---
title: 'Senior Space Red Team Operator at SixGen, Inc.'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-space-red-team-operator-sixgen-inc-remote-vdzs4xg0qsn5'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-02'
---

# Senior Space Red Team Operator at SixGen, Inc.

- **Company:** SixGen, Inc.
- **Location:** Remote
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-10-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-02
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/sixgeninc/jobs/5449674008

## Job description

Senior Space Red Team Operator

SIXGEN's mission is to deliver agile, mission-ready cybersecurity solutions that empower government and critical infrastructure organizations to stay ahead of advanced cyber threats. We combine innovation, deep expertise, and leading technical capabilities to uncover vulnerabilities, protect vital systems, and strengthen operational resilience.

## POSITION OVERVIEW

- Position: Senior Space Red Team Operator
- Job Type: Full Time
- Location: Remote or Hybrid with travel to customer and test locations as required
- Clearance Requirement: Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance; active Secret or higher preferred

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

SIXGEN is seeking a hands-on Senior Space Red Team Operator to lead authorized adversarial assessments of space systems and the infrastructure that supports them. You will evaluate attack paths across spacecraft, payload, ground, cloud, mission-network, and operator environments; develop safe and repeatable test methods; and translate technical findings into clear mission risk and practical engineering improvements. This role is suited to an operator who can move comfortably between Linux hosts, cloud services, embedded targets, and customer briefings while maintaining disciplined authorization and mission-safety boundaries.

Responsibilities include:

- Lead end-to-end red team assessments, penetration tests, and threat-informed adversary emulation against authorized space and mission systems.
- Develop assessment plans, attack paths, test cases, and Rules of Engagement that define objectives, authorization boundaries, safety controls, prohibited actions, and stop-work criteria.
- Assess Linux-based systems, embedded devices, flight and payload software, ground-station services, mission networks, cloud environments, and supporting applications for exploitable weaknesses.
- Research and validate vulnerabilities in firmware, operating systems, communications interfaces, authentication flows, APIs, containers, identity services, and other mission-relevant components.
- Create or adapt operator tooling, exploits, proof-of-concept code, automation, and test harnesses to support repeatable assessment objectives.
- Coordinate closely with system owners, engineers, operators, range personnel, and defensive teams to execute testing without unacceptable impact to safety, availability, or mission operations.
- Correlate technical access with realistic mission effects and help customers understand how weaknesses could affect command, telemetry, payload data, availability, or operational trust.
- Document evidence, reproduction steps, attack chains, severity, and prioritized remediation recommendations in clear technical reports and executive briefings.
- Support purple-team validation, detection engineering, remediation retesting, and after-action activities to confirm that identified attack paths have been reduced or closed.
- Mentor operators, contribute to internal tradecraft and lab development, and support technical scoping, customer discussions, and proposal efforts when needed.

## WHAT YOU BRING

Required qualifications:

- Seven or more years of hands-on experience in red teaming, penetration testing, vulnerability research, exploit development, or closely related offensive security work; equivalent military, government, or industry experience will be considered.
- Advanced Linux knowledge, including networking, permissions, services, process behavior, logging, troubleshooting, and security controls.
- Hands-on embedded-systems knowledge, including firmware analysis, boot processes, hardware-software interfaces, common processor architectures, debugging, and at least some exposure to RTOS or embedded Linux environments.
- Practical cloud-security knowledge in at least one major platform such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, including identity and access management, networking, logging, storage, compute, and common misconfiguration paths.
- Experience assessing enterprise networks and applications, including TCP/IP, routing, VPNs, DNS, authentication protocols, web services, APIs, and segmented or hybrid environments.
- Ability to write and review code or automation in Python and shell scripting; working knowledge of C, C++, Go, or similar systems-oriented language is strongly valued.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage technical ambiguity, preserve evidence, and communicate risk to both deeply technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Commitment to authorized testing, operational safety, professional ethics, and careful handling of sensitive customer information.
- Ability to travel periodically and support testing windows that may occur outside normal business hours.

Preferred qualifications:

- Experience assessing satellites, spacecraft buses, payloads, ground stations, mission-control systems, or other aerospace and operational-technology environments.
- Familiarity with spacecraft flight software, command and telemetry workflows, common space-data protocols, or platforms such as NASA core Flight System.
- Experience with firmware extraction and reverse engineering, JTAG or SWD, UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, bootloaders, device drivers, or hardware debugging tools.
- Experience with containers, Kubernetes, infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, cloud-native services, and identity attack paths across hybrid environments.
- Familiarity with radio-frequency systems, software-defined radio, satellite communications, or testing within hardware-in-the-loop and cyber-range environments.
- Active U.S. Government security clearance and prior work supporting Department of War, Intelligence Community, civil-space, or commercial-space missions.
- Relevant certifications such as OSCP, OSEP, OSED, GXPN, GPEN, GREM, or comparable demonstrated technical expertise.

## COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

SIXGEN offers competitive compensation based on the responsibilities of the role and the candidate's experience, qualifications, specialized expertise, and security-clearance status. The final compensation package will be discussed during the hiring process.

SIXGEN offers benefits for full-time employees, including:

- Employer-paid health insurance premiums, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, for employees and their families
- Employer-paid short- and long-term disability insurance and basic life and AD&D insurance
- 401(k) plan with a 4% employer contribution
- Professional-development reimbursement options for training, certifications, and education
- Flexible and remote-work policies for most positions
- Flexible paid time off and holiday schedule

For more information, please contact Human Strategist Amy Maxwell at amy.maxwell@sixgen.io.

