Cybersecurity Researcher - Fully Remote | Upto $250/hr

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark , General Catalyst , Peter Thiel , Adam D'Angelo , Larry Summers , and Jack Dorsey .

Position: Cybersecurity Research Expert – Offensive Security & Vulnerability Research
Type: Contract
Compensation: $200–$250/hour
Location: Remote
Role Responsibilities

- 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 .

- Work independently and asynchronously to meet deadlines while improving AI model performance .

Qualifications

Must-Have

- 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 .

- 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

- 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.

Application Process (Takes 20–30 mins to complete)

- Upload resume

- AI interview based on your resume

- Submit form

Resources & Support

- For details about the interview process and platform information, please check:

- For any help or support, reach out to:

PS: Our team reviews applications daily. Please complete your AI interview and application steps to be considered for this opportunity.

Originally posted on Himalayas