Cobalt Appoints Chris Essex as Chief Revenue Officer to Drive Next Phase of Company Growth

His proven track record in scaling cybersecurity companies will enable Cobalt to meet accelerating market demand for offensive security platforms

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cobalt, the pioneer of Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) and leading provider of Offensive Security solutions, today announced the appointment of Chris Essex as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Essex will be key to realizing Cobalt’s mission of becoming the leader in offensive cybersecurity services.

Cobalt was founded on a transformative vision to make pentesting faster, more effective, and better suited to today’s dynamic security needs. Seeing the limitations of traditional methods, it pioneered the Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) model, redefining how organizations approach security. Today, Cobalt is committed to leading the way in Offensive Security testing, empowering customers with proactive defenses to stay one step ahead of threats.

As CRO, Essex will report directly to CEO Sonali Shah and lead Cobalt’s go-to-market strategy including sales, customer success, business development, and channel operations. His expertise in scaling operations, leading high-performance teams, and driving revenue aligns with Cobalt’s journey to empower customers to operate fearlessly and innovate securely.

“We were looking for a CRO with experience leading high growth cybersecurity companies similar in size to ours and driving their success via both direct and partner models. His alignment with our core values and vision makes him an invaluable addition, and I’m especially excited about what his leadership will bring to drive Cobalt’s next stage of growth and success,” said Sonali Shah, CEO, Cobalt. “His strategic expertise and operational excellence will help us deepen customer trust, expand our global reach, and cement Cobalt’s leadership in security testing.”

With over 20 years of executive leadership experience, Essex has built an impressive track record scaling high-growth cybersecurity companies, including Forcepoint and Appriver. His expertise spans go-to-market, customer success, professional services, sales enablement, and revenue operations—strengthening the Cobalt leadership team and its commitment to customer value.

“Cobalt has an exceptional team, a strong strategy, and an incredible opportunity ahead. I’m thrilled to join the team and drive exponential growth at a time when our customers face an urgent need to stay ahead of evolving threats while reducing risks across an increasingly volatile attack surface. I’m excited to hit the ground running, engage with our customers and partners, and deliver impactful results,” said Essex.

About Cobalt

Cobalt combines talent and technology with speed, scalability and expertise. Our award-winning Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) model empowers organizations to keep pace with their evolving attack surface and agile software development lifecycles. Thousands of customers and hundreds of partners rely on Cobalt's modern SaaS platform and exclusive community of more than 400 trusted security experts to secure applications, networks, and devices. We deliver security testing that supports business drivers, maximizes internal resources, and creates stronger security programs so that organizations can operate fearlessly and innovate securely.