Red Team Operator

As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.

Ciena is committed to advancing cybersecurity resilience by simulating real-world adversary behavior to strengthen defenses across products, applications, and enterprise systems. This role contributes to proactive threat detection, validation of security controls, and continuous improvement of defensive capabilities through offensive security operations. The position plays a key role in enhancing organizational security posture through collaboration, innovation, and knowledge sharing.

How you will make an impact:

• Plan and execute red team campaigns, penetration testing engagements, purple team exercises, and web application assessments

• Communicate attack paths, findings, recommendations, and replication steps to technical and executive stakeholders

• Develop scripts, tools, and offensive techniques to support red team operations

• Collaborate with IT, R&D, Application Security, Product Security, Monitoring & Analysis, and Security Engineering teams

• Maintain awareness of adversary tradecraft, tactics, techniques, and emerging vulnerabilities

• Train team members and contribute to knowledge repositories and security documentation

• Ensure secure handling, storage, and destruction of sensitive information during engagements

The must haves:

• Experience: 2+ years’ experience in a Red Team or Penetration Testing role

• Ability to read and modify Python-based tools

• Application of defensive security concepts including Defense-in-depth, Principle of Least Privilege, and Zero Trust

• Written and verbal communication for reporting technical findings and documentation

• Ability to analyze and communicate technical information with accuracy and attention to detail

• Operation of Windows and Linux operating systems and application of core networking concepts

• Experience with cloud-native offensive tactics, techniques, and procedures in Azure, AWS, and/or GCP

Nice to haves:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Engineering, Computer Science

• Experience: 4+ years’ experience in security or related fields

• Cross-functional experience in SOC, Incident Response, Forensics, Security Engineering, or Threat Intelligence

• Ability to lead engagements or project teams

• Application of programming languages including C#, Go, or Rust

• Application of scripting languages including PowerShell, Shell Script, or Perl

• Experience with MITRE ATT&CK Framework

#LI-SG1

At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.

Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.