AI work directory Red Pen Jobs
Search roles

Cybersecurity Research Expert – Offensive Security & Vulnerability Research

Mercor Contract, part-time US, UK, EU, CA, AU, NZ

Listed pay: $200 to 250 / hr

What the posting lists, in US dollars an hour.

Apply on Mercor

If you're hired through a link here and start paid work, Mercor pays this site a referral fee. Your pay is unaffected.

Prepare for the interview

Before you apply

Details from this posting, and how Mercor screens and pays.

  • LocationRemote, open to US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ & Western Europe
  • ScreeningAssessments and an AI interview of about 20 minutes. See what to expect
  • How Mercor paysWeekly, on Wednesdays, via Stripe. What Mercor does not say
  • PayoutsMercor's website says it pays out over $4M a day (read 5 Oct 2026)

Checked today

Source: Mercor

View original posting

Role details

We're looking for highly accomplished Cybersecurity Research Experts to help evaluate cutting-edge AI systems in advanced security reasoning, vulnerability analysis, exploit development, and secure software engineering. This project is ideal for practitioners with a strong track record in offensive security research and publicly recognised technical contributions.

What You'll Do

  • Evaluate AI-generated analyses of complex cybersecurity scenarios, exploits, and vulnerability reports.

  • Review technical writeups for correctness, exploitability, and mitigation quality.

  • Validate vulnerability root-cause analysis across software, operating systems, networking, cloud, and web applications.

  • Provide structured feedback on security reasoning, exploit chains, and defensive recommendations.

  • Contribute to benchmark development for advanced AI security capabilities.

Ideal Background

We are looking for candidates with multiple of the following credentials:

  • Member of a top-ranked Capture The Flag (CTF) team with demonstrated competitive achievements.

  • Discoverer or co-author of CVEs affecting widely used open-source or commercial software.

  • Publicly recognised bug bounty researcher with findings accepted by major programs (e.g., Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, GitHub, Mozilla, Chromium, Kubernetes, Linux Foundation, etc.).

  • Research experience at a well-respected security laboratory or academic research group (e.g., KAIST Security Lab, SSLab, university security research groups, or equivalent industry research organisations).

  • Author of high-quality security research publications, conference papers, or widely cited technical writeups.

  • Strong understanding of exploit development, reverse engineering, binary analysis, vulnerability research, operating systems, networks, web security, or cryptography.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Professional experience in offensive security, application security, vulnerability research, product security, or security engineering.

  • Experience with reverse engineering tools such as IDA Pro, Ghidra, Binary Ninja, or Radare2.

  • Familiarity with fuzzing, symbolic execution, static analysis, or dynamic analysis frameworks.

  • Experience with Linux internals, Windows internals, browser security, cloud security, embedded security, or mobile security.

  • Strong programming skills in C/C++, Rust, Python, Go, or Java.

  • Excellent written communication and ability to explain complex security concepts clearly.

Nice to Have

  • Hall of Fame recognition from major bug bounty programs.

  • Black Hat, DEF CON, USENIX Security, IEEE S&P, ACM CCS, NDSS, or similar conference presentations/publications.

  • Maintainer or significant contributor to well-known open-source security tools.

  • Offensive Security certifications (OSCP, OSEP, OSCE3), GIAC certifications, or equivalent credentials.

Why Join?

  • Work on frontier AI models tackling real-world cybersecurity problems.

  • Collaborate with leading researchers on advanced security evaluation tasks.

  • Help shape the next generation of AI systems for cybersecurity.

From the Mercor posting.

Applying on Mercor

What happens after you click

  1. The link opens this role on Mercor. Sign up and apply from there.
  2. Upload a resume, complete the assessments the role asks for and verify your work authorisation.
  3. An AI interview of about 20 minutes. The confirmation screen then shows the expected timeline for that role.
  4. If Mercor hires you, you are paid weekly, on the Wednesday after each work week, via Stripe. Mercor says first payouts are held for 7 days.
  5. The work is paid by the hour at $200–250 an hour as listed.
  6. Remote — open to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, Liechtenstein and Monaco.
Apply on Mercor Prepare for the interview

If you're hired through a link here and start paid work, Mercor pays this site a referral fee. Your pay is unaffected.

Red Pen Jobs is independent. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for Mercor in any way, and we do not recruit on its behalf.

The same work on another platform

Already have a Mercor account? A platform you have not signed up to yet is where this kind of work is still open to you. Each one screens and pays on its own terms, so check theirs before applying.

More roles for software engineers

Every role we hold for software engineers