At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation.
Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.
Senior Cybersecurity Threat Researcher
About F5
Life at F5 is never dull. We are constantly identifying industry trends and disruptions, and innovating to get ahead of future customer needs. We are passionate about securing applications for our customers, which include the Global and Fortune 100, federal and local government services, and many others worldwide.
But our success isn’t driven solely by what we do. We also care deeply about how we do it. At F5, our culture is how we live, every single day. And it’s producing extraordinary results—not only for our customers, but also for our employees. We understand that your life is about more than just work, so we’re committed to a culture that supports your whole life. For this role, we are offering a fully remote work arrangement with F5’s exceptional benefits.
Position Summary
F5 Labs is seeking a driven, analytical, and articulate cybersecurity researcher with a strong interest in artificial intelligence and its security implications. You’ll join our small, focused threat research team to uncover attacker behavior, explore the dual use of AI in cybersecurity, and clearly communicate findings to both technical and non-technical audiences.
As a Senior Cybersecurity Threat Researcher, you’ll investigate malicious traffic, analyze how attackers are adopting and targeting AI, experiment with LLM-powered applications and agents, and create tools, prototypes, or datasets to support both defensive research and the wider security community. You will help shape F5’s thought leadership on how AI transforms the threat landscape—both as a weapon for attackers and a tool for defenders.
This is an ideal role for someone who enjoys autonomy, can own projects from idea to publication, and is equally comfortable writing Python as they are writing a blog post, building an LLM-based proof of concept, or presenting at an industry event.
Primary Responsibilities
1. Research and analyze malicious traffic, attacker behavior, and the emerging role of AI in offensive and defensive security
2. Investigate and document adversarial ML/AI techniques, AI-driven automation, and misuse of generative AI in real-world attacks
3. Build small tools, LLM-based applications, or datasets that demonstrate AI’s role in security (both protective and adversarial)
4. Explore and prototype with modern frameworks such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agent-based systems
5. Translate complex findings into articles, reports, visuals, or presentations for a wide range of audiences
6. Collaborate with a small team of researchers, engineers, and communicators to deliver timely and relevant insights
7. Represent F5 Labs externally via blog posts, webinars, podcasts, media interviews, and industry events
8. Support marketing and sales enablement efforts with high-impact research and commentary
9. Maintain a strong understanding of offensive and defensive practices, with particular focus on web, API, bot, DDoS, and AI-related threats
10. Optionally, participate in proactive research efforts including honeypots, probing attacker infrastructure, and experimenting with AI-powered defense systems
Core Skills Desired
11. ~10 years of experience in cybersecurity or a closely related field
12. Strong grasp of common web, cloud, and API protocols and their associated attack surfaces (e.g., HTTP/S, REST, OAuth, DNS, TLS, etc.)
13. Experience analyzing network, application, or AI telemetry to extract meaningful security insights
14. Strong coding and data handling skills, especially in Python and Jupyter (SQL or BigQuery a plus)
15. Ability to prototype with LLM APIs, frameworks, or agents; familiarity with building AI-enabled applications
16. Excellent written, visual, and verbal communication skills, with a clear ability to tell stories with data
17. A self-starter who can independently define and deliver meaningful research projects
18. Public speaking experience or a willingness to represent research externally
19. Enthusiastic about educating others and promoting good security practices
Bonus Points For
20. Background in threat intelligence, red teaming, or application-layer defenses
21. Experience building or analyzing honeypots or engaging with attacker infrastructure
22. Practical understanding of adversarial ML, data poisoning, prompt injection, model theft, and AI supply chain risks
23. Familiarity with MCP, LangChain, or agent orchestration frameworks
24. Experience with bot mitigation, DDoS defense, or abuse/fraud detection
25. Contributions to open-source AI or security projects, blogs, or research papers
Qualifications
26. BSc or equivalent experience in cybersecurity, computer science, or a related field
27. Industry certifications such as CISSP, OSCP, or CEH are welcome but not required
28. Experience working with AI or security datasets and publishing externally preferred
29. A visible presence in the AI security or cybersecurity research community is a plus, but not required
The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.
The annual base pay for this position is: $156,800.00 - $235,200.00
F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change.