Principal Dark Web Collection Analyst

About the Position

Recorded Future is expanding its dark web collection capability with a focus on underground community intelligence - criminal forums, illicit marketplaces, and covert messaging channels where threat actors recruit, collaborate, and transact. You will be Recorded Future's internal authority on the dark web ecosystem - the person other teams turn to when they need to understand how underground communities operate, what's worth collecting, and where not to invest. This means making real strategic decisions: which forums warrant access efforts, which intelligence areas to prioritize, and which sources don't merit the operational cost. You will own that judgment and defend it across the organization. At the same time, this is a hands-on role. You will personally navigate underground infrastructure, build and maintain access, create and manage personas, and extract intelligence directly. The expert and the operator are the same person here.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the company-wide subject matter expert on dark web and underground community dynamics, advising product, engineering, sales, and analyst teams.
• Make and own strategic collection decisions: which forums, markets, and channels to pursue; which intelligence areas to prioritize; and where to explicitly not invest resources.
• Identify, evaluate, and gain access to criminal forums, darknet marketplaces, Telegram channels, and adjacent covert infrastructure within legal and policy boundaries.
• Develop and maintain collection strategies, personas, and source documentation to sustain access across a volatile source landscape.
• Partner with engineering to translate research tradecraft into automated collection pipelines.
• Monitor sources for operational changes - takedowns, migrations, rebrands - and continuously adapt.
• Produce finished intelligence on key threat actors, community dynamics, and emerging underground infrastructure: actor profiles, source assessments, and analytical summaries.
• Collaborate broadly across internal teams - product, PMM, sales, customer success, and research - as the go-to voice on underground community intelligence.
• Represent Recorded Future externally: writing customer-facing blogs, presenting at webinars, and contributing to public research on dark web tactics and trends.

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on dark web threat research with demonstrable collection outcomes across forums, marketplaces, or covert channels.
• Deep, current expertise in the structure and dynamics of major criminal forums and darknet markets - how they operate, how access is governed, and how actors and communities evolve.
• Proven ability to operate within closed or invite-only communities while maintaining OPSEC and legal compliance.
• Russian language proficiency at a professional working level - essential for this role.
• Strong analytical writing skills - ability to produce concise, well-sourced intelligence products for both technical and executive audiences.
• Comfort operating externally: presenting to customers, hosting webinars, and writing public-facing content with authority.

Nice to Have

• Additional language skills relevant to underground communities (Ukrainian, Romanian, Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic).
• Background in cybercrime research, threat actor tracking, or law enforcement intelligence.
• Prior experience at a threat intelligence vendor, CSIRT, law enforcement, or intelligence agency.
• Basic scripting ability (Python) for data parsing and format conversion.

We Offer

• Competitive salary range: $152,000 - $228,500.
• Opportunity for incentive compensation, equity, and comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and 401K.
• Remote work options.

About the Company

Recorded Future employees (or “Futurists”), represent over 40 nationalities and embody our core values of having high standards, practicing inclusion, and acting ethically. Our dedication to empowering clients with intelligence to disrupt adversaries has earned us a 4.6-star user rating on G2 and more than 50% of Fortune 100 companies as customers.

Recorded Future is committed to maintaining an environment that attracts and retains talent from a diverse range of experiences, backgrounds, and lifestyles. We ensure all feel included and respected for being unique and bringing their whole selves to work.

If you need any accommodation or special assistance to navigate our website or to complete your application, please send an e-mail with your request to our recruiting team at [email protected].

Recorded Future is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply. Recorded Future does not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Note: Our interview process for all final-round candidates requires a mandatory in-person interview or a live, scheduled video conference with the hiring manager. We do not conduct interviews via instant messaging or text. All communications during the application process will come from individuals within our HR department via their Recorded Future email address.