Penetration Tester CV example
Show real findings, exploited risk, and remediations that stuck.
Sample professional summary
“Penetration tester who found 40+ critical issues across 30 engagements and drove fixes that closed 95%.”
Key skills recruiters look for
- Web/app pentest
- Burp Suite
- Network testing
- OWASP
- Scripting
- Reporting
How to write strong bullet points
- Quantify findings, severity, and remediation rate.
- Show methodology (OWASP, MITRE).
- List certifications (OSCP, CEH) up top.
Penetration Tester career path & typical salary
How the role typically progresses, with the kind of responsibilities and approximate US base-salary range at each stage.
0–2 yrs
Runs guided assessments, writes findings, learns tooling and methodology.
2–5 yrs
Owns engagements end to end across web, network and app.
5–8 yrs
Leads complex engagements and red-team work; mentors.
8+ yrs
Owns offensive security strategy and methodology.
10+ yrs
Leads a pentest/red team and program.
Salary figures are approximate US market estimates for general guidance only. Actual pay varies widely by location, industry, employer, education and negotiation.
Common Penetration Tester interview questions
Practice structured answers (situation, action, measurable result) — the same achievements belong on your CV.
- Walk me through your methodology on a web app engagement.
- Describe a serious finding and how you proved impact.
- How do you write a report execs and engineers both act on?
- How do you scope and avoid harm during a test?
- Walk me through a privilege-escalation chain you've used.
- How do you keep skills current with new attack techniques?
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