[Hiring] Senior Engineer - Penetration Testing @Finite State

Role Description

Finite State is seeking an experienced Senior Engineer — Penetration Testing to join our growing Offensive Security team. In this role you will conduct hands-on hardware and software penetration tests of connected devices, embedded systems, industrial control systems, and automotive platforms on behalf of our customers. You will combine deep hardware and firmware expertise with a consultative mindset to deliver clear, actionable findings that help manufacturers and operators understand and reduce risk.

Your core mandate is hands-on penetration testing. Over time, as you build depth with our platform and customer base, there will be opportunities to expand your scope - platform integrations, direct account ownership, and building tools that drive the business.

What You'll Do

• Plan and execute penetration tests against IoT, ICS/OT, and automotive targets, including connected consumer devices, industrial controllers, and automotive ECUs and telematics units.
• Own engagements largely autonomously - scoping, prioritizing attack surfaces, testing, evidence, reporting, and debrief.
• Use Finite State's platform analysis alongside your own testing to focus effort on the vulnerabilities that are genuinely reachable and exploitable on the target.
• Perform hardware interaction and firmware extraction using techniques such as JTAG, SWD, UART, SPI, I2C, eMMC, NOR/SPI flash, and NAND flash dumping; solder and rework PCBs as needed to gain access to debug interfaces.
• Conduct firmware reverse engineering using tools such as Ghidra and Binary Ninja to identify vulnerabilities including memory corruption, authentication bypasses, hard-coded credentials, and insecure update mechanisms.
• Assess wireless protocols common in IoT and automotive environments: Bluetooth/BLE, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, and cellular (LTE/5G).
• Assess vehicle buses - CAN, LIN, and automotive Ethernet - and the industrial control protocols riding on ICS/OT networks, including Modbus, DNP3, EtherNet/IP, and OPC-UA.
• Assess standard network protocols and companion attack surfaces - TCP/IP fundamentals, exposed services, cloud and mobile companion apps and APIs - using standard web application testing methodology (e.g., OWASP Top 10) where relevant.
• Perform source code review, primarily in C, C++, and related embedded languages, to identify security weaknesses in firmware and embedded software.
• Review third-party and open-source components in scope for the engagement - SBOM review and software composition analysis - to identify known vulnerabilities and license risk in the customer's supply chain.
• Leverage AI-powered security tooling and LLM-assisted workflows to accelerate analysis, triage, and reporting, using approved tooling and honoring customer data-handling and NDA constraints on firmware and findings.
• Evaluate customer products for compliance with relevant regulations and standards where in scope for the engagement.
• Produce high-quality written reports that clearly communicate technical findings, risk ratings, and remediation guidance to both technical and executive audiences.
• Participate in peer review of engagement deliverables, both as author and reviewer, before reports reach the customer.
• Support customer-facing engagements including scoping calls, technical debriefs, and remediation follow-up.
• Collaborate with the product, engineering, and research teams to feed engagement findings back into the Finite State platform and improve its detection capabilities.
• Contribute to internal knowledge sharing, tooling development, and methodology improvement.
• Participate in industry conferences, publish research, and represent Finite State externally as opportunities arise.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent hands-on experience).
• 7+ years of hands-on experience in IoT, embedded, ICS/OT, or automotive security, with a track record of owning engagements autonomously at a senior level.
• Hands-on depth in at least one of our three target domains - IoT/embedded, ICS/OT, or automotive - plus working familiarity with the other two.
• Demonstrated experience performing hardware-level security assessments: JTAG/SWD debugging, SPI/I2C/UART communication, and flash memory extraction.
• Proficiency with firmware reverse engineering tools, specifically Ghidra and/or Binary Ninja; ability to analyze ARM, MIPS, PPC, RISC-V, x86, and x64 architectures.
• Experience testing wireless protocols (BLE, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, cellular) and either vehicle buses (CAN, LIN, automotive Ethernet) or industrial control protocols (Modbus, DNP3, EtherNet/IP, OPC-UA).
• Working familiarity with standard network protocols and web/mobile application testing methodology.
• Ability to read and review source code in C and C++ to identify memory safety issues, authentication flaws, and other security weaknesses in embedded software.
• Familiarity with SBOM concepts, formats (CycloneDX, SPDX), and the use of SBOMs in vulnerability management.
• Working fluency with CVSS scoring and VEX.
• Ability to map findings to at least one relevant regulatory or standards framework and explain the implications to a customer.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to write clear, well-structured technical reports and present findings to diverse audiences.
• Experience with scripting and automation using Python and Bash.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted security tooling and an interest in applying LLM-based workflows to accelerate security analysis and reporting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on automotive security experience: OBD-II assessment, ECU flashing and analysis, V2X protocols, or automotive HSM evaluation.
• Experience with industrial control system (ICS/SCADA) security assessments.
• CVE or responsible disclosure history, or other demonstrated exploit development / vulnerability research.
• Relevant certifications a plus, not required: Offensive Security (OSCP, OSWE) or SANS/GIAC (GPEN, GICSP).
• Working knowledge of specific regulations and standards.
• Eligibility for U.S. government security clearance - a plus for accounts with federal/defense exposure.
• Familiarity with static and dynamic analysis platforms and SAST/DAST tooling.
• Experience with ML-based vulnerability detection models or AI-augmented reverse engineering pipelines.
• Experience working on small, fast-moving consulting or product security teams.
• Comfort operating in AWS or similar cloud environments.
• Strong attention to detail, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to adjust priorities quickly in a dynamic environment.
• Interest in expanding into broader customer-facing and engineering responsibilities.

Working Conditions

This is a hands-on hardware role. You will work in a bench lab environment with soldering and rework equipment, and occasionally on customer sites where live industrial or medical equipment is present.

Baseline eligibility for this role is U.S. work authorization without sponsorship; the export-restricted subset is a portion of the work, not the whole role.