Offensive Security Officer

CERT-EU is looking to hire a truly motivated and ruthless new member for its Offensive Security Team to work on Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure and Phishing exercises.

This is a technical, hands-on, challenging, and empowering job which provides many opportunities for one’s competencies to shine in a very friendly, supportive, human, and professional environment.

The selected candidate will be in charge of reviewing and replicating vulnerabilities, mostly affecting web applications, that IT security researchers report to us. Moreover, the selected candidate will also oversee the organisation and delivery of phishing exercises to the wide range of our constituents.

The job holder will also be able to express their creativity in projects aiming at delivering new service capabilities, from definition to implementation.

The successful candidate will demonstrate the following required skills and characteristics:

• Analytic sharpness in ability to think like a threat actor or attacker
• Web application assessment experience with thorough knowledge of OWASP
• Familiarity with security testing tools (e.g. Metasploit, Burp Suite, Kali Linux)
• Web development basics – HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Ability to translate complex findings into interpretable and simple outputs
• Ability to manage parallel tasks and cope with pressure
• Enthusiasm and motivation to work, strong teamwork abilities
• Excellent communication skills in English, both orally and in writing.

The ideal candidate will possess some, or all, of the following:

• Experience in service delivery
• Experience in vulnerability assessments and penetration testing
• Penetration testing security certification (e.g. GWAPT, OSCP, OSCE)
• Additional coding skills
• Superior drafting skills.

The candidate must hold a security clearance at EU SECRET level or be in a position to be security cleared.

• A friendly and multicultural workplace
• A stimulating and unique environment where personal development, growth and initiative are encouraged
• Continuous learning opportunities
• Working with a supportive and dynamic team with a deep sense of mission
• Flexible scheduling with the possibility to work from home on a part-time basis
• An attractive salary.

Consult the Jobs at the European Commission page for more information on the working conditions. Please note that the position is based in Brussels, Belgium. Full remote work is not possible at this time.

To apply, you have to:

• Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union
• Be able to provide a certificate of good conduct
• Have fulfilled any legal obligations related to military service
• Be able to produce evidence of thorough knowledge of one of the official EU languages (level C1) and satisfactory knowledge of a second official EU language (level B2).

Additionally, to be recruited as a contract agent, you must have:

• For function groups II and III:
  • a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or
  • a level of secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education, and appropriate professional experience of at least three years, or
  • professional training or professional experience of an equivalent level, where justified in the interest of the service.
• For function group IV:
  • a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma, or
  • professional training of an equivalent level, where justified in the interest of the service.

• Send an email to secretariat@cert.europa.eu with your CV (and a motivation letter if possible). Please provide the title of the position you are applying for in the subject of your email.
• If your skill-set matches the requirements, we will contact you for an informal interview to introduce you to CERT-EU, get to know you better and answer questions you might have
• If the informal interview goes well, you will need to take a CAST test. Worry not, our wonderful secretariat will supply all the necessary information
• Once you succeed in the CAST test, we will then invite you for a formal interview in view of a possible recruitment.