Staff Threat Research Engineer

Mission

Threat Labs’ mission is to keep our customers safe from cybersecurity attacks. We do this by advancing the art and science of detection: turning threat intelligence and threat research into practical, high‑quality detections that power the Sumo Logic SIEM platform and strengthen the broader security community.

About the Role

We’re looking for a staff‑level threat researcher who thrives at the intersection of data and adversary tradecraft. In this role, you’ll use your practitioner experience to uncover attacker behaviors, test them in realistic environments, and turn those insights into detection content that directly improves customer outcomes. You’ll explore and exploit a variety of security technologies, with an emphasis on cloud and AI environments, to build, validate, and tune detections that reflect the latest attack techniques. In addition to applying existing research, you’ll have opportunities to conduct original investigations, from malware analysis to infrastructure tracking and honeypot monitoring, designed to uncover novel insights that shape future detection strategies.

Who You Are

You’re a seasoned security professional who’s evolved from responding to incidents to preventing them. You have a deep curiosity for how attackers operate and a passion for translating that insight into practical detections that measurably improve defenses. You thrive in a hands‑on environment: experimenting in the lab, analyzing data, and validating results. Collaboration and sharing come naturally to you: working with peers across Threat Labs and product teams, you enjoy turning research into real detections and community knowledge that protect customers everywhere. 

Your Impact

• Conduct and lead both applied and original threat research, transforming intelligence, telemetry, and investigation into actionable detection logic for the Sumo Logic SIEM.
• Collaborate closely within Threat Labs to design, build, and refine detection content and validation pipelines that raise the bar for product and customer detection quality.
• Drive innovation in detection methodologies, including research activities such as malware analysis, infrastructure tracking, or honeypot operations, to discover new attacker behaviors.
• Publish and share findings — from detection logic to behavioral analysis and practical hunting guidance — that help customers maximize SIEM outcomes.
• Contribute to Threat Labs’ long‑term vision of a research‑driven, continuously evolving detection ecosystem built on practitioner insight and technical depth.

Responsibilities

• Research, develop, and test threat detection logic in a lab environment, validating against real‑world attacker behaviors and ensuring technical alignment with Sumo Logic SIEM capabilities.
• Conduct original threat research, such as analyzing malware, tracking infrastructure, or experimenting with honeypots, and translate findings into detection opportunities.
• Investigate industry and adversary trends to identify emerging detection opportunities.
• Collaborate with product management and fellow Threat Labs engineers to scope and prioritize detection campaigns.
• Maintain and expand Threat Labs’ research lab infrastructure.
• Provide practitioner feedback to engineering and product management to inform feature design and roadmap decisions.
• Contribute to the security community through blogs, conference talks, open source projects, and public research contributions.

Requirements

• 12+ years of cybersecurity experience that includes a mix of:
• Senior/Principal SOC analyst, threat hunter, or purple team practitioner
• Incident responder or detection engineer roles
• Demonstrated ability to progress threat research into actionable detections and incident response outcomes.
• Experience conducting original or self‑directed threat research that resulted in novel findings — for example, malware or infrastructure analysis, honeypot operations, or similar investigative work leading to actionable insights.
• Broad knowledge of multiple technology stacks and a strong curiosity to learn new platforms.
• Deep experience with multiple major public clouds (AWS, Azure, or GCP), and familiarity with analyzing cloud‑native logs and telemetry.
• Understanding of emerging attack techniques targeting AI infrastructure and machine learning pipelines (e.g., data poisoning, model theft, or prompt injection), and familiarity with frameworks such as MITRE ATLAS.
• Proven history of thought leadership through blogs, LinkedIn articles, or conference presentations.
• Background in the cybersecurity vendor space, with experience providing expert feedback to product and engineering teams.

Desirable

• Prior experience in customer-facing technical roles (consulting, remote support, or advisory).
• Hands‑on familiarity with offensive security tools (Atomic Red Team, Sliver, Cobalt Strike, etc.).
• Scripting or automation capability (Python, PowerShell, etc.).
• Experience with Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) technology.
• Recognized presence or active participation in the security community (e.g., X/Twitter, conferences, open source).
• Experience applying AI or machine learning techniques to improve operational efficiency and automation across the detection rule development lifecycle — from research and validation to deployment and tuning.

About Us

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The expected annual base salary range for this position is $162,000 - $190,000. Compensation varies based on a variety of factors which include (but aren’t limited to) role level, skills and competencies, qualifications, knowledge, location, and experience. In addition to base pay, certain roles are eligible to participate in our bonus or commission plans, as well as our benefits offerings. 

Must be authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire and for the duration of employment. At this time, we are not able to offer new non-immigrant visa sponsorship or OPT hiring for this position.