Senior Attack Engineer, Kubernetes

We're looking for a senior offensive security engineer to lead the development of Kubernetes attack capabilities in NodeZero. You'll research how attackers move from a compromised workload or identity through and beyond a cluster, and turn that research into safe, repeatable capabilities. You'll own complex work from attack research and technical design through integration and customer-facing proof, while helping set the direction for Kubernetes coverage across cloud and self-managed environments. This is not a maintenance role. You'll serve as the technical lead helping define Horizon3.ai's Kubernetes offensive security strategy and will have a first-hand influence on how Kubernetes attacks are integrated into the platform. Travel Required: We are a fully remote company, and this job may require up to 10% of travel to be successful.

Responsibilities

Lead offensive security research into Kubernetes clusters, workloads, identities, configurations, and cloud-connected environments; Design and build production-quality Python attack capabilities that model realistic attacker perspectives, including an assumed-breach foothold in a pod or workload; Develop and validate attack paths involving Kubernetes RBAC, service accounts and credentials, workloads and pods, secrets, cluster and node boundaries, network reachability, and integrations with cloud identities and managed Kubernetes services; Assess Kubernetes security weaknesses and determine whether they create meaningful, provable impact; build safe validation and negative testing into the capability; Own technical planning for substantial Kubernetes initiatives: identify coverage gaps, prioritize research, make design trade-offs, and coordinate delivery with Product, platform, and engineering partners; Integrate attack content into NodeZero's execution and results flows so customers receive reliable evidence and clear explanations of the paths found; Review code and designs, establish quality expectations, mentor teammates, and share Kubernetes offensive-security expertise across the team; Document methodologies, assumptions, limitations, and test approaches; contribute to internal and external technical enablement where appropriate

Requirements

Deep hands-on experience with Kubernetes security and offensive testing of containerized environments; Expert level understanding of Kubernetes architecture and identity and authorization controls, especially RBAC, service accounts, workloads, and cluster boundaries; Strong Python engineering skills and experience productizing security research into reliable automation; Experience with penetration testing, red teaming, vulnerability research, container security, or offensive security tooling; Ability to lead ambiguous, cross-functional technical work and communicate attack paths and impact clearly; A strong safety and product mindset: you can distinguish a theoretical weakness from a reproducible, actionable finding and build capabilities that behave predictably; A record of owning complex technical projects, making sound trade-offs, and communicating clearly with technical and non-technical partners; Strong written communication and a habit of documenting research and design decisions

Nice to have

Experience with EKS, GKE, AKS, OKE, or other managed Kubernetes services; Knowledge of Linux, containers, cloud workload identity, Kubernetes operators, Helm, or infrastructure as code; Experience with network attack paths, container escape research, or cloud-to-cluster attack paths; Contributions to open-source security tooling, public research, conference talks, or vulnerability disclosure

Benefits

Inclusive Team; Growth Opportunities; Innovative Culture; Hybrid & Remote Work; Competitive Compensation; Health, vision & dental insurance for you and your family; Flexible vacation policy; Generous parental leave; Equity package in the form of stock options for full-time roles