Penetration Tester Junior

Clearance Level Must Currently Possess:

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain:

Job Family:

Job Description:

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Cyber Security Directorate (CSD) is leading one of the most comprehensive, mission critical cybersecurity operations in the federal government, protecting the digital infrastructure that safeguards America’s borders. This multifaceted program spans 24/7/365 Security Operations Center (SOC) monitoring, advanced threat intelligence, forensics, incident response, cloud and network security engineering, zero trust modernization, vulnerability assessment, and enterprise-wide risk and compliance activities. The Penetration Tester Junior will support teams at the forefront of national security, supporting sophisticated cyber operations that defend vital systems, enable secure mission execution, and counter rapidly evolving threats. You will find this work uniquely impactful, fast-paced, and deeply collaborative, offering the opportunity to lead high performing technical teams, shape CBP’s cybersecurity strategy, and contribute directly to the protection of the nation.

The Penetration Tester plays a critical role in strengthening enterprise cybersecurity by ensuring vulnerabilities are accurately identified, validated, documented, and communicated. Through hands‑on testing and collaboration with technical teams, the Penetration Tester Junior helps reduce risk exposure and supports the continuous improvement of security controls across mission‑critical systems. The candidate will:

• Assist in performing penetration tests across applications, endpoints, networks, cloud systems, and mission‑critical environments to uncover security gaps.
• Run discovery and enumeration tasks using industry‑standard testing tools such as Nmap, Nessus, Burp Suite, Metasploit, and similar utilities.
• Execute basic exploitation steps under the direction of senior testers to help validate identified vulnerabilities.
• Gather and document exploitation artifacts, screenshots, logs, payload outputs, and supporting evidence to ensure complete audit and reporting trails.
• Support post‑exploitation analysis by capturing privilege escalation paths, lateral movement opportunities, or insecure configurations.
• Document vulnerabilities with clear descriptions, reproduction steps, and appropriate severity scoring.
• Contribute to penetration testing reports by drafting technical sections and summarizing findings for stakeholder awareness.
• Work with system owners, developers, engineers, and cybersecurity teams to clarify findings and support remediation efforts.
• Participate in retesting cycles to confirm vulnerability remediation and track closure progress.

• Minimum of three (3) years of cybersecurity or vulnerability assessment experience.
• Experience executing penetration tests, gathering evidence, documenting vulnerabilities, and validating system weaknesses.
• Experience with common penetration (e.g., Nmap, Nessus, Burp Suite, Metasploit) testing tools to run scripts, supports senior testers, and contributes to improving assessment quality.
• Strong analytical and documentation skills.
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and documentation skills.
• Understanding of exploit development concepts, offensive tooling, and common security control weaknesses.
• Strong skills in testing notes, scripts, and tool configurations to support repeatability and compliance.
• Ability to develop structured documentation, perform technical writing, and have effective communication with both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Preferred certifications:
  • CompTIA PenTest+
  • eJPT / eCPPT
  •  

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, cybersecurity or a related field preferred.
• Previous or Current CBP Background Investigation desired.

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Additional Work Locations:

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