Director, Pentest Platform

Get to Know Us Horizon3.ai is a fast-growing, remote cybersecurity company dedicated to the mission of enabling organizations to proactively find, fix and verify exploitable attack vectors before criminals exploit them. Our flagship product, the NodeZeroTM platform, delivers production-safe autonomous pentests and other key assessment operations that scale across the largest internal, external, cloud, and hybrid cloud environments. NodeZero has been adopted by organizations of all sizes, from small educational institutions to government agencies and Global 100 enterprises. It is used by IT Ops/SecOps teams, consulting pentesters, and MSSPs and MSPs. We are a fusion of former U.S. Special Operations cyber operators, startup engineers & operators, and formerly frustrated cybersecurity practitioners. We're committed to helping solve our common security problems: ineffective security tools and false positives, resulting in alert fatigue, blind spots, "checkbox” security culture, cybersecurity skills shortage, and the long lead time and expense of hiring outside consultants. Collectively, we are a team of learn it alls, committed to a culture of respect, collaboration, ownership, and results. What You’ll Do As Director of Pentest Platform, you'll lead the strategy, design, and development of the core pentest execution, orchestration, and data infrastructure that powers NodeZero's autonomous testing capabilities. You'll manage four engineering teams responsible for building and scaling the platform systems that execute, coordinate, and analyze pentests across complex enterprise environments. This role sits above our platform engineering leaders and will play a key role in scaling the platform organization as we continue to expand NodeZero's reach and sophistication. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Leadership & Strategy: Lead and scale Horizon3.ai http://Horizon3.ai's Pentest Platform organization, overseeing three teams: Execution Engine (pentest runtime and distribution), Orchestration (scheduling, coordination, and workflow), and Pentest Data Platform (result collection, processing, and analytics). Set clear technical and product direction for how NodeZero executes and analyzes pentests at scale across distributed environments. Product Ownership: Partner closely with Product, Proactive Offense (offensive capabilities), and GTM teams to define platform requirements and deliver capabilities that enable NodeZero's pentest execution at scale. Drive execution from proof-of-concept through production, transforming architectural innovations into reliable, performant platform features. Technical Depth: Stay hands-on enough to guide architectural decisions around data models, orchestration patterns, and data pipeline design. Mentor technical leads in building resilient, distributed systems that power NodeZero's core testing infrastructure. Team Building: Build, mentor, and scale three diverse engineering teams focused on infrastructure, platform automation, and data engineering. Foster a culture of collaboration, operational excellence, and systems thinking that bridges infrastructure and product perspectives. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate across engineering, product, and GTM to align platform roadmap with business priorities and offensive capabilities. Ensure reliable, scalable delivery of pentest execution infrastructure that enables rapid innovation in attack content and customer value. What You’ll Bring - Proven experience leading and scaling engineering teams in platform or infrastructure development, ideally within a fast-paced startup or growth-stage environment. - Strong technical background in distributed systems, platform architecture, and large-scale automation, with hands-on experience in system design, orchestration, data pipelines, or infrastructure automation. - Demonstrated success taking platform or infrastructure products from concept to market, including driving architectural decisions, POCs, and production launches at scale. - Deep understanding of distributed systems, containerization, orchestration frameworks, data processing pipelines, and large-scale SaaS infrastructure, with the ability to guide complex architectural decisions. - A product-oriented mindset, skilled at balancing technical excellence, operational reliability, customer impact, and speed to market. - Exceptional leadership and collaboration skills—experienced in managing managers, aligning cross-functional teams, and partnering effectively with Product, Engineering, and GTM stakeholders. - Excellent analytical, communication, and problem-solving abilities—capable of translating complex platform engineering concepts into clear, actionable direction for teams and stakeholders. - High degree of initiative and ownership; creative, detail-oriented, and results-driven. - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience). Required Tech Stack Experience - Deep expertise in distributed systems design, including service architecture, consensus protocols, and reliability patterns for large-scale systems. - Proficiency in at least one modern object-oriented programming language such as Python, Go, C++, or C#, with experience building and maintaining large-scale platform systems. - Strong understanding of container orchestration platforms (Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, or similar) and experience designing systems that run at scale across distributed infrastructure. - Hands-on experience with workflow orchestration, task scheduling, or job execution systems (e.g., Airflow, Temporal, Kubernetes Jobs, or custom automation frameworks). - Strong background in data pipeline design, ETL/ELT systems, event processing, and analytics data modeling. Experience with stream processing or batch processing frameworks is valuable. - Solid grasp of platform design principles, API design, system integration patterns, and CI/CD practices for rapid, reliable deployments. - Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure and services (AWS, Azure, GCP), including networking, compute, storage, and managed services. - Strong operational expertise: monitoring, observability, logging, tracing, and incident response for production systems. - Deep familiarity with network protocols, multiple operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS), and enterprise technology stacks. - Hands-on experience building or leading engineering for B2B SaaS or platform products, ideally within a security or cybersecurity company. - Working knowledge of databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Neo4j, or similar) and experience designing schemas and query patterns for operational and analytical workloads. - Understanding of cybersecurity fundamentals and familiarity with penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, or automated attack workflows. What Sets You Apart? - Experience building or scaling production penetration testing, vulnerability management, or security assessment platforms. - Background in distributed computing, grid computing, or large-scale parallel execution systems. - Experience with graph databases and query optimization for complex data relationships. - Demonstrated expertise in mentoring teams on platform engineering or infrastructure best practices. Travel Required We are a fully remote company, and this job may require up to 10 - 15% of travel to be successful. Compensation and Values At Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations. In accordance with various State’s transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position: - Base salary range: $280,000 - $315,000. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate’s location, qualifications, experience, and relevant skills. - Additional compensation: All full-time roles are eligible for an equity package in the form of stock options. Perks of Horizon3.ai http://Horizon3.ai - Inclusive Team: We value diversity and promote an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive. - Growth Opportunities: Be part of a dynamic and growing team with numerous career development opportunities. - Innovative Culture: Work in a collaborative environment that encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. - Hybrid & Remote Work: We embrace a mix of remote and hybrid work models depending on role and location, including our Chicago office, where some roles require regular in-office presence. - Competitive Compensation: We offer competitive salary, equity and benefits. Our benefits include health, vision & dental insurance for you and your family, a flexible vacation policy, and generous parental leave. You Belong Here Horizon3 is not just an equal opportunity employer - we are a community that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental principles of our culture and success. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace where everyone feels welcome and respected, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, hair length or any other legally protected status by law. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion means we strive to attract, develop, and retain a workforce that reflects the varied communities we serve. We believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation and strengthen our ability to create cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. At Horizon3, every team member is valued and supported in an environment that encourages personal and professional growth. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences, and we encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Come be a part of Horizon3, where your unique contributions are recognized, and your potential is limitless. Other Duties Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice. Application Note In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.