Penetration Tester Job Description (2026): Duties, Skills and Salary
A penetration tester, or ethical hacker, is hired to attack a company's own systems, networks or applications to find security weaknesses before real attackers do. They scope an engagement, run manual and automated attacks against the agreed target, and write a report ranking findings by risk with clear fixes.
Pen testers work for consulting firms that serve many clients, or in-house on a security team that tests its own company's products. The work mixes deep technical skill in networking, web apps or exploit development with the writing skill to explain a finding to both an engineer and a non-technical executive.
Penetration Tester job description template
Copy it, replace everything in [brackets] and cut what doesn't apply. Keep the requirements to what the job really needs.
Template · replace the [brackets]
Penetration Tester
[Company] · [City and office days, or remote with the countries or time zones you hire in] · [Full-time]
About [Company]
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, who it serves and why this team matters now.]
About the role
[Company] is hiring a penetration tester to assess the security of [systems/applications]. You'll run authorized attacks against agreed targets, document what you find, and help engineering teams fix the issues before they ship or go live.
What you'll do
- Scope and plan penetration tests for web apps, networks, APIs or cloud infrastructure.
- Run manual and automated testing to find vulnerabilities such as injection, broken auth and misconfigurations.
- Attempt to exploit findings to confirm real-world impact, within the agreed rules of engagement.
- Write clear reports that rank findings by risk and describe how to reproduce and fix them.
- Present findings to engineering and leadership in plain language.
- Retest fixes to confirm vulnerabilities are closed.
- Stay current on new attack techniques, CVEs and tooling.
- Support red team or social engineering exercises when scoped.
What you'll bring
- [X]+ years in penetration testing, red teaming or a related security role.
- Hands-on experience with tools such as Burp Suite, Nmap, Metasploit and Kali Linux.
- Solid understanding of networking, web application architecture and common vulnerability classes (OWASP Top 10).
- Scripting skills in Python or Bash for custom tooling.
- Clear written reporting, since findings are worthless if no one can act on them.
- Understanding of legal and ethical boundaries for authorized testing.
Nice to have
- OSCP, GPEN or similar certification.
- Experience testing cloud environments (AWS, Azure or GCP).
- Mobile application security testing (iOS or Android).
- Experience with code review or static analysis tools.
- Bug bounty experience with a public track record.
What we offer
- [Pay range: e.g. $X–$Y base salary, plus bonus or equity if offered]
- [Certification and conference budget, home lab stipend, flexible hours, remote-friendly]
- [Health cover, retirement or pension plan, paid time off, parental leave]
- [Work authorization: whether you can sponsor a visa or hire through an employer of record]
[Our process: a recruiter call, a technical interview on methodology and past findings, a practical assessment on a test environment, and a final interview with the security team.]
[Your equal opportunity statement, and how candidates can ask for adjustments during the process]
Put the pay range in the ad. Several US states, including California, Colorado, New York and Washington, require it in job postings, and the EU Pay Transparency Directive gives applicants the right to know the starting pay or its range before the interview.
Penetration Tester duties by seniority
What the job usually looks like at each level. Pitch the ad at one level and say which in the title.
Junior
- Runs scoped tests against well-defined targets with a senior tester reviewing.
- Uses standard tooling to find common vulnerability classes.
- Learns report writing and client communication.
Mid-level
- Owns engagements end to end, from scoping to final report.
- Chains findings into realistic attack paths and proves business impact.
- Mentors junior testers on methodology and tooling.
Senior
- Leads complex engagements, including red team exercises and custom exploit development.
- Sets testing methodology and quality standards for the team.
- Advises clients or leadership on program-level security risk.
Penetration Tester career path
- Junior Penetration Tester
- Penetration Tester
- Senior Penetration Tester
- Red Team Lead or Security Consulting Manager
Penetration tester is usually reached from a general security analyst or network engineering role, a CTF and home-lab background, or a computer science degree with a security focus. From here, paths lead to red team leadership, security architecture or security consulting management.
Similar roles
- Security Engineer job description
Builds and defends systems rather than attacking them on request.
- Cybersecurity Analyst job description
Monitors for and responds to real attacks instead of simulating them.
- Network Engineer job description
Builds and maintains the networks a pen tester is hired to probe.
- DevOps Engineer job description
Builds and runs infrastructure that pen testers are later asked to test.
Penetration Tester job description FAQ
What does a penetration tester do?
Runs authorized attacks against a company's own networks, applications or infrastructure to find vulnerabilities, then writes a report ranking findings by risk with clear steps to fix them.
What skills should a penetration tester job description require?
Hands-on tooling like Burp Suite, Nmap and Metasploit, solid networking and web app knowledge, scripting in Python or Bash, and clear report writing. OSCP or similar certifications are a strong signal but not always required.
Is a certification like OSCP required for penetration tester roles?
Not always, but it's a common and respected signal of hands-on skill. Many job descriptions list it as preferred rather than required, especially if the candidate has equivalent experience or bug bounty results.