## OUR COMMITMENT

SIXGEN is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, marital status, ancestry, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that values diversity in our people and reflects the communities and customers we serve. We strive to attract and retain a diverse talent pool and to create an environment where everyone is empowered to do their best work.

## About SixGen, Inc.

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: SIXGEN is a cybersecurity company that provides mission-aligned cyber capabilities, tools, and operations to protect government, defense, and critical infrastructure organizations from global adversaries.
- **Entity Type**: Private (acquired by Washington Harbour Partners in November 2023)
- **Headquarters**: Annapolis, Maryland, United States
- **Founded**: 2014
- **Founders**: Ethan Dietrich

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Cybersecurity, Defense & Aerospace, Critical Infrastructure Protection
- **Target customers**: Government agencies (U.S. and allied), Defense & Aerospace contractors, Energy & Utilities, Telecommunications, Commercial Enterprises, and other Critical Infrastructure sectors (B2B, B2G)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To reveal threats, secure operations, and empower missions. They provide the tools, automation, insights, and tradecraft needed to adapt and operate in constantly shifting threat environments with a focus on the purposeful integration of machine speed and human expertise. [sixgen.io](https://www.sixgen.io/)

## Products & Services
- **Cyber Operations Services**: Highly skilled operators conduct research, assessments, and red team operations based on real-world threats, emulating global adversaries to report detailed and actionable findings on critical assets and infrastructures.
- **Applied Research, Reverse Engineering, & RF Development**: Services that involve deep technical analysis and tool development to uncover vulnerabilities and solve complex cyber challenges.
- **Cyber Training**: Train operators to execute across the full spectrum of cyber operations.
- **Automation, AI & Data Science**: Building tools that integrate machine speed with human expertise for threat detection, data security, and scalable growth-oriented solutions.
- **Infrastructure Security**: Services focused on IT/OT visibility, proactive mitigation, automated compliance, and unified visibility for legacy and modern systems.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (acquired, so no public market cap)
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of **$15.3 million** | Total Funding: **$500,000** (Seed round in 2017)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Parent company is **Washington Harbour Partners LP** (acquired in Nov 2023). Previously acquired **Fourcast Management and Analysis** (July 2022). Board member includes **Stu Shea**.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Year-over-year headcount growth of **+11.7%** (currently approximately 80 employees).
  - Active job postings have increased **+87.5% year-over-year**.
  - Expanded into the United Kingdom.
  - Secured by a private equity backer, providing capital for further expansion.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep Government & Defense Ties**: A large portion of their workforce comes from elite government and military backgrounds (NSA, US Air Force, US Army, US Marine Corps).
- **Mission-Focused Approach**: They position themselves as a “non-traditional defense contractor” that combines innovation with deep expertise rather than bureaucratic processes.
- **Proven Track Record of Acquisitions**: The acquisition of Fourcast Management and Analysis shows their ability to integrate new capabilities and grow through M&A.
- **Full-Spectrum Cyber Operations**: They cover the entire range from offensive cyber (CNO, CNE, Red Teaming) to defensive and intelligence operations.

## Strategic Focus
- **Post-Acquisition Growth**: Under Washington Harbour Partners, the company is aggressively hiring (87.5% more job postings year-over-year) and expanding its market reach.
- **Space & Emerging Domains**: Actively hiring for roles like "Senior Intelligence & Cyber Analyst – Space Systems," indicating a push into securing space-based infrastructure.
- **Purposeful AI Integration**: Focused on integrating AI and data science not for its own sake, but to solve specific operational challenges in threat detection and automation.
- **Industry Diversification**: While rooted in defense, they are growing their commercial offerings in energy, utilities, and telecommunications.

## Why Work Here
- **Meaningful Mission**: Employees work on “missions that matter” involving national security and critical infrastructure protection against real-world adversaries.
- **Comprehensive Benefits**: 
  - **Health**: 100% paid health, dental, and vision premiums for employees and family. HRA funds up to $3,000. Coverage starts on day one.
  - **Financial**: 4% direct employer 401(k) contribution regardless of employee participation. Short/long-term disability and basic life/AD&D insurance (3x salary up to $300k).
  - **Time Off**: Flexible time off and paid holidays. Flex time allows for work-life balance across pay periods.
  - **Leave**: Parental leave, jury duty, military leave, and voting leave.
- **Professional Development**: Support for training, certifications, and conferences (DEF CON, IITSEC, etc.).
- **Culture**: Described as valuing innovation, integrity, and purpose. High percentage of technical staff (38%).
- **Work Model**: Mix of on-site (Fort Meade, Annapolis, Reston, Sterling, Huntsville, Columbia), hybrid (DMV Area), and some remote roles.
- **Compensation**: Competitive salaries; example ranges from LinkedIn data: Software Engineer ~$121,945/year, Offensive Cyber Operator ~$92,363/year.

## Sources
1. [sixgen.io](https://www.sixgen.io/)
2. [Greenhouse Jobs at SixGen, Inc.](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/sixgeninc)
3. [SIXGEN Careers Page](https://www.sixgen.io/careers)
4. [LinkedIn Company Page - SIXGEN](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sixgenio)
5. [Tracxn Company Profile - SIXGEN](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/sixgen/__A6y0Vd77YhuDDhLrOmjxwRZ5q2qK4dqrOLR876uKVQk)

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