Career Advice: So You Want to Be a Senior Red Teamer?

Level: Senior

It's Not Just About Hacking

I get asked a lot: "What certification should I get to become a Senior Red Teamer? OSEP? OSEE?" Technical skills are the entry ticket. You need them. But they won't make you a Senior/Lead.

The difference between a Junior and a Senior is not how fast they can write an exploit. It's Judgment, Communication, and Empathy.

1. The Soft Skills (Critical)

A Senior Red Teamer can sit in a room with a panicked CISO and explain a Critical Critical finding without making them feel attacked. * Junior: "Lol, your AD is trash. I got Domain Admin in 5 mins." * Senior: "We identified a configuration gap in the Active Directory tiering model. It allowed for rapid escalation. Here is the Microsoft best practice to fix it, and I can help your team implement it."

Communication is your superpower. If you can't write, you can't lead.

2. Managing Risk (Judgment)

A Junior operator sees a server and thinks "Can I hack it?" A Senior operator sees a server and thinks "Should I hack it?"

If you are scanning a fragile legacy mainframe at 10 AM on a Monday (peak trading hours), you are a liability. Recognizing when not to press the button is what allows executives to trust you with their most sensitive systems.

3. Fighting Burnout

Red Teaming is exhausting. * Imposter Syndrome: "Everyone else is dropping 0-days and I'm just guessing passwords." (Spoiler: Everyone is guessing passwords). * The Treadmill: Technology changes fast. Cloud, AI, Containers. You feel like you are always falling behind. * The Adversarial Grind: You are constantly looking for flaws. It can make you cynical.

Advice: Find a hobby that has nothing to do with computers. Woodworking, hiking, cooking. Touch grass. It resets your brain.

4. Mentorship

You cannot be a Senior if you are hoarding knowledge. If you find a cool technique, teach the Juniors. If you write a cool script, document it. Your value is not just what you can do, but how much better you make the team.

5. Staying Relevant

The field is shifting. * Cloud: If you don't know AWS/Azure/GCP, you are obsolete. Learn it. * DevOps: Learn CI/CD. Learn Terraform. Attackers are abusing these pipelines. * AI: Don't ignore LLMs. Attackers are using them for phishing and coding. Defenders are using them for triage. Understand the threat landscape.

Final Thought

Red Teaming is the coolest job in cybersecurity. You get paid to break into banks and buildings. But remember the mission: We break things to make them stronger. Keep that true north, and you'll have a long, successful career.