Job Description: Penetration Testing Manager Shift Time UK shift Role Overview We are seeking an experienced Penetration Testing Manager to lead, build, and develop our penetration testing service offering. This role is …
Skills: Penetration Testing, Offensive Security, Red Teaming, Team Leadership, Service Development
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Full-time
professional certificate
Posted 70d ago
~40 hrs/week
Responsibilities
Lead and develop a high-performing offensive security team while building the organization's penetration testing service offering. Responsible for defining testing methodologies, managing end-to-end delivery of engagements, and aligning security services with market demand.
Requirements
Requires significant industry experience in offensive security and a proven track record of leading technical teams and maturing security consultancy practices. Candidates should possess strong technical expertise across various domains and hold advanced certifications such as OSCP, CREST, or GIAC.
Full job description
Job Description: Penetration Testing Manager
Shift Time UK shift
Role Overview
We are seeking an experienced Penetration Testing Manager to lead, build, and develop our penetration testing service offering. This role is responsible for creating and managing a high-performing offensive security team, developing new services, defining testing methodologies, and ensuring high-quality delivery across client-facingand internal security engagements.
The successful candidate will combine strong technical penetration testing expertise with leadership, commercial awareness, service development experience, and the ability to scale a team and penetration testing service line.
Key Responsibilities
Establish, lead, and develop a penetration testing team, including recruitment, onboarding, mentoring, performance management, and career development.
Define the team structure, capability model, skills matrix, training plan, and operating procedures.
Develop and mature penetration testing services across areas such as web applications, APIs, infrastructure, cloud, Active Directory, wireless, mobile, social engineering, red teaming, and attack simulation.
Define, own, and maintain methodologies, standards, scopes of work, report templates, and QA processes.
Own engagement models and commercial assets including pricing models and delivery processes..
Own the end-to-end delivery of penetration testing engagements, ensuring work is delivered safely, legally, on time, and to a high technical standard.
Act as the technical authority for penetration testing, providing escalation support and quality review for complex findings and reports.
Build trusted relationships with clients, internal stakeholders, technology teams, risk teams, and senior leadership.
Identify market demand, emerging threats, and customer needs to shape the future service roadmap.
Support pre-sales, bid responses, proposals, scoping calls, statements of work, and commercial discussions.
Ensure all testing activity is conducted within agreed rules of engagement, legal boundaries, regulatory requirements, and internal governance.
Implement quality control processes, peer review, report assurance, technical standards, and continuous improvement mechanisms.
Track team performance, utilisation, revenue, margin, delivery quality, customer satisfaction, and remediation outcomes where relevant.
Maintain awareness of emerging vulnerabilities, exploit techniques, threat actor tactics, industry trends, and regulatory changes.
Represent the penetration testing function in senior management forums, client meetings, audits, and risk committees.
Develop strategic partnerships, tooling strategies, lab environments, knowledge bases, and reusable assets to improve delivery efficiency and quality.
Required Skills and Experience
Significant industry experience in penetration testing, offensive security, red teaming, vulnerability assessment, or security consultancy.
Proven experience in leading, managing, and mentoring penetration testers and offensive security professionals.
Demonstrable ability to create, grow, or mature a security testing function, consultancy practice, or technical service line.
Strong technical background across web application, API, infrastructure, cloud, Active Directory, and network penetration testing.
Experience in developing service offerings, methodologies, testing standards, engagement models, and reporting frameworks.
Strong understanding of common security frameworks, standards, and scoring methodologies, including OWASP, MITRE ATT&CK, NIST, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, Cyber Essentials, and CVSS.
Experience in managing multiple concurrent engagements, priorities, stakeholders, and delivery risks.
Ability to review and challenge technical findings, exploit evidence, risk ratings, and remediation recommendations.
Strong commercial awareness, including experience with scoping, pricing, proposals, bids, utilisation, profitability, and customer relationship management.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage technical teams, executives, clients, auditors, and regulators.
Strong understanding of legal, ethical, and operational risk considerations associated with penetration testing.
Experience building processes for quality assurance, peer review, safe testing, evidence handling, and reporting consistency.
