Senior Research Engineer

Who is Tenable?

Tenable® is the Exposure Management company. Over 40,000 organizations around the globe rely on Tenable to understand and reduce cyber risk. Our global employees support 65 percent of the Fortune 500, 50 percent of the Global 2000, and large government agencies. Come be part of our journey!

What makes Tenable such a great place to work?

Ask a member of our team and they’ll answer, “Our people!” We work together to build and innovate best-in-class cybersecurity solutions for our customers; all while creating a culture of belonging, respect, and excellence where we can be our best selves. When you’re part of our #OneTenable team, you can expect to partner with some of the most talented and passionate people in the industry, and have the support and resources you need to do work that truly matters. We deliver results that exceed expectations and we win together!

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. without sponsorship. We are unable to provide sponsorship for work visas of any kind at the time of hire, or at any point during employment. This includes, but is not limited to: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, J-1, etc

Your Role:

Tenable is looking for a Senior Research Engineer to join a hybrid function that bridges Security Response (SRT) and Decision Science Operations (DSO) within the Research Special Operations group. You will split your time between two complementary missions: responding to high-profile security events and producing the external-facing content that positions Tenable as an authority, and applying quantitative analysis and operational design to help Research leadership make better, faster decisions about where to invest effort.

Day to day, you will monitor the threat landscape, coordinate Tenable's end-to-end security response process when a major vulnerability breaks, write the blogs and advisories that follow, and then turn around and ask "what does the data tell us about where we should focus next?" You will work across Research, Public Relations, Marketing, Product, and Program Management to coordinate and deliver actionable business results.

This is a strong fit for someone who wants hands-on security research balanced with the analytical, process-improvement work that shapes how a research organization operates.

Your Opportunity:

Security Response

• Monitor the threat landscape, track high-profile events in real time, and research the impact of emerging and existing vulnerabilities
• Champion and drive the Security Response process end to end: brief internal stakeholders, coordinate product coverage across engineering teams, arm PR and community channels with current threat information, and maintain continuous cross-functional engagement throughout an event
• Create and refine technical content including blogs, whitepapers, advisories, conference presentations, and webinars for identified security events
• Respond to media inquiries and customer-driven events as they occur
• Automate the discovery and triage of high-profile events from open-source channels, vendor advisories, and internal telemetry
• Synthesize emergent threat and vulnerability intelligence into actionable items for the appropriate team backlogs

Decision Science Operations

• Partner with Research leadership to design and execute data-driven frameworks for development and coverage prioritization
• Collaborate with research and product teams to deliver richer contextual intelligence for identified vulnerabilities
• Build and maintain operational dashboards and analytical workflows that surface trends across the threat and vulnerability landscape
• Provide analytical support and timely insights to internal stakeholders to inform product and business decisions

What You'll Need:

• Ability to work in a hybrid/on-site capacity at Tenable headquarters in Columbia, MD or Boston, MA
• B.S. or higher in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, Operations Research, or a related discipline or 5+ years of equivalent professional experience
• 4+ years of programming and scripting experience (Python, SQL, or comparable)
• Strong working knowledge of common security vulnerabilities, CVSS scoring, vulnerability detection, exploitation techniques, and classification methodologies
• Experience with data analytics platforms and business intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau) and with Python data-science tooling (Jupyter, pandas, etc.)
• Familiarity with internet-facing asset discovery and search platforms such as Shodan and Censys
• Broad understanding of infrastructure fundamentals: networking, common protocols, services, and the general technology landscape
• Demonstrated ability to write technical blogs, whitepapers, and research papers, and to present findings to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams, prioritize competing demands, and set expectations with stakeholders
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; comfortable coordinating across highly distributed, cross-functional teams
• Ability to operate independently with minimal supervision while contributing as a collaborative member of the broader research team
• Comfort with agile methodologies and fast-paced, event-driven work

And Ideally:

• Experience with security response, incident coordination, or vulnerability disclosure processes
• Background in exposure management, threat intelligence, or CTEM program support
• Experience building automated data pipelines or integrating intelligence feeds Public speaking experience at security conferences (e.g., BSides, RSA, Black Hat)

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-MS1

This is the base pay range for this position. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including the candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies, location and experience, and may fall outside of the range shown. Employees are also eligible for variable compensation in addition to base pay (commission for sales roles, bonus for non-sales roles), depending on company and individual performance. Tenable also offers a variety of comprehensive and competitive benefits which include: medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance; 401(k) retirement savings with company match; an employee stock purchase plan; an employee referral program; flexible spending accounts; an Employee Assistance Program (EAP); education assistance; parental leave; paid time off (PTO); company-paid holidays; health and wellness events; and community programs.

US Pay Range

$122,500—$163,166.67 USD

We’re committed to promoting Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) at Tenable - through all equal employment opportunity laws and regulations at the international, federal, state and local levels. If you need a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please contact View email address on aiapply.co for further assistance.

Tenable Data Consent Statement

Tenable is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. Depending on your location, one or more of the following notices may apply to you:

General Applicant Privacy Notice
California Applicant Privacy Notice
EU/EEA/UK Applicant Privacy Notice