience in networking and working knowledge of HTTP, DNS, TCP/IP required.
• Proficiency in L2/L3 network protocol testing.
• Experience with GitHub or other source control management tools preferred.
• Experience with CI/CD, Agile software development, and test automation.
• Ability to support technical marketing engineering through demos, validation assets, technical tools, and customer facing technical content.
• Strong organizational, analytical, troubleshooting, and problem solving skills.

Qualifications:

• 7+ years of professional experience in software development, testing, security validation, or security engineering, preferably in a Linux environment.
• Experience working with geographically dispersed teams preferred.
• BA/BS degree in computer science, engineering, or related field, or equivalent work experience.

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).

Equal Employment Opportunity

It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination. F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting [e-mail].