The CovertSwarm Academy
Welcome to your future.
The Academy is a fully paid 12 month pathway into CovertSwarm where experience is not required, but passion is non-negotiable.
Why the Academy exists.
You won’t need permission to belong here.
Offensive security needs people who are wired to see things differently. The rebels. The misfits. The ones who never stopped wandering. But the first opportunity is brutal to find. Every open role wants experience you’ve never had the chance to earn.
The Academy is your way in. It doesn’t matter where you started, or what got you here. You don’t need to fit anyone’s idea of who belongs in this industry. You just need to have already started the journey.
You’ll earn from day one, in a paid role built for someone actually doing this. Experienced operators stand beside you. Training arms you. Real opportunities put every lesson straight into practice.
We’ll help you find your direction. We’ll stand behind you. The rest is up to you.
How the program works
The Academy is built around twelve months, with a development pathway agreed around your interests and starting point. If you’re ready to progress sooner, we’ll support that.
Settling in
The first three months are mainly about finding your feet, learning our systems and ways of working, and getting started on your development.
Putting your skills to work
Every quarter, a mentor-supported client assignment gives you a chance to work through the delivery process and get feedback on your progress. The scope will suit your skills, with a mentor available throughout.
Taking on more responsibility
As you develop, you’ll contribute more to client work and take greater responsibility for seeing it through, with ongoing feedback from the people around you. Your next step depends on what you’re ready to take on, rather than how long you’ve spent in the Academy.
Find your path to greatness.
There are many directions you can take in offensive security. We’ll work with you to develop a pathway that reflects your interests and helps you build the skills to contribute to client work.
That includes choosing relevant, industry-recognised certifications together. Some people benefit from a broader foundation first; others are ready to focus on a particular area.
Learn by attacking, not just reading.
Your learning will balance practical skills you can use early on with longer-term ambitions that may take more time to develop. You’re encouraged to explore other areas as your interests grow.
Client communication, project management, and teamwork are part of every pathway.
You’ll develop those through practical experience and regular feedback, alongside your technical skills.
Build your career.
The Academy is a way into building your career with CovertSwarm. We’re investing in your development so you can grow within our team, with opportunities to progress into Associate, Specialist, Senior, and Principal Hive Member roles.
You don’t have to move through every title in turn. Academy members have gone straight into Specialist roles, and your progression will reflect the work you’re capable of delivering.
We’ll do it together.
Sharing knowledge and supporting each other is the core of how the Swarm works.
You’ll have people to learn from across the team, including senior specialists and colleagues who joined through the Academy.
We’ll help you find the right support as you develop, whether you’re working through a technical problem or trying something for the first time.
Life in the Academy
As an Academy member, you’re part of the Swarm. Life here includes:
🌍 Fully remote working
Work from anywhere in the world.
🧠 Unlimited training
Supporting your agreed development pathway.
🏝️ Unlimited holiday
No prizes for burnout here.
🇺🇸 DEF CON and SwarmCon
Opportunities to travel with the Swarm and meet the wider community.
🎯 No word processors
You’ll report through our own portal, the same one every Hive member uses.
From the Academy to the hive
The Academy doesn’t produce trainees. It produces Hive members.
Joao, class of 2023
Associate Hive member
Six months after joining the Academy in 2023, Joao had already run reconnaissance, web application, and perimeter attacks, and social-engineered his way into a client’s office.
James, class of 2024
Specialist Hive member
James joined the Academy in September 2024, bringing a background as a Royal Marines Commando. He’s since built those skills into his current role as an elite Social Engineer, specializing in human-focused offensive security.
John, class of 2023
Associate Hive member
John came into the Academy in 2023 through web application hacking and found his edge in hardware, helping plan, code, and build CovertSwarm’s DEF CON badge project along the way.
Lewis, class of 2023
Specialist Red Team Operator
Lewis joined the Academy in September 2024 after years of running his own electrical business and became an Associate Hive member by December 2025.
Phill, class of 2023
Associate Hive member
Phill joined the Academy in November 2023 after a background in industrial concrete, plant operating, and 12 years as a retained firefighter. He’s now an Associate Hive Member, working on externals and building Intel Ops.
Take your next step.
We run regular intakes, so look out for Academy Hive Member vacancies. Between intakes, you can express your interest through our general red-team application.
Include a cover letter telling us why you want to work in offensive security, what you’ve been exploring, and what you hope to do next. It helps us understand more about you than a CV alone.
Who we’re looking for
You don’t need a degree, three years of experience, or a certification. We’re looking for proven passion for offensive security.
You might have been building personal labs, practicing web application testing, exploring security research, or learning through platforms such as HackTheBox and TryHackMe. With permission, of course. We’d like to hear what caught your interest, what you’ve worked through, and what you’ve learned along the way.
There’s no single checklist. What matters is that you’ve begun exploring for yourself and want to keep going, including when something takes a few attempts to understand.
How you work with others matters too. We look for people who share the Swarm’s values: no heroes, radical candor, full ownership, and a refusal to stand still.
Open to applicants aged eighteen and over.