Open to opportunities

Sam User

@sam-townley

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Software developer focused on cybersecurity, adversary emulation, and automation.

Australia

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What I'm looking for

I seek a hands-on cybersecurity or software role focusing on adversary emulation, automation, and growth across security operations and GRC in a collaborative, mission-driven team.

I am a software developer with a Bachelor of Information Technology and hands-on cybersecurity research experience building adversary emulation agents, automation frameworks, and network simulation enhancements. At DSTG I designed and implemented procedural agents and integrated Metasploit tooling with Python to automate vulnerability assessment workflows, managed version-controlled code and produced technical documentation within a classified environment.

Currently on a cybersecurity placement at the Department of Treasury and Finance, I perform GRC assessments and rotate through security policy and operations roles to broaden defensive capabilities. I am comfortable across the stack — backend systems, scripting, web and mobile — and bring an analytical, self-directed approach to solving complex security problems.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Cybersecurity Placement

Current

Department of Treasury and Finance

Dec 2025 - Present (2 months)

Conducting GRC assessments and rotating across governance, policy, and security operations to evaluate controls against government security frameworks and build broad defensive capability.

GRC Security Policy Security Operations Risk Assessment Compliance Security Frameworks

Software Developer

Defence Science and Technology Group

Jan 2024 - Dec 2025 (1 year 11 months)

Designed and built Python procedural agents and adversary emulation tooling that expanded the team's testing playbook and automated vulnerability assessment workflows within a controlled research environment.

Python MITRE Caldera Metasploit Scripting Git Linux Networking

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

University of South Australia

Bachelor of Information Technology, Software Development

2022 - 2025

Grade: 5.86 / 7.0

Activities and societies: Received University Merit Awards (2022, 2023); team project designing and pitching a prototype solution for Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation.

Completed a Bachelor of Information Technology (Software Development) with a focus on software engineering and cybersecurity; received University Merit Awards in STEM and collaborated on a prototype for Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation.