Principal, Application Security Penetration Tester

About Coalfire

Coalfire is on a mission to make the world a safer place by solving our clients’ hardest cybersecurity challenges. We work at the cutting edge of technology to advise, assess, automate, and ultimately help companies navigate the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. We are headquartered in Denver, Colorado with offices across the U.S. and U.K., and we support clients around the world.

But that’s not who we are – that’s just what we do.

We are thought leaders, consultants, and cybersecurity experts, but above all else, we are a team of passionate problem-solvers who are hungry to learn, grow, and make a difference.

Position Summary

The Principal Consultant is considered a subject matter expert in both Application Security and Application Penetration Testing. The Principal is a technically proficient individual contributor with broad and deep technical skills, meeting the objectives of their engagements, collaborating with clients, mentoring teammates, and providing subject matter expertise across one or more technical domains. The Principal is a trusted advisor to clients, and through objective testing and results reporting, supports the client in making well-informed, risk-based decisions to improve overall security posture.  

Principals are expected to continue to deepen their skills and broaden their impact both directly with our clients as well as contribute to internal initiatives at Coalfire.

What You'll Do

• As a member of the Application Security Team, you will be responsible for execution of offensive penetration testing activities. These duties include:
• Perform penetration testing on applications with complex technology stacks from both a Blackbox perspective & Whitebox perspective
• Dynamically flex your skills when assessing emerging or custom technologies
• Lead engagements for strategic clients to provide a technical consistency approach across multiple tests
• Perform oversight and coordinate multiple resources across large tests with multiple moving parts
• Contextualize vulnerabilities and assess realistic impact to a client accounting for mitigating and aggravating factors
• Develop processes to help improve consistency of delivery such as: methodologies and SOPs, building trainings for internal delivery, mentoring delivery personnel
• Support sales and business growth by: Developing Sales/Marketing collateral and scoping out potential opportunities
• Increase our technical eminence through: blog posts, technical white papers, conference speaking engagements
• Manage priorities and tasks to achieve utilization targets
• Operate with professionalism both internally and with clients
• Ensure quality reports and services are delivered efficiently and on time
• Maintain a strong depth of knowledge in the specific practice area of expertise
• Collaborate with project managers, quality management, sales and other delivery team members to drive customer satisfaction and meet project deliverables
• Up to 20% travel

What You'll Bring

• 7+ years experience in an Information Security consulting role with growing level of practice/subject matter responsibility including singular expertise in Application Security (browser-based, API’s, mobile applications, etc.)·      
• Expert proficiency in Web Application Penetration Testing




• Excellent overall technical skills, with strong expertise in at least one of the following:
• Mobile Application Penetration Testing
• Thick Application Penetration Testing
• Hardware Penetration Testing
• Secure Code Review
• Container Penetration Testing
• Cloud Penetration Testing
• Network Active Directory Penetration Testing
• AI Penetration Testing




• Proven thought leadership and desire to tackle complex problems, as shown through:
• Building custom tooling and scripts
• Coming up with novel approaches to existing problems
• Mentoring and helping other staff members
• Writing blog posts
• Speaking at conferences
• Development and support of a consulting practice including delivery of services in one or more of the above areas of expertise




• Excellent consulting skills including:
• Time management, performing adjacent tasks while ensuring on-time delivery, escalating issues as needed
• Verbal communication, leading client calls for project kickoffs and debrief
• Written communication
• Report writing, for both executive audiences and technical staff
• High school diploma required

Bonus Points

• AWAE, OSCP, OSCE, OSEE offensive security certifications
• Significant development and engineering backgrounds
• Cloud Service penetration testing tradecraft and methodologies across multiple service providers (e.g. AWS, GCP, etc.).
• Mobile platform and application penetration testing tradecraft and methodologies across both iOS and Android
• Red/Purple Team tradecraft and methodologies
• Social engineering in all its forms
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, AWS Certified Security, AWS Certified Advanced Networking, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
• Network, Database, System administration experience and certifications

Why You’ll Want to Join Us

At Coalfire, you’ll find the support you need to thrive personally and professionally. In many cases, we provide a flexible work model that empowers you to choose when and where you’ll work most effectively – whether you’re at home or an office.

Regardless of location, you’ll experience a company that prioritizes connection and wellbeing and be part of a team where people care about each other and our communities. You’ll have opportunities to join employee resource groups, participate in in-person and virtual events, and more. And you’ll enjoy competitive perks and benefits to support you and your family, like paid parental leave, flexible time off, certification and training reimbursement, digital mental health and wellbeing support membership, and comprehensive insurance options.

At Coalfire, equal opportunity and pay equity is integral to the way we do business. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Coalfire is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, our Human Resources team at [email protected].