Certifications
Candidates should hold relevant industry certifications such as:
OSCP, OSEP, OSWE, OSED, or other Offensive Security certifications
CREST Certified Tester, CREST Certified Infrastructure Tester, CREST Certified Web Application Tester, or equivalent
GIAC certifications such as GPEN, GWAPT, GXPN, GMOB, GCPN, or GSE
CISSP, CISM, CRISC, or similar senior security management certifications
CompTIA PenTest+ or Security+
Holding multiple technical and leadership-focused certifications would be advantageous.
Desirable Skills
Experience building a penetration testing team, consultancy practice, or managed security testing service from inception through to delivery and execution.
Experience creating go-to-market propositions, service catalogues, sales collateral, and delivery playbooks.
Previous responsibility for revenue, budget, headcount, utilisation, margin, or service profitability.
Experience with red teaming, threat-led penetration testing, adversary simulation, purple teaming, or assumed-breach exercises.
Experience delivering services aligned to CREST, PCI DSS, CBEST, TIBER, STAR-FS, or similar assurance schemes.
Knowledge of cloud security testing across AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
Experience with DevSecOps, CI/CD security testing, container security, Kubernetes assessments, and secure software development practices.
Experience selecting, implementing, and managing penetration testing tools, labs, reporting platforms, and collaboration systems.
Experience managing external suppliers, contractors, or partner organisations.
Ability to mentor senior consultants and develop future technical leaders.
Personal Attributes
Strong leadership presence with the ability to inspire, guide, and grow a specialist technical team.
Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to identify opportunities and develop new services.
Commercially aware, client-focused, and outcome-driven.
Credible technical authority with strong judgement and professional integrity.
Comfortable operating at both strategic and hands-on technical levels.
Able to balance delivery quality, commercial objectives, team development, and risk management.
Clear communicator who can translate complex offensive security concepts into business-relevant language.
Highly organised, pragmatic, and able to establish structure in a growing capability.
Committed to continuous improvement, professional development, and building a strong team culture.
Delivering cybersecurity and compliance solutions that simply work.
Industry
Computer and Network Security
Company size
1,001-5,000 employees
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
LinkedIn followers
18,938
Total funding
$230M
VikingCloud delivers cybersecurity and compliance solutions that simply work. Our expert-led approach combines proven technology and AI-driven insights with dedicated support—keeping businesses secure, audit-ready, and uninterrupted.
VikingCloud is trusted by over 4 million business locations in 70+ countries to stop threats before they stop business, so they can work on what matters most.
What our customers are saying:
VikingCloud provides an outstanding customer experience. Their team is consistently responsive, approachable, and always available to address queries promptly and effectively. They demonstrate high adaptability to changing requirements and proactively identify solutions that meet customer needs. This combination of reliability, responsiveness, and adaptability makes them a trusted partner.
- Customer Payment Security Executive, Financial Services
VikingCloud has always been able to assist our team with last-minute changes and testing, providing continuous security updates and blueprint management for us.
- Principal of IT Compliance, Food and Beverage Services
Our VikingCloud account manager, technical manager, Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and consultants provide us with continuous support. The quality of engagements and quick response times speak for our 10/10 rating.
- Risk & Control Officer, Travel Industry
Delivering cybersecurity and compliance solutions that simply work.
Industry
Computer and Network Security
Company size
1,001-5,000 employees
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
LinkedIn followers
18,938
Total funding
$230M
VikingCloud delivers cybersecurity and compliance solutions that simply work. Our expert-led approach combines proven technology and AI-driven insights with dedicated support—keeping businesses secure, audit-ready, and uninterrupted.
VikingCloud is trusted by over 4 million business locations in 70+ countries to stop threats before they stop business, so they can work on what matters most.
What our customers are saying:
VikingCloud provides an outstanding customer experience. Their team is consistently responsive, approachable, and always available to address queries promptly and effectively. They demonstrate high adaptability to changing requirements and proactively identify solutions that meet customer needs. This combination of reliability, responsiveness, and adaptability makes them a trusted partner.
- Customer Payment Security Executive, Financial Services
VikingCloud has always been able to assist our team with last-minute changes and testing, providing continuous security updates and blueprint management for us.
- Principal of IT Compliance, Food and Beverage Services
Our VikingCloud account manager, technical manager, Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and consultants provide us with continuous support. The quality of engagements and quick response times speak for our 10/10 rating.
- Risk & Control Officer, Travel Industry