Analyst, Penetration Testing

Department Overview

The Analyst, Cyber Defense – Penetration Testing, is a technical role focused on proactive identification of vulnerabilities through offensive security testing. The ideal candidate should be familiar with adversary emulation in offensive security methodologies to help lead the battle-hardening of McDonald's information assets worldwide. This role will require the ability to assist in execution of application, cloud, and network penetration testing assessments. This role will assist with vulnerability validation and escalation from a variety of sources, including External Attack Surface Management (EASM) platform and Vulnerability Disclosure Programs (VDP). This role also regularly collaborates with technical and business stakeholders across the globe to ensure our senior leadership makes informed, risk-based decisions.   

Duties

• Assist and execute on network, application, cloud, and mobile application assessments.

  Identify vulnerabilities and exposure within enterprise networks, systems, and applications by leading offensive security engagements.

  Perform technical (evaluation of technology) and non-technical (evaluation of people and operations) risk and vulnerability assessments of relevant technology focus areas.

  Create technical documents, reports, findings from the analysis, summaries, and other situational awareness information to relevant stakeholders.

  Partner with other teams within McDonald’s to improve threat response and attack surface across people, processes, and technology.

  Analyze industry threat trends and regularly remain updated with ongoing adversarial activity to identify tactics, techniques, and procedures for emulation.

  Validate vulnerabilities from a variety of sources, such as EASM, VDP, etc.

  Read and understand basic scripts for proof-of-concepts and automations.

  Perform basic code review for supporting application assessments.

  Regularly update management and stakeholders on the progress of projects, ensuring timely and effective communication.

  Ability to train others and act as a technical lead to help upskill the team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent technical experience in offensive/defensive cybersecurity roles.

  • 2–3 years of experience in technical offensive cybersecurity roles (e.g., ethical hacking, penetration testing, etc.).
  • Understanding the purpose and utilization of frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK and the Cyber Kill Chain.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills to effectively describe assessment details and technical analysis.
  • Ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams and competing priorities.
  • Work within a global/multinational enterprise with flexible schedule accommodations for meetings, engagements, and operations.
  • Competency with technical writing and demonstrating various creative communication mechanisms to diverse audiences.
  • Ability to effectively draft and escalate remediation items for partner teams.
  • Basic knowledge of networking and web protocols (e.g., TCP/UDP, SSL/TLS, Wi‑Fi protocols, routing, HTTP/S, REST/SOAP APIs, etc.).
  • Basic understanding of Windows, Active Directory, and Linux systems administration and attack surface.
  • Ability to read and write basic scripts (Python, PowerShell, Go, C, C++, C#, JavaScript, etc.).

  Desired Skills

  • Master’s degree or equivalent technical experience in offensive/defensive cybersecurity roles.
  • Professional credentials such as PJPT, OSCP, OWSP, PNPT, or comparable.
  • Experience delivering penetration testing activities, red teaming, mobile, and web application assessments to various customers concurrently.
  • Basic familiarity with working with and leveraging commercial and open-source offensive security tooling, such as C2 and Breach and Attack Simulations (BAS).
  • Fluency with External Attack Surface Management (EASM), Vulnerability Disclosure Programs (VDP), and other related services.
  • Exposure to using enterprise defensive security services such as EDR, SIEM, Email Gateway, and SOAR.

Compensation

Bonus Eligible: Yes

Long - Term Incentive: No

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Salary Range

The expected salary range for this role is $104,482.00 - $130,602.00 per year
 
The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors.