Associate Vulnerability Researcher

Develop and Apply Research Skills You'll build a strong foundation in vulnerability research by analysing systems to understand how and why they fail. Through hands on investigation, you'll develop your ability to identify, validate, and articulate security issues, applying your learning to improve the resilience of telecom technologies.

Explore Telecom Systems You'll contribute to the analysis of carrier grade telecom infrastructure, gaining exposure to complex systems and protocols. Under guidance from experienced researchers, you'll help identify weaknesses and investigate vulnerabilities that could impact national scale networks.

Work Within Flexible Research Areas You'll operate within broad research themes rather than fixed task lists, allowing you to explore areas of interest, adapt to new findings, and develop innovative approaches. This flexibility supports both your growth and the evolving needs of the research programme.

Collaborate and Learn from Experts You'll work closely with experienced team members, learning from their approaches while contributing your own ideas. You'll also engage with wider stakeholders, including academia, industry, and government, gaining insight into how research translates into real world impact.

Experiment with Tools and Techniques You'll have opportunities to work with and prototype tools which include fuzzing frameworks, reverse engineering software, software defined radio interfaces, and other specialised tooling. This may involve working with a range of programming languages and environments.

As a trusted and independent national capability, UKTL collaborates with standards bodies, academia, government departments, communications service providers, and equipment vendors.

Successful Applicants must be able to commute to the UKTL offices in Birmingham at least twice a week

We strive to offer a great work life balance - if you are looking for full time, part time or flexible options, we will try to make this work where business possible. This will be dependent on the kind of role you do and part of the business you work in.

You are curious, driven, and motivated to understand how complex systems behave. You may be early in your career, but you demonstrate a strong interest in security research through academic work, personal projects, or professional experience.

• A foundational understanding of software, systems, and networking concepts
• Familiarity with one or more programming languages, and a willingness to learn others
• An interest in how vulnerabilities arise, including common classes such as memory corruption issues
• Awareness of core security concepts and mitigations (e.g., ASLR, NX, stack protections)
• A working knowledge of Linux environments and system internals
• Exposure to areas such as embedded systems, low-level debugging, or hardware interaction would be beneficial, but not essential.
• Most importantly, you are eager to learn, experiment, and develop your skills.

We actively recruit citizens from all backgrounds; however, due to the sensitive nature of the work in this area, nationality, residency, and security requirements are more tightly defined than in other roles. To work in this position, you will need to meet the necessary security standards. The role requires DV clearance with no restrictions, though you are able to start in post with SC clearance while your DV clearance is in progress. You are welcome to apply without already holding SC clearance; however, you will not be able to start in post until the clearance has been successfully granted.