Exploit Developer

Part of the Cybersecurity Career Guide — This article is one deep-dive in our complete guide series.

By HADESS Team | February 28, 2026 | Updated: February 28, 2026 | 5 min read

You write code that turns theoretical vulnerabilities into working exploits. When a researcher finds a memory corruption bug or a logic flaw, you are the one who builds a reliable proof of concept that demonstrates real impact. This is one of the most technically demanding roles in cybersecurity.

What You Will Do

Exploit development sits at the boundary between security research and software engineering. You take raw vulnerability data — a crash, an advisory, a fuzzer output — and turn it into a reliable, weaponized exploit.

Your work involves:

• Analyzing vulnerability disclosures and determining exploitability
• Reverse engineering binaries to understand root causes of bugs
• Developing exploits for memory corruption vulnerabilities — buffer overflows, use-after-free, type confusion
• Bypassing modern mitigations — ASLR, DEP, CFI, stack canaries, sandboxes
• Writing shellcode for various architectures (x86, x64, ARM)
• Building ROP chains and JIT spray techniques
• Developing browser exploits and sandbox escapes
• Fuzzing to discover new vulnerabilities (AFL, libFuzzer, custom harnesses)
• Creating reliable exploits that work across different OS versions and configurations
• Documenting exploit techniques and sharing knowledge with the team

You may work for a government agency, a large security vendor, or a boutique consultancy that sells offensive capabilities. Some exploit developers work in defensive roles, building signatures and detections based on their understanding of how exploits work.

Skills You Need

This role demands the deepest technical knowledge in offensive security. You need to understand computers at the lowest levels.

Required skills:

• Assembly language — x86, x64, and ideally ARM
• C and C++ programming — reading and writing systems-level code
• Reverse engineering — IDA Pro, Ghidra, Binary Ninja
• Memory corruption exploitation — heap and stack exploitation techniques
• Operating system internals — Windows kernel, Linux kernel, macOS
• Debugging — WinDbg, GDB, LLDB for dynamic analysis
• Fuzzing and vulnerability research — finding your own bugs to exploit
• Mitigation bypass techniques — staying current with OS and compiler protections

Explore these skills in the skills library and trace the path from pentester to exploit developer in the career path explorer.

Certifications

Exploit development certifications are rare and extremely difficult. The ones that exist are respected precisely because so few people pass them:

• eCXD — eLearnSecurity Certified Exploit Developer, covers fundamentals
• eCRE — eLearnSecurity Certified Reverse Engineer
• SEC660 — SANS Advanced Penetration Testing, covers exploit development
• OSEE — OffSec Exploitation Expert, the hardest certification in offensive security

Plan your path with the certification roadmap planner.

Salary Range

Exploit developers earn between $49K and $166K in traditional employment. The actual earning potential extends far beyond this — the zero-day market, government contracts, and specialized consulting can push compensation significantly higher. This is one of the few cybersecurity roles where raw technical ability directly determines your market value.

Check market rates using the salary calculator.

How to Get Started

1. Learn C and assembly — there is no shortcut here, you need systems programming fundamentals 2. Study computer architecture — understand how the CPU, memory, and OS interact 3. Take the skills assessment to gauge your low-level programming knowledge 4. Practice exploit challenges — start with buffer overflows on the platform labs 5. Work through modern exploitation tutorials — ROP, heap exploitation, format strings 6. Learn reverse engineering with Ghidra — analyze real binaries, not just CTF challenges 7. Build a fuzzer — find your own bugs in open-source software 8. Target OSEE long-term — plan your cert path with the certification planner 9. Document your research and build your profile with the resume builder 10. Look for vulnerability research roles on the job board

This is a senior specialization. If you are not sure whether your skills are there yet, talk to the career coach about building the right foundation.

Related Guides in This Series

• Application Penetration Tester: Go Beyond the Web Layer — HADESS | 2026
• Bug Bounty Hunter: Get Paid to Find Real Vulnerabilities — HADESS | 2026
• Network Penetration Tester: Break Networks Before Attackers Do

Take the Next Step

Start your career assessment. Go to the start your career assessment on HADESS.

Explore career paths. Check out the explore career paths.

Get started free — Create your HADESS account and access all career tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

What certifications do I need for this role?

Certification requirements vary by employer and seniority level. Use the certification roadmap planner to build a sequence based on your target role and current qualifications.

What is the salary range for this role?

Salaries vary significantly by location, experience, and employer type. Use the salary calculator for your specific market rate.

How do I transition into this career path?

Take the skills assessment to identify your current strengths and gaps relative to this role. The assessment generates a personalized learning plan to close the gap.

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HADESS Team consists of cybersecurity practitioners, hiring managers, and career strategists who have collectively spent 50+ years in the field.