UK

United Kingdom · Technology and data · Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Penetration Tester

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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  • Experience bandMid-Level (2-5 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toSenior Penetration Tester
  • UK framework levelUsually a coordinator, or early in a professional job

Also advertised as Security Tester · Ethical Hacker · Mid-Level Security Analyst (Penetration Focus)

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in what real qualifications cover

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

NCFE Level 3 Certificate in Cyber Security Practices NCFE · Level 3 · covers 4 of 10 standards
TLM Level 3 Certificate in Cyber Security Principles The Learning Machine · Level 3 · covers 3 of 10 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Professional Competence for IT and Telecoms Professionals Pearson Education Ltd · Level 4 · covers 2 of 10 standards
NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry in Cyber Security (Diploma) NCFE · Level 3 · covers 2 of 10 standards
AIM Qualifications Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Cyber Security AIM Qualifications · Level 3 · covers 1 of 10 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Professional Competence for IT and Telecoms Professionals Pearson Education Ltd · Level 3 · covers 1 of 10 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Cyber security testing, vulnerabilities and controls NCFE Level 3 Certificate in Cyber Security Practices
The Application and Deployment of Security Tools and Best Practice TLM Level 3 Certificate in Cyber Security Principles
Testing IT & Telecoms Systems Pearson BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Professional Competence for IT and Telecoms Professionals
Risk and vulnerability assessment NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry in Cyber Security (Diploma)
Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security Methods AIM Qualifications Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Cyber Security
Security of ICT Systems Pearson BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Professional Competence for IT and Telecoms Professionals

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
Sustainability Fluency building care for people and planet into the work
Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture
Trust Fluency keeping the digital world safe
Your Plan Illustration

Built for Penetration Tester

6 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Cyber security testing, vulnerabilities and controls NCFE · covers 4 of 10 standards Level 3
  2. The Application and Deployment of Security Tools and Best Practice The Learning Machine · covers 3 of 10 standards Level 3
  3. Testing IT & Telecoms Systems Pearson Education Ltd · covers 2 of 10 standards Level 4
  4. Risk and vulnerability assessment NCFE · covers 2 of 10 standards Level 3
  5. Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security Methods AIM Qualifications · covers 1 of 10 standards Level 3
  6. Security of ICT Systems Pearson Education Ltd · covers 1 of 10 standards Level 3
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Penetration Tester?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration
  • Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) & Cloud Native Exploitation
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Penetration Tester plan as you set up, starting with the free AI Fluency module. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

Ready to pay? Subscribe for £70 a month

Keep this read. One email with what AI is changing in this job, the new skills it asks for and where to start free. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

3What this role really is

A penetration tester finds weaknesses in systems before someone else does, testing networks, applications and sometimes people to see where defences fail. It's hands on work using a range of tools and techniques to probe systems. The job means thinking like an attacker, chaining together small flaws to reach the most sensitive data. It's often slow and frustrating, but finding a critical flaw before it causes real damage makes the effort worthwhile.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Nmap Intermediate

Executing various scan types (`-sV`, `-sC`, `-p-`) for network reconnaissance and service enumeration. You'll know how to interpret the results and tailor your scans.

Nessus/OpenVAS Intermediate

Running credentialed/uncredentialed vulnerability scans and triaging initial results to identify obvious weaknesses and false positives. You'll be good at filtering the noise.

Metasploit Framework Intermediate

Using existing modules to exploit known vulnerabilities, generating payloads, and performing basic post-exploitation activities with guidance. You'll be able to get a shell.

Burp Suite Professional / OWASP ZAP Advanced

Using Repeater, Intruder (for fuzzing), and Scanner to manipulate requests, identify common OWASP Top 10 flaws, and perform advanced manual web application testing. This will be your bread and butter for web apps.

John the Ripper / Hashcat Intermediate

Running basic dictionary and brute-force attacks against provided hash lists using standard and custom wordlists. You'll be cracking passwords (ethically, of course).

Python (Basic) Intermediate

Reading and modifying simple scripts for parsing tool output, automating repetitive tasks, and interacting with basic APIs. You don't need to be a developer, but you should be comfortable with scripting.

Bash Intermediate

Using basic command-line utilities (`grep`, `awk`, `sed`) for text manipulation, scripting simple workflows, and navigating Linux systems during post-exploitation. Your command-line skills should be solid.

Jira / Confluence / Dradis / PlexTrac Intermediate

Documenting findings accurately, entering evidence and vulnerability details into our reporting platforms, and tracking project progress. This is where your meticulous precision really shines.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Technical Approach (e.g., tool selection, methodology steps) Follows prescribed steps; asks for tool recommendations; all approaches reviewed. Chooses appropriate tools and methodology steps for routine tasks; consults Senior Tester for novel scenarios. Designs and refines testing methodologies; selects and customises tools for complex engagements; approves junior/mid-level approaches.
Client Communication (e.g., reporting findings, asking questions) Escalates all client contact to supervisor; drafts findings for review. Communicates routine findings and asks clarifying questions directly with client technical teams; escalates sensitive issues. Leads client debriefs; manages client expectations; handles sensitive discussions; reviews junior/mid-level communications.
Scope & Risk Management (e.g., out-of-scope findings, potentially disruptive tests) Immediately escalates any out-of-scope findings or potential risks to supervisor. Identifies and flags out-of-scope items; proposes alternative testing approaches for risky scenarios, always with senior approval. Defines and negotiates scope with clients; assesses and mitigates risks for complex tests; has authority to pause or modify testing for safety.
Time & Resource Allocation (within an engagement) Follows daily task assignments; reports progress hourly. Manages time for assigned tasks and segments of engagements; flags potential delays early. Allocates resources (hours, tools) for entire engagements; adjusts plans for unforeseen challenges; manages junior tester workloads.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Valid Vulnerabilities Identified
The number of genuine, exploitable vulnerabilities you uncover during a standard engagement.
Target · >15 per standard engagement (web app or network)

On a recent web app test, you found 18 unique, exploitable flaws, including 2 critical SQL injections and 3 high-severity XSS vulnerabilities.

Report Accuracy & Clarity
The percentage of your draft reports that require significant corrections or clarifications from a Senior Tester before client delivery.
Target · <5% error rate on report drafts requiring senior review

Your last five reports only needed minor grammatical tweaks and no technical corrections, showing a 0% error rate on technical content.

Methodology Adherence
How consistently you follow our established penetration testing execution standards (PTES) and internal checklists.
Target · 100% compliance with PTES checklist on all projects

Every phase of your last network test was documented and cross-referenced against the PTES checklist, ensuring nothing was missed.

Engagement Efficiency
How effectively you manage your time and complete testing activities within the allocated project hours.
Target · Within 10% of estimated hours for 90% of engagements

You completed a 40-hour web app test in 42 hours, staying well within the acceptable variance, even with unexpected client delays.

Proactive Issue Identification
Your ability to spot potential problems or scope changes early in an engagement and raise them before they become blockers.
  • You're the one who flags a missing VPN configuration for client access before testing starts, or identifies a critical system that wasn't in scope but should be. You'll bring these up in daily stand-ups or directly to the Project Manager, not wait until it's a crisis.
Effective Communication of Findings
How well you explain complex technical vulnerabilities and their business impact to both technical and non-technical client contacts.
  • Clients consistently praise your ability to 'speak their language' in debriefs. You can explain a SQL injection to a developer and then translate the business risk to a non-technical manager in the same meeting, without losing anyone. Your reports are clear and actionable, not just a dump of technical jargon.
Independent Problem Solving
Your capacity to work through technical challenges and unexpected roadblocks during testing without constant supervision.
  • When you hit a tricky WAF or a custom authentication mechanism, you'll spend a few hours researching, trying different approaches, and documenting your attempts before asking for help. You'll come to your Senior Tester with 'I've tried X, Y, and Z, and here's what happened' rather than 'It's not working, what do I do?'
Ethical Conduct & Professionalism
Maintaining the highest standards of ethical behaviour, confidentiality, and professional conduct throughout all engagements.
  • You immediately flag any accidental access to out-of-scope data or sensitive information, even if no one else saw it. Clients feel comfortable with you on their systems, and you handle sensitive data responsibly. You're never tempted to 'just quickly check' something not in scope.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
The Thrill of the Hunt

You get a genuine kick out of finding a critical vulnerability that no one else spotted. It's like solving a complex puzzle, and the 'aha!' moment when an exploit finally works is what keeps you going.

Spending an entire afternoon trying different payloads against a tricky WAF, and then finally getting that SQL error message to pop up—that's your kind of victory.

Continuous Learning & Skill Mastery

You're constantly looking for new techniques, tools, and attack vectors. The idea of being 'done learning' is terrifying. You enjoy diving deep into new technologies to understand how they can be broken.

You'll be reading about a new Active Directory attack technique one evening and then trying to replicate it in your home lab the next day, just to see how it works.

Making a Real Impact on Security

You're not just finding bugs; you're helping clients protect their data and their customers. Seeing a client take your recommendations seriously and fix a critical flaw is incredibly satisfying.

The most rewarding part of an engagement is often the client debrief, where you can clearly explain the risks and see them genuinely committed to fixing the issues you've found.

What frustrates people
  • The Report is the Product: You might spend 80% of your time on brilliant, creative hacking, but your value is judged almost entirely on the quality and clarity of your 100-page report. Report writing is tedious and non-negotiable, and it will take up a significant chunk of your time.
  • The 'Scanner Jockey' Phase: Early in your career, you'll spend countless hours running automated scans and then sifting through thousands of findings to eliminate the 95% that are false positives. It's a necessary but grueling part of the job, and it's not always exciting.
  • Restrictive Testing Windows: 'You can test our critical payment gateway, but only between 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM on Sunday. And if anything goes down, it's on you.' Expect late nights and early mornings, often on weekends, for certain engagements.
  • Client Denial: Presenting a critical, exploitable finding only to have the client's senior developer insist 'that's not a bug, it's a feature' or 'no real user would ever do that.' It can be frustrating to convince people of obvious risks.
  • The Agony of 'Out of Scope': Finding that glaring vulnerability that would give you keys to the kingdom... on a server that the client explicitly declared was out of scope for the test. You can't touch it, you can't report it, and you have to just walk away.
  • The Burnout is Real: The pressure to constantly learn, the late-night testing windows, and the adversarial nature of the work can lead to significant burnout if you don't actively manage your own well-being and set boundaries.
What this role does not give you
  • A predictable 9-to-5 schedule every day – client testing windows often dictate odd hours.
  • A 'hero' role where you're always celebrated for your technical prowess – sometimes you're just the bearer of bad news.
  • A job where every piece of your work leads to immediate, visible remediation – clients have their own priorities and timelines.
  • A role focused purely on blue team defence or incident response – this is offensive security, through and through.

8Who you work with

This role directly contributes to our reputation for delivering thorough and impactful security assessments. Your findings help clients strengthen their security posture, which, frankly, keeps them coming back. You'll also help shape the quality of our reports and the effectiveness of our testing methodologies, making us a more credible and trusted partner in the market.

Inside the business
  • Senior Penetration Testers (for guidance and review)
  • Project Managers (for engagement planning and delivery)
  • Technical Leads (for methodology and tooling discussions)
Outside the business
  • Client Technical Teams (developers, sysadmins)
  • Client Project Managers (for scheduling and scope)
  • Client Security Teams (for remediation advice)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • A foundational understanding of information security principles, including confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
  • Demonstrable experience (2-5 years) in a technical IT role, ideally with some exposure to security operations, system administration, or network engineering.
  • Familiarity with common penetration testing methodologies and tools, even if only in a lab environment.
  • A strong ethical compass and a clear understanding of the 'rules of engagement' in security testing.
  • The ability to independently research and learn new technical concepts and attack techniques.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Custom Tooling & Exploit Development

While off-the-shelf tools are great, the most impactful findings often come from custom scripts or modified exploits tailored to a specific environment. You'll need to build your own to find the really hidden gems.

