Job Description

At Cisco, we know that technology can connect, empower, and drive us. Our mission is to simplify technology so our customers can focus on what's most important to them: their students, patients, customers, and businesses. We're making networking easier, faster, and intelligent with technology that simply works.
The modern world runs on the internet, and the internet cannot exist without its underlying infrastructure. Cisco makes setting up, running, and maintaining that infrastructure easier than it has ever been before. Cisco enables connectivity everywhere from neighborhood cafes to education institutions to global hospitality groups operating thousands of sites.
We are passionate about building real products that our customers love. As a member of our offensive security team, you will be a key member of a team that finds, and helps fix vulnerabilities in our products, services, and enterprise. Also, we will have a substantial impact on the security of millions of Cisco users all around the world. We work individually and in small teams to test several new products each year.
At Cisco, teams work on an exciting array of groundbreaking technologies from artificial intelligence & machine learning to desktop agents, to container orchestration in the cloud and within IoT device firmware. We believe on encouraging a positive culture by hiring, mentoring, and empowering smart, effective, low ego people and providing equal opportunities for all employees to thrive. With the support of management, we constantly look within for ways to improve organizationally. We maintain a positive relationship with Cisco that gives us the stability and innovative resources of a larger company to change cloud-based networking as we know it. We are confident you will love it here!
The Hardware Embedded Penetration Tester is responsible for performing comprehensive security assessments on embedded hardware systems and devices. The primary duties include:
Key Responsibilities:

• Extract firmware directly from embedded devices and systems
• Interact directly with hardware components and interfaces
• Perform firmware reverse engineering and analysis
• Audit the security of hardware protocols and communication interfaces
• Extract and analyze content from SPI flash and other on-board memory
• Interact with and test JTAG, UART, and other hardware debug interface Conduct penetration testing and vulnerability research on embedded systems
• Develop custom tools and scripts to automate and enhance testing capabilities
• Analyze findings, document vulnerabilities, and provide remediation recommendations

Required Skills:

• Proficient in firmware extraction and analysis
• 4+yrs of hands-on experience with hardware hacking and reverse engineering
• Strong understanding of embedded hardware interfaces and protocols
• Expertise in conducting JTAG, UART, and SPI-based testing
• Ability to identify and bypass hardware security mechanisms
• Familiarity with embedded operating systems and architectures
• Proficiency in programming and scripting (e.g., Python, C, Bash)
• Experience with hardware debug tools and test equipment
• Solid understanding of network security and penetration testing methodologies
• Ability to research, discover, and document hardware vulnerabilities
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

Does this sound like you? We would love to hear from you.
We encourage you to drop us a line even if you don't have all the points above. That's a lot of different areas of responsibility! We will help you pick them up because we believe that great leaders come from a diverse set of backgrounds.
Cisco is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:
When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.
U.S. employees have to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.
Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco's flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco's Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter. Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.
Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:
.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;
1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;
1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.
For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

Skills Required