The posting
GET TO KNOW US
Horizon3 http://Horizon3.ai is a fast-growing, remote cybersecurity company dedicated to the mission of enabling organizations to proactively find, fix and verify exploitable attack vectors before criminals exploit them. Our flagship product, the NodeZero™ platform, delivers production-safe autonomous pentests and other key assessment operations that scale across the largest internal, external, cloud, and hybrid cloud environments. NodeZero has been adopted by organizations of all sizes, from small educational institutions to government agencies and Global 100 enterprises. It is used by IT Ops/SecOps teams, consulting pentesters, and MSSPs and MSPs.
We are a fusion of former U.S. Special Operations cyber operators, startup engineers & operators, and formerly frustrated cybersecurity practitioners. We're committed to helping solve our common security problems: ineffective security tools and false positives, resulting in alert fatigue, blind spots, "checkbox" security culture, cybersecurity skills shortage, and the long lead time and expense of hiring outside consultants. Collectively, we are a team of learn-it-alls, committed to a culture of respect, collaboration, ownership, and results.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
The Sr. Software Engineer on the Data Ingestion team builds and maintains the pipelines that transform raw pentest output into structured, queryable data across the NodeZero platform. NodeZero runs thousands of autonomous pentests — your pipelines are the first link in the chain between execution engine results and the insights customers see. You'll work on high-throughput ETL systems that normalize heterogeneous scan data, push structured findings to graph and relational stores, and feed downstream systems including Asset Inventory, reporting, and analytics.
This role reports to the Data Ingestion Engineering Manager and works alongside a small team of backend engineers including one P5 technical anchor.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Design, implement, and operate data ingestion pipelines that process pentest results at scale — scan output, discovered assets, vulnerability findings, and network topology data
- Own end-to-end delivery of pipeline features: schema design, implementation, testing, deployment, and monitoring
- Build and maintain ETL components in Go and/or Python that normalize heterogeneous inputs from NodeZero's execution engines
- Partner with the Asset Inventory and Data Platform teams to define and evolve the data contracts that connect ingestion to downstream consumers
- Diagnose and resolve production issues in pipeline latency, data correctness, and throughput
- Contribute to code and design reviews; provide engineering guidance to P3 engineers on the team
WHAT YOU'LL BRING
BACKEND ENGINEERING
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience with production backend systems
- Strong Go and/or Python proficiency — this team's primary languages
- Demonstrated experience building and operating data pipelines or ETL systems in production (streaming or batch)
- Working knowledge of message queues or event streaming systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, or equivalent)
DATA & STORAGE
- Experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL or equivalent) — schema design, query optimization, migrations
- Familiarity with graph databases or graph data models is a strong asset
- Understanding of data normalization trade-offs, schema evolution, and backward compatibility
PLATFORM & OPERATIONS
- Experience running services on Kubernetes and containerized environments (Docker)
- Comfort deploying and debugging distributed systems in AWS or equivalent cloud
- Operational mindset: you instrument your code, write runbooks, and own your services through their full lifecycle
COLLABORATION
- Ability to work across team boundaries: you define data contracts with downstream consumers, not just ship to a queue and walk away
- Clear written communication — design docs, PR descriptions, and async updates to distributed teammates
NICE TO HAVES
- Experience in cybersecurity, security tooling, or working with vulnerability or threat data
- Exposure to graph databases (Neo4j, DGraph, or equivalent)
- Experience with Apache Kafka or similar event streaming platforms at production scale
- Background in offensive security tools or pentest workflows — you'll understand the data you're ingesting
TRAVEL REQUIRED
We are a fully remote company, and this job may require up to 5% of travel to be successful.
COMPENSATION AND VALUES
At Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations.
In accordance with various State's transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position:
- Base salary range: $199,750 - $260,000 annually. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and relevant skills.
- Additional compensation: All full-time roles are eligible for an equity package in the form of stock options.
PERKS OF HORIZON3 http://Horizon3.ai
- Inclusive Team: We value diversity and promote an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.
- Growth Opportunities: Be part of a dynamic and growing team with numerous career development opportunities.
- Innovative Culture: Work in a collaborative environment that encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.
- Hybrid & Remote Work: We embrace a mix of remote and hybrid work models depending on role and location, including our Chicago office, where some roles require regular in-office presence.
- Competitive Compensation: We offer competitive salary and benefits which includes health, vision & dental care for you and your family, a flexible vacation policy, and generous parental leave.
YOU BELONG HERE
Horizon3 is not just an equal opportunity employer - we are a community that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental principles of our culture and success. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace where everyone feels welcome and respected, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, or any other legally protected status by law.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion means we strive to attract, develop, and retain a workforce that reflects the varied communities we serve. We believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation and strengthen our ability to create cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. At Horizon3, every team member is valued and supported in an environment that encourages personal and professional growth.
We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences, and we encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Come be a part of Horizon3, where your unique contributions are recognized, and your potential is limitless.
OTHER DUTIES
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
APPLICATION NOTE
In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.