Python for security scripting · API interaction and automation · Understanding exploit primitives · Payload generation and evasion

  • This week: Pick a repetitive task you do manually and write a small Python script to automate part of it.
  • This month: Dive deeper into Python security libraries (e.g., Scapy, Requests, Impacket) and build a simple network scanner or web fuzzer.
  • Month 2: Try to modify an existing Metasploit module or write a simple custom post-exploitation script.
  • Month 3: Participate in a Capture The Flag (CTF) event that involves exploit development challenges.

Quick win: Start reading the source code of your favourite open-source security tools. Understanding how they work internally is the first step to modifying them.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Actively participate in security communities (e.g., OWASP local chapters, DEF CON groups, online forums).
  • Regularly practice on platforms like Hack The Box, TryHackMe, or VulnHub to keep your skills sharp and learn new techniques.
  • Attend industry conferences (e.g., Black Hat, DEF CON, BSides) to stay current with the latest threats and network with peers.
  • Contribute to open-source security projects or develop your own small tools/scripts.
  • Read security research papers, blogs, and vulnerability disclosures regularly.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration

Competitors are already using Large Language Models (LLMs) to draft reports in 10 minutes that used to take 2 hours. Testers who figure this out will outproduce their peers significantly. It's not future-state; it's happening now.

  • Context windows and token limits
  • Temperature settings for different tasks
  • RAG architectures for proprietary data
  • Output validation and hallucination detection
  • Prompt chaining for complex analysis

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) & Cloud Native Exploitation

More and more clients are moving to the cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP). Knowing how to identify and exploit misconfigurations in cloud environments is rapidly becoming a core skill, not a niche one. It's a completely different attack surface.

  • IAM misconfigurations in cloud
  • Serverless function vulnerabilities
  • Container security (Docker, Kubernetes)
  • Cloud service exploitation techniques
  • Cloud logging and monitoring bypasses

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • OWASP Top 10 & ASVS
  • Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES)
  • MITRE ATT&CK Framework
  • Active Directory (AD) Exploitation
  • Vulnerability Triage & CVSS Scoring
  • Network Protocol Analysis

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Junior Penetration Tester / Associate Security Tester

    1-2 years

    Skills to master

    • Mastering basic scanning tools (Nmap, Nessus), understanding common web vulnerabilities (OWASP Top 10), meticulous documentation, and strict adherence to methodology.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently finding basic to medium-severity vulnerabilities on routine targets.
    • Producing accurate and well-structured draft reports with minimal oversight.
    • Demonstrating a strong ethical mindset and attention to detail during testing.
  2. 2

    Security Analyst (with offensive focus)

    2-3 years

    Skills to master

    • Developing a solid understanding of threat intelligence, incident response processes, and vulnerability management, with a keen interest in how systems are attacked.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Actively participating in threat hunting or vulnerability assessment activities.
    • Proactively identifying and researching potential attack vectors against internal systems.
    • Demonstrating a strong desire to transition from defence to offence.
  3. 3

    System Administrator / Network Engineer (with security interest)

    3-4 years

    Skills to master

    • Deepening knowledge of operating system internals, network protocols, and infrastructure security, often through self-study and personal projects in offensive security.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Having built and secured personal lab environments for testing.
    • Consistently identifying and patching vulnerabilities in systems they manage.
    • Showing a natural curiosity about how systems can be bypassed or exploited.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead towards becoming a technical specialist, a team leader, or in time a senior security leadership role such as CISO.

16Pay and demand

Pay & demand

Typical pay £54,647 a year Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 (provisional), under the Open Government Licence v3.0

The figure is the median for full-time employees in the ONS occupation this job title codes to (Cyber security professionals), from the April 2025 survey, about six months old when published, as ASHE always is. It is that occupation's middle, not this role's. Half earn more.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Penetration Tester is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Cyber security testing, vulnerabilities and controls, worked against Penetration Tester.

