Staff Threat Researcher - Zero Labs

About Team

Rubrik Zero Labs is on a mission to deliver actionable, vendor-agnostic insights to reduce data security risks. We assess real-world cyber threats to advance cyber resilience best practices for global organizations.

About the Role

We are assembling a new, elite threat research and intelligence team under Rubrik Zero Labs  with a singular mandate: to provide the industry’s most advanced visibility into the adversary landscape. Unlike traditional teams limited by transient network or endpoint signals, we will leverage vast reservoirs of backup data to detect and expose latent and highly evasive threats that dwell silently within the environment. We are not just building a team; we are building a capability designed to rival the world’s premier intelligence units by turning data itself into our most powerful sensor.

As a Staff Threat Researcher, you will be one of the founding architects of this mission. You won't just analyze threats; you will define the methodologies, build the infrastructure, and set the standard for how the organization detects, attributes, and exposes global cyber threats. This is an opportunity for a seasoned threat researcher to leave their mark on the industry by building the technical foundation of a world-class unit from the ground up.

What you'll Do

• • Hunt the Unknown: Lead deep-dive investigations into advanced persistent threats (APTs), nation-state actors, and complex cybercrime syndicates. 
  • Decode the AI Threat Landscape: Pioneer research into the weaponization of Artificial Intelligence. You will investigate adversarial AI tactics—from LLM-assisted malware generation and deepfakes to prompt injection and model poisoning.
  • Build the Foundation: Architect and implement our threat intelligence platform (TIP), malware detonation sandboxes, and automated ingestion pipelines. 
  • Thought Leadership: Emulating the industry's best, you will serve as the external face of our research. You will author technical whitepapers, detailed blogs, and represent the organization at top-tier conferences (Black Hat, DEFCON, RSA etc.).
  • Reverse Engineering: Dissect complex malware families to extract configuration data, command-and-control (C2) protocols, and attribution artifacts.
  • Detection Engineering: Translate raw intelligence into high-fidelity protection. You will write and maintain the YARA rules that protect our customer base.
  Intelligence Fusion: Collaborate with engineering and product teams to ensure our findings are immediately weaponized into product capabilities.

Experience you'll need

• • 7–10+ years of experience in Threat Intelligence, Incident Response, or Malware Analysis, with a track record of tracking threat actor groups (e.g., Lazarus, APT28, FIN7 etc.).
  • Deep Technical Tradecraft:
  • Expertise in static and dynamic malware analysis (IDA Pro, Ghidra, x64dbg).
  • Strong proficiency in Python or Go for automating data collection, unpacking malware, and building custom analysis tools.
  • Adversary Knowledge: A comprehensive mental map of the global threat landscape, including the TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
  • Infrastructure Analysis: Proven ability to pivot through attacker infrastructure using passive DNS, Whois, SSL certificate analysis, and netflow data.
  Communication: Exceptional writing skills. You must be able to synthesize complex technical findings into compelling narratives for both technical and executive audiences.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Published Researcher: A portfolio of public-facing research (blogs, whitepapers) that has influenced the security community.
• Adversarial AI & ML Security: Practical understanding of the intersection between AI and cybersecurity, including experience with LLM red-teaming, detecting AI-generated attacks, or analyzing how actors leverage generative AI for offensive operations.
• Intelligence Architecture: Experience setting up MISP, OpenCTI, or commercial TIPs from scratch.

Cryptanalysis: Understanding of cryptographic primitives used by ransomware and C2 protocols.

Industry certifications such as GCTI, GCFA, or OSCP are a bonus.

To know more about Zero Labs - https://zerolabs.rubrik.com/