Senior Threat Researcher, FTR

TrendAI™, the global AI security leader and enterprise business unit of Trend Micro, empowers organizations with full AI visibility and consolidated security that inspires confidence, drives innovation, and eliminates risk.
 
At TrendAI™, we’re always seeking exceptional talent; people who want to collaborate with the best and push boundaries together. Here, your work goes beyond building a career. You will help protect what matters and play a vital role in shaping a safer, more trustworthy AI-powered future.
 
AI Fearlessly.

About TrendAI™ 

TrendAI™, the global AI security leader and enterprise business unit of Trend Micro, empowers organizations with full AI visibility and consolidated security that inspires confidence, drives innovation, and eliminates risk. 

At TrendAI™, we’re always seeking exceptional talent: people who want to collaborate with the best and push boundaries together. Here, your work goes beyond building a career. You will help protect what matters and play a vital role in shaping a safer, more trustworthy AI-powered future. 

AI Fearlessly. 

Position Summary: 

TrendAI's Forward Looking Threat Research team (FTR) is a global team of Senior Researchers tasked with "Scouting the Future of Threats" — looking at the next 1–3 years of likely future risk in security.

We research:

• The cutting edge of cybercriminal techniques and business models today (Underground, Targeted Attacks, Threat Actor tracking)
• How attackers actually get in, move, and stay hidden
• What technologies are emerging now and in the near future, and how both attackers and defenders will adapt to them

We are looking for a Senior Threat Researcher who has stood on both sides of the intrusion — someone who has either broken into networks as part of a red team, or hunted and tracked the people who do it for real, and who understands the other discipline well enough to speak its language fluently.

Note that the primary goal of our research is not to hunt for vulnerabilities in isolation, but to demonstrate and showcase real-world business impact of attacker tradecraft, of cybercrime business models, and of the gaps between how defenders think attackers behave and how they actually behave. Findings feed directly into research publications, threat actor tracking, and product/mitigation proposals.

Work Location: US Off-Site (Remote)

What You’ll Do: 

• Research and profile cyber threat actors: their tradecraft, infrastructure, motivations, and business models, with the rigor of someone who has actually tracked a campaign end to end
• Translate hands-on offensive findings into defensive research: detection opportunities, hunting hypotheses, and mitigation guidance that a blue team can act on
• Publish external-facing research (blogs, whitepapers, conference talks) that moves the industry's understanding forward.  FTR researchers regularly present at BlackHat, FIRST, HITB, and RSA
• Partner with Law Enforcement (Interpol, Europol, FBI, NCA, and others) where research surfaces actionable intelligence
• Represent TrendAI at external conferences, as an attendee or speaker
• Work cross-functionally with product and detection engineering teams to turn research into (product) ideas and mitigation proposals

What You Should Have (Required):

• 6+ years of experience in at least one of the following, with meaningful working exposure to the other:
  • Offensive security / red teaming — adversary emulation, attack path development, breach-and-attack simulation, or offensive tooling development
  • Threat investigation / threat hunting, specifically involving tracking and profiling real-world cyber threat actors (APT, cybercrime, or both)
• Demonstrated ability to think and operate on both sides of the intrusion lifecycle — you don't need to be equally deep in both, but you need to have done real work in both and be conversant enough to design research that crosses the line between them
• A "hacker mentality": the ability to quickly identify security weaknesses in design, architecture, process, and implementation — and equally, the instinct to ask "how would a defender ever catch this?"
• Practical AI usage on automating tasks, connecting data sets, and unique use cases to achieve efficiency, speed, and scale
• Strong understanding of the MITRE ATT&CK framework and adversary tradecraft mapping, from either the attacking or the detection side
• Track record of independent research — self-directed, curious, comfortable operating with ambiguity and limited prior art.

Preferred: 

• Prior published research, conference talks, or CTF/competition track record
• Experience with underground/deep web research, malware analysis, or cybercrime business model research
• Familiarity with emerging technology risk areas: AI/LLM security, cloud/OT/IoT, blockchain/Web3, mobile, or automotive
• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Electronics/Communication Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline — or a strong self-taught, proven skillset and equivalent hands-on experience. We hire capability first.

Working style:

• Comfortable working in a globally distributed team spanning multiple time zones
• Willing to travel regularly for global team meetings and conferences
• Able to work independently on long-horizon research with limited day-to-day oversight, while staying connected to a distributed squad.

Last but not the least, this position requires a wide range of skills and we don't expect the ideal candidate to check 100% of the boxes.  If you are already strong in one area, understands the other, and is able to demonstrate strong learning ability, flexibility, and the willingness to tackle big problems, we look forward to having a conversation with you.

Pay range: $147,000 – $185,000 per year.

Bonus eligibility: Eligible for the company-wide performance bonus

Final pay within this range depends on factors including relevant work experience, skills, and certifications. 

What We Offer You: 

You’re important to us. What matters to you matters to us too. TrendAI™ provides benefit options for you and your family: 

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance 

• Life insurance 

• Short- and long-term disability 

• Prenatal, maternity, parental, and medical leave 

• Mental health wellness program 

• Adoption assistance 

• Wellness incentive 

• Pet insurance 

• 401(k) with company match 

• Paid time off 

• 14 annual holidays 

• Tuition assistance 

• Employee resource groups 

We offer competitive compensation with bonus opportunity tied to company performance, along with room to enhance your skills through ongoing learning and broad technological opportunities. Achieving work-life balance is a priority, complemented by team activities and an environment rooted in equity, inclusion, and collaboration, reflected in both our culture and our work. 

This role is not eligible for employer-provided work visa sponsorship, now or in the future. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States for this employer without sponsorship. 

Be Passionate. Be Innovative. Be a Trender. 

#LI-EF3 

TrendAI™ (a business unit of Trend Micro Incorporated) provides equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy and childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, family care or medical leave status, veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. 

TrendAI™ is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, please contact [email protected].