Cyber security testing, vulnerabilities and controls Level 3

Applied to your work in Penetration Tester

This unit aims to provide learners with an understanding of common types of cyber security testing, vulnerabilities, and controls. Learners will be able to reduce or remove potential cyber security vulnerabilities and apply appropriate cyber security controls, understanding the importance of testing, reporting, and retesting after changes.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Penetration Tester
  • OWASP Top 10 & ASVS
  • Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES)
  • MITRE ATT&CK Framework
  • Active Directory (AD) Exploitation
  • Vulnerability Triage & CVSS Scoring
  • Network Protocol Analysis
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

17The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Penetration Tester is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Senior Penetration Tester (L3)

    3-5 years in this role

    You'll move from independently executing standard tests to leading complex engagements, mentoring junior testers, and making significant technical decisions within projects. You'll be the go-to expert for specific attack types.

    • Advanced Exploit Development Modifying existing exploits, writing custom scripts for unique targets, and understanding payload evasion techniques.
    • Red Teaming Operations Participating in or leading multi-stage, objective-based security assessments that simulate real-world attacks.
    • Methodology Development Contributing to and refining our internal penetration testing methodologies and best practices.
    • Strategic Tool Selection Evaluating and recommending new tools or platforms to enhance our testing capabilities.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, a lot of penetration testing involves repetitive tasks, sifting through mountains of data, and writing up findings. What if you could spend less time on the tedious bits and more time on the really interesting, complex hacking? That's where AI comes in. We're not talking about replacing you; we're talking about giving you a serious superpower.

Our AI Productivity Hub is packed with tools and best practices designed specifically for Penetration Testers. Imagine cutting down on manual reconnaissance, getting smarter insights from scan results, and drafting reports in a fraction of the time. This isn't just theory; it's practical, hands-on AI that you'll use day-to-day to make your work faster, smarter, and frankly, a lot more fun.

Automated Reconnaissance & OSINT

Use AI-powered tools to continuously scan public sources like GitHub, Shodan, and social media for leaked credentials, exposed subdomains, and employee information related to your target. It'll consolidate all that messy data into a clean, digestible brief, saving you hours of manual digging. Think of it as having a tireless digital detective working for you 24/7.

Smart Log & Scan Analysis

Feed massive vulnerability scan outputs (from Nessus, OpenVAS, etc.) or web server logs into an AI model. It'll instantly identify anomalous patterns, prioritise findings that are actually likely to be exploitable, and filter out common false positives. No more sifting through thousands of low-priority alerts – the AI helps you focus on what really matters.

AI-Assisted Report Generation

After you've got the technical details of a finding (vulnerability type, affected parameter, payload), an AI assistant can draft the vulnerability description, explain the business impact, and suggest remediation steps in clear, professional language. This can seriously cut down on the most tedious part of the job: report writing. You'll still review and refine, of course, but the heavy lifting is done.

Exploit & Payload Suggestion

Based on the identified service, version, and operating system of a target, an AI tool can research and suggest relevant public exploits, configuration weaknesses, or even custom payload options from a vast knowledge base. It's like having a super-fast research assistant that knows all the common ways to break things.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Penetration Tester?

Common routes in include Junior Penetration Tester / Associate Security Tester (1-2 years), Security Analyst (with offensive focus) (2-3 years) and System Administrator / Network Engineer (with security interest) (3-4 years). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Penetration Tester progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior Penetration Tester (3-5 years in this role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Penetration Tester?

Increasingly, Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) & Cloud Native Exploitation. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

Read the Zavmo manifesto to understand how you will be taught Meet your tutors

Or try another one

18Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 3

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

 More jobs in technology and data

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

The skills involved transfer well to other areas of security work. This includes broader security consulting, security architecture, incident response, or product security roles in tech companies. Thinking like an attacker is useful in most parts of security.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my free AI Fluency module What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.