Sr. AI Red Team Engineer

Moderna Therapeutics; United States; Hybrid; USD 146,000 - 234,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Well-being resources

Family planning

Paid time off

Investments

Location-specific perks

Job summary

Moderna Therapeutics seeks a senior security professional to design, execute, and evolve advanced adversarial simulations across corporate, lab, and manufacturing environments. You will build and run end-to-end offensive campaigns, from recon to post-exploitation, collaborating with Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and Detection Engineering to create durable defenses.

You will lead offensive toolchains, measure security detections, and drive continuous red team maturity, including

Qualifications

• 4+ years in cybersecurity with deep experience in red teaming, offensive security, or adversary simulation.
• Proven ability to conduct end-to-end attack chains, including initial access, lateral movement, privilege escalation, and data exfiltration.
• Expertise in network penetration testing, Active Directory exploitation, cloud attacks (Azure, AWS, O365), endpoint evasion, and AI systems.
• Experience targeting OT or lab-connected systems is a plus.
• Experience with modern AI based attacks and how to leverage them in a longer attack path.
• Strong knowledge of MITRE ATT&CK, C2 frameworks, and offensive tooling.
• Familiarity with purple team methodologies and integrating offensive results into defensive playbooks and detections.
• OPSEC discipline and experience running stealth operations under blue team monitoring.
• Solid scripting and automation skills in at least one major language (Python, PowerShell, Bash, or Go).

Responsibilities

• Plan, execute, and document full-spectrum red team operations targeting digital, physical, and hybrid environments.
• Develop and maintain offensive toolchains and infrastructure for covert operations (C2 frameworks, payload obfuscation, cloud-based staging, and beacon management).
• Conduct external-to-internal attack simulations.
• Collaborate with detection and incident response teams to measure time-to-detect, time-to-contain, and overall detection efficacy.
• Build and maintain custom scripts and exploits using Python, PowerShell, and other languages to simulate real adversary TTPs.
• Perform adversary emulation based on threat intel tied to biotech, pharma, and critical manufacturing sectors.
• Lead post‑operation technical debriefs with IR and Threat Intel to derive new detection opportunities and security controls.
• Contribute to the development of internal red team maturity, progressing toward a continuous red team model.

Skills

Red Teaming

Offensive Security

Adversary Simulation

Attack Chains

Penetration Testing

Active Directory Exploitation

Cloud Attacks

Endpoint Evasion

AI Systems

MITRE ATT&CK

C2 Frameworks

Purple Team

OPSEC

Scripting

Tools

C2 frameworks

Offensive tooling

Job description

The Role:

In this role, you will design, execute, and evolve advanced adversarial simulation campaigns to test Moderna’s cyber resilience across corporate, laboratory, and manufacturing environments with a focus on AI and the attack surface it exposes. You will act as a hands‑on operator, building and running end‑to‑end offensive campaigns — from initial reconnaissance to network exploitation and post‑exploitation within high‑value segments like lab, OT systems, cloud, and AI infrastructure. This role reports to the Red Team Program Lead and works very deeply and closely with Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and Detection Engineering to convert findings into durable defenses. The primary output of the program focuses on building defenses, detections that result in prevention of real adversarial tradecraft. Your mission: identify, emulate, and weaponize attacker tradecraft before real adversaries do against Moderna.

Here’s What You’ll Do:

• Plan, execute, and document full-spectrum red team operations targeting digital, physical, and hybrid environments.
• Develop and maintain offensive toolchains and infrastructure for covert operations (C2 frameworks, payload obfuscation, cloud-based staging, and beacon management).
• Conduct external-to-internal attack simulations.
• Collaborate with detection and incident response teams to measure time-to-detect, time-to-contain, and overall detection efficacy.
• Build and maintain custom scripts and exploits using Python, PowerShell, and other languages to simulate real adversary TTPs.
• Perform adversary emulation based on threat intel tied to biotech, pharma, and critical manufacturing sectors.
• Lead post‑operation technical debriefs with IR and Threat Intel to derive new detection opportunities and security controls.
• Contribute to the development of internal red team maturity, progressing toward a continuous red team model.

