Penetration Tester salary
What penetration testers and red teamers are offered right now, taken from the salary ranges employers print in their own open postings rather than from self-reported surveys. The headline band is for every level together; the tables below separate first jobs from senior seats, remote from on-site, and one employer from another.
Typical means the span from the 25th percentile of range midpoints to the 90th percentile of range tops, every figure taken as a full-time year (an hourly rate times 2,080 hours). A group below needs enough distinct ranges for a figure of its own; where it has fewer, the table says so instead of guessing. The methodology explains how postings are read.
By seniority
Pay at each rung, from intern to manager
Titles are grouped by the level they name. A title with no level word is usually a mid-level seat.
| Level | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in the title | 17 | $171k–$320k/yr | $200k/yr |
| Senior, staff or principal | 20 | $168k–$295k/yr | $201k/yr |
| Lead or manager | 4 | $186k–$404k/yr | $216k/yr |
Workplace
Remote against on-site and hybrid
| Workplace | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote | 18 | $172k–$320k/yr | $222k/yr |
| On-site or hybrid | 23 | $170k–$275k/yr | $193k/yr |
Kind of employer
Who pays more: vendors, banks, cloud companies or labs
| Employer kind | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI labs | 5 | $259k–$435k/yr | $310k/yr |
| Software and internet companies | 5 | $207k–$357k/yr | $225k/yr |
| Security software companies | 10 | $164k–$280k/yr | $202k/yr |
| Finance, payments and crypto | 7 | $168k–$246k/yr | $198k/yr |
| Cloud, data and infrastructure | 3 | $181k–$292k/yr | $187k/yr |
| Defense, aerospace and hardware | 10 | $150k–$244k/yr | $172k/yr |
| Security consultancies and managed services | 1 | too few ranges |
Employers
Best-paying employers for penetration testers and red teamers
Only employers with enough stated ranges in this specialty for a figure of their own, highest middle first.
| Employer | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | 3 | $336k–$445k/yr | $363k/yr |
| Horizon3.ai | 3 | $218k–$264k/yr | $219k/yr |
| Palo Alto Networks | 3 | $178k–$266k/yr | $187k/yr |
| Two Six Technologies | 8 | $145k–$241k/yr | $162k/yr |
Open now
The highest salaries stated in open postings
- Threat Intel Manager, Model Exploitation & Fraud · San Francisco, CA$375,000-$455,000 per year
- Member of Technical Staff (Offensive Security Engineer) · San Francisco$220,000-$405,000 per year
- Red Team Engineer, Safeguards · San Francisco, CA$320,000-$405,000 per year
- Novel Abuse Red Teamer · San Francisco$158,400-$320,000 per year
- Red Team - Cyber · San Francisco$198,000-$320,000 per year
- Security Engineer, Offensive Security · Remote-Friendly, United States; San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA | New York City, NY | Washington, DC$300,000-$320,000 per year
- Senior Security Engineer, Offensive Security · United States$194,150 – $312,950 per year
- Senior Security Engineer - Vulnerability Research · Remote, US$191,000 to $293,000 per year
- Engineering Manager, Red Team · United States - Remote$193,800-$285,000 per year
- Principal Security Researcher (AI-Assisted Vulnerability Research) · Santa Clara, United States of America$172,100.00 - $278,300.00/yr
Every penetration testing and red team role with a salary, highest first.
Questions
Penetration Tester pay, answered from the postings
What salary do penetration testers and red teamers earn in 2026?
Open postings for penetration testers and red teamers state a typical $169k–$320k/yr, with the middle at $200k/yr. That rests on 41 distinct salary ranges from 25 employers, read 11 Nov 2026. All figures are full-time yearly salaries in US dollars: an hourly, weekly or monthly rate in a posting is multiplied by 2,080, 52 or 12 (40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year).
Do remote penetration testing and red team roles pay less?
On today's postings remote roles state a middle of $222k/yr and on-site or hybrid roles $193k/yr, so working remotely costs nothing here: remote seats pay at least as much. Both figures come from 41 open roles that state a salary.
Where do penetration testers and red teamers get the highest offers?
Of the employers with enough stated ranges to compare, Anthropic has the highest middle, $363k/yr, followed by Horizon3.ai ($219k/yr). The table on this page ranks every employer with a figure of its own.
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