Red Team Operator. A hype-tagged role tag for which one question hits our corporate LinkedIn inbox very often.

“Hey there, how can I become a Red Team Operator? Yours sincerely, a recent graduate.”

To us, this is like asking how to become a regular starter on a Premier League football team. There’s nothing wrong with aiming high. To live the dream, you need the passion and motivation to go all in – to put everything into reaching the apex. But beware: the chances of competing among the very best are slim.

Nonetheless, it’s worth spotlighting the Red Team roles and the journey that could one day land you in the big leagues. This means sneaking past Gartner Magic Quadrant leaders in endpoint protection and playing cat-and-mouse with well-staffed cyber fusion centers. Month after month.

Becoming a Red Teamer is a journey into the world of offensive security. The goal isn’t just to identify vulnerabilities or break things. It’s to help organizations improve detection and response, spot malicious actors early, and execute cyber incident management professionally.

Red Teamers are professionals hired to think like attackers. They simulate real-world (i.e., threat-led) cyberattacks to improve organizational resilience. It’s not just about technical skills. Creativity, adaptability, and perseverance are equally vital.

If you’re curious, creative, a critical thinker, a problem-solver, and also a project manager, business-savvy technologist, and team player then this might be the job for you.

A Red Teamers Mindset

Bad guys follow a mission to accomplish. So do Red Teamers.

Their goal might be to steal intellectual property, maintain persistence to monitor ongoing R&D, grab a soon-to-be-published quarterly report, initiate wire transfers, trigger SWIFT transactions, or extort a ransom by holding data hostage.

Before sending a single network packet, Red Teams plan extensively. They must answer questions like:

  • What does the target environment look like?
  • What networks, systems, and software are in place?
  • What detection systems are active?
  • What are the potential paths to accomplish the mission?
  • What will be the first foothold?
  • What might go wrong?
  • What are the alternatives?
  • Who are the key people involved?
  • What happens when we get detected?

It becomes clear: this is never a one- or two-person show. Red Team exercises require a well-rounded team with diverse skills and a strategic, well-thought-out plan.

The procedure of infiltrating an enterprise is broadly structured. This process is often referred to as the Cyber Kill Chain. A term coined and trademarked by Lockheed Martin. The cybersecurity community commonly talks about TTPs. Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures.

Organizations in the cyber incident response space do contribute such TTP information to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, a public repository of adversarial behaviours and threat intelligence maintained under the umbrella of the MITRE Corporation.

Red Teams often rely on such intelligence to mimic real-world attackers or draw inspiration for mission goals. Following these sources ensures that Red Team exercises remain threat-led and realistic.

Of course, a Red Teamer knows prevalent TTPs inside out. They understand malware capabilities and adversary tools. Working through the kill chain may involve identification of vulnerabilities and exploitation of such. Thus, a high level of “hacker” skill is absolutely essential.

You might want to delve into our previous post: “How to Become a Hacker” for a kickstart on that topic. https://blog.compass-security.com/2024/05/how-to-become-a-hacker/

In any case, the Red Teamer’s mindset isn’t just about tech. It’s also about ethics and integrity. Haruki Murakami put it like “With great knowledge comes great responsibility.”

Learn the Skills

Technical skills are, of course, important. Many cybersecurity pros begin with a degree in computer science. As cyber becomes more mainstream, it’s getting harder for self-taught individuals to break in. We strongly advise confident self-learners not to underestimate the value companies place on skills beyond tech. A degree helps you develop abilities like:

  • Project management
  • Communication and people skills
  • Foreign language competency
  • Structured problem solving
  • Critical thinking
  • Working toward goals that may seem boring or abstract, but matter to others

Experience is crucial. The more you have, the better. You’ll need to understand how enterprises manage and defend IT, how they run networks and what software they use since you’ll encounter a huge variety of systems and environments.

Precision matters. Red Teamers must be quiet and deliberate, with strong OPSEC (operational security) awareness. The need exactly understand what’s needed to fly under the radar and which of their action could easily ring bells.

Certifications can help you deepen your knowledge, fill in gaps, and demonstrate you know the key concepts, tools and standard procedures.

Tools evolve. But critical thinking? Timeless. Tools won’t make you a Red Teamer any more than a stethoscope makes you a doctor. What matters is knowing why, when, and how to use them. Surgically.

Red Team Operator vs Red Team Developer

Both red team operators and red team developers are essential members of a red team, but their roles focus on different aspects of offensive security. Let’s see the main differences.

Red Team Operator

A Red Team Operator is the hands-on executor of red team engagements, focused on simulating adversarial behaviour to test the company’s defences. The main responsibilities are:

  • Conducting adversary emulation
  • Exploiting vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and applications
  • Moving laterally within environments, maintaining persistence, and exfiltrating data during simulated attacks
  • Using pre-built tools and techniques to mimic real-world attack scenarios
  • Reporting findings and working with blue teams (defenders) to improve security

The specific skillset required is the following:

  • Expertise in offensive tools (for example Cobalt Strike, Metasploit, etc.)
  • Deep knowledge of Active Directory, Entra ID
  • Deep understanding of attack techniques (for example MITRE ATT&CK framework)
  • Strong situational awareness and ability to think like an attacker

Red Team Developer

The Red Team Developer is the creator and maintainer of custom tools, exploits, and frameworks used by red team operators during engagements. The main responsibilities are:

  • Developing custom payloads that evade detection
  • Writing scripts, tools, and exploits customized to specific environments or engagements
  • Reverse engineering and vulnerability research to discover new attack vectors
  • Enhancing the capabilities of the red team by maintaining a library of offensive techniques
  • Collaborating with red team operators to ensure tools are effective in real-world scenarios

The specific skillset required is the following:

  • Expertise in programming (for example Python, C, C++, Assembly, etc.)
  • Knowledge of operating systems internals, networking, and antivirus evasion
  • Experience in exploit development and vulnerability research

Conclusion

If this sounds exciting, you might just have what it takes to become a Red Team Operator. Cybersecurity needs defenders who can think like attackers. If you’re reading this far, maybe you’re one of them.

However, we’re sorry to say: There’s no shortcut.

No catapult.

No elevator.

Take the stairs.

Step by step.

Because each level teaches you something you’ll need on the floors above.

It may not sound exciting, but completing a degree and starting out as a penetration tester is often the best path. Eventually, you may acquire the skills needed to become a Red Teamer.

Sometime.

Happy hacking!

Questions & Answers

Q: So… Can I Apply as a Red Teamer Now?

Not quite. We don’t have open Red Team roles for entry-level candidates. We recommend starting your journey as a penetration tester. It’s the best way to build real-world experience and grow into the role.

Q: Do You Offer Mentorship?
Yes, but only for those who’ve already proven themselves as highly skilled pentesters. Red Teaming requires precision, trust, and deep technical and operational knowledge. We mentor selectively, based on demonstrated performance.

Q: I have strong skills but no degree. Is that enough?
We value passion and skills but also recognize that a degree is essential. It helps you develop the broad competencies needed in real-world engagements: critical thinking, communication, and strategic understanding.

If you’re serious about Red Teaming, pursuing a degree alongside your technical skills is a smart (and necessary) step.