Here’s What You’ll Need (Basic Qualifications)

• 4+ years in cybersecurity with deep experience in red teaming, offensive security, or adversary simulation.
• Proven ability to conduct end-to-end attack chains, including initial access, lateral movement, privilege escalation, and data exfiltration.
• Expertise in network penetration testing, Active Directory exploitation, cloud attacks (Azure, AWS, O365), endpoint evasion, and AI systems.
• Experience targeting OT or lab-connected systems is a plus.
• Experience with modern AI based attacks and how to leverage them in a longer attack path.
• Strong knowledge of MITRE ATT&CK, C2 frameworks, and offensive tooling.
• Familiarity with purple team methodologies and integrating offensive results into defensive playbooks and detections.
• OPSEC discipline and experience running stealth operations under blue team monitoring.
• Solid scripting and automation skills in at least one major language (Python, PowerShell, Bash, or Go).

Here’s What You’ll Bring to the Table (Preferred Qualifications)

• Preferred certifications: OSCP, OSEP, OSED, CRTO, or equivalent hands‑on offensive credentials.
• Ability to communicate complex offensive findings clearly to both technical engineers and executive stakeholders.

Pay & Benefits

At Moderna, we believe that when you feel your best, you can do your best work. That’s why our benefits and well‑being resources are designed to support you—at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

• Competitive healthcare, plus voluntary benefit programs to support your unique needs
• A holistic approach to well‑being, with access to fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support
• Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year‑end shutdown
• Savings and investments to help you plan for the future
• Location‑specific perks and extras

The salary range for this role is $145,900.00 - $234,200.00 (for positions that may be performed in California, the expected salary range is $0.00 - $0.00, which reflects the range permitted under California Labor Code requirements). This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An individual’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, performance, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate may be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or equity award, subject to company plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.

About Moderna

Since our founding in 2010, we have aspired to build the leading mRNA technology platform, the infrastructure to reimagine how medicines are created and delivered, and a world‑class team. We believe in giving our people a platform to change medicine and an opportunity to change the world. By living our mission, values, and mindsets every day, our people are the driving force behind our scientific progress and our culture. Together, we are creating a culture of belonging and building an organization that cares deeply for our patients, our employees, the environment, and our communities. We are proud to have been recognized as a Science Magazine Top Biopharma Employer, a Fast Company Best Workplace for Innovators, and a Great Place to Work in the U.S.

If you want to make a difference and join a team that is changing the future of medicine, we invite you to visit modernatx.com/careers to learn more about our current opportunities.

Our Working Model

As we build our company, we have always believed an in‑person culture is critical to our success. Moderna champions the significant benefits of in‑office collaboration by embracing a 70/30 work model. This 70% in‑office structure helps to foster a culture rich in innovation, teamwork, and direct mentorship. Join us in shaping a world where every interaction is an opportunity to learn, contribute, and make a meaningful impact. Moderna is a smoke‑free, alcohol‑free, and drug‑free work environment.

Equal Opportunities

Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non‑discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry or citizenship, ethnicity, disability, military or protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, or any other personal characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna is a place where everyone can grow.

Accommodations

We’re focused on attracting, retaining, developing, and advancing our employees. By cultivating a workplace that values diverse experiences, backgrounds, and ideas, we create an environment where every employee can contribute their best. Moderna is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants with disabilities. Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should contact the Accommodations team at [e-mail].

Export Control Notice

This position may involve access to technology or data that is subject to U.S. export control laws, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As such, employment is contingent upon the applicant’s ability to access export‑controlled information in accordance with U.S. law. Due to the nature of the work and regulatory requirements, only individuals who qualify as U.S. persons (citizens, permanent residents, asylees, or refugees) are eligible for this position. For this role Moderna is unable to sponsor non‑U.S. persons to apply for an export control license.

Our Mission and Vision

At Moderna we are pioneering the development of a new class of drugs made of messenger RNA (mRNA). This novel drug platform builds on the discovery that modified mRNA can direct the body’s cellular machinery to produce nearly any protein of interest, from native proteins to antibodies and other entirely novel protein constructs that can have therapeutic activity inside and outside of cells. We have a clear mission to propel the field of mRNA science forward and deliver new medicines to patients and a unique vision for how to achieve this mission.

Our Mission: To deliver on the promise of transformative messenger RNA (mRNA) science to bring new medicines to patients. Our Vision: To unlock the potential of mRNA by establishing an ecosystem of teams and partners that will work together to develop the broadest possible array of drugs, across diverse therapeutic areas and routes of administration, for serious diseases that are not treatable today.

Third Party Staffing Agencies

Moderna does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from candidates. For the protection of all parties involved in the recruiting process, resumes will only be accepted from recruiters/agencies if a signed agreement is in place at the inception of the recruiting effort and authorized for a specified position. Unsolicited resumes sent to recruiters/agencies do not constitute any type of relationship between the recruiter/agency and Moderna and do not obligate Moderna to pay fees if we hire from those resumes.