Penetration Tester

Starling is the UK’s first and leading digital bank on a mission to fix banking! We built a new kind of bank because we knew technology had the power to help people save, spend and manage their money in a new and transformative way. Read more about Our Story here.

We’re a fully licensed UK bank with the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive tech company. We’re a bank, but better: fairer, easier to use and designed to demystify money for everyone. We employ more than 3,000 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester offices.

Our technologists are at the very heart of Starling and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment that is all about building things, creating new stuff, and disruptive technology that keeps us on the cutting edge of fintech. We operate a flat structure to empower you to make decisions regardless of what your primary responsibilities may be, innovation and collaboration will be at the core of everything you do. Help is never far away in our open culture, you will find support in your team and from across the business, we are in this together!

The way to thrive and shine within Starling is to be a self-driven individual and be able to take full ownership of everything around you: From building things, designing, discovering, to sharing knowledge with your colleagues and making sure all processes are efficient and productive to deliver the best possible results for our customers. Our purpose is underpinned by five Starling values: Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim For Greatness.

Hybrid Working

We have a Hybrid approach to working here at Starling - our preference is that you're located within a commutable distance of one of our offices so that we're able to interact and collaborate in person.

About the Role

As a Penetration Tester you will be working with talented cyber security professionals to protect Starling customers, company assets and systems using the latest technologies and techniques.

The primary objective for this role is to collaborate with, support, and guide Starling’s engineering and operation functions to ensure our services are designed, developed and operated securely. As an experienced member of our penetration testing team you will directly interact with multiple areas of the business to understand requirements, define the scope and approach to testing (including undertaking appropriate research), and produce reporting information aligned to our risk framework.

In addition, we understand the importance of knowledge and expertise remaining current and you shall support the continued advancement of our penetration testing through research, design and implementation of new solutions, including automation.

Responsibilities

• Scoping and performing mobile, web application, cloud, and infrastructure penetration tests.
• Automation of security testing, and development of internal tooling, to achieve continuous assurance.

Collaboration with engineering teams to facilitate secure development, including:

• Review and analysis of proposed technical solutions to identify appropriate security controls.
• Input and guidance to security related technical architecture and design decisions.
• Code review of features and critical security components.
• Practical security testing.
• Advising on remediation of security issues and processes to address root causes.

• Security assurance reviews of third-party solutions.
• Identifying and implementing improvements to the team’s internal processes and procedures.
• Review, analysis and reporting of external threats relevant to Starling systems and solutions, in the context of Starling’s desired security posture.

Requirements

We’re open-minded when it comes to hiring and we care more about aptitude and attitude than specific experience or qualifications.

Ideally, we would like:

• 5+ years technical information security experience.
• Experience of mobile, web application, cloud and infrastructure penetration testing.
• Strong technical knowledge in: Mobile security (iOS and Android), Web application security, Networking and associated protocols, Cloud security (AWS and GCP) and Containers and Kubernetes
• A desire to learn, and ability to apply technical security knowledge to new and unfamiliar areas.
• CREST, OSCP or similar industry penetration testing qualification
• A good understanding of applied cryptographic techniques.
• Reverse engineering and exploit development capabilities.
• Experience of security testing in an agile SDLC.
• Threat modelling experience.
• Experience performing code reviews, particularly in Java and Go.
• Experience of fulfilling a client facing security consulting role.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience in automation of security testing, with previous development experience desirable.

Interview process

Interviewing is a two way process and we want you to have the time and opportunity to get to know us, as much as we are getting to know you! Our interviews are conversational and we want to get the best from you, so come with questions and be curious. In general you can expect the below, following a chat with one of our Talent Team:

• First stage with the Penetration Testing Team Lead
• Second stage with additional members of the Penetration Testing team
• Final stage with Infosec Director and CISO

Benefits

• 33 days holiday (including public holidays, which you can take when it works best for you)
• An extra day’s holiday for your birthday
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme
• Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
• Generous family-friendly policies
• Incentives refer a friend scheme
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing

About Us

You may be put off applying for a role because you don't tick every box. Forget that! While we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we're always open to discussion. So, if you're excited about working with us, but aren’t sure if you're 100% there yet, get in touch anyway. We’re on a mission to radically reshape banking – and that starts with our brilliant team. Whatever came before, we’re proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. 

When you provide us with this information, you are doing so at your own consent, with full knowledge that we will process this personal data in accordance with our Privacy Notice. By submitting your application, you agree that Starling Bank will collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we will process, where we will process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.