Staff AI Platform Engineer

About Us:

We are the leader in human-centric cybersecurity. Half a million customers, including 87 of the Fortune 100, rely on Proofpoint to protect their organizations. We’re driven by a mission to stay ahead of bad actors and safeguard the digital world. Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.

How We Work:

At Proofpoint, you’ll be part of a global team that breaks barriers to redefine cybersecurity, guided by our BRAVE core values: Bold in how we dream and innovate, Responsive to feedback, challenges, and opportunities, Accountable for results and best-in-class outcomes, Visionary in future-focused problem-solving, Exceptional in execution and impact.

Corporate Overview

Proofpoint is a leading cybersecurity company protecting organizations’ greatest assets and biggest risks: vulnerabilities in people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber-attacks. Leading organizations of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 1000, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions mitigating their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. We are singularly devoted to helping our customers protect their greatest assets and biggest security risk: their people. That’s why we’re a leader in next-generation cybersecurity. Protection Starts with People.

About the Team

The AI Forge is an internal machine learning group that consults across Proofpoint's entire product portfolio. We are a group of machine learning scientists and software engineers who love keeping up with the latest ML research, fostering a collaborative and creative workplace, and solving challenging problems. Over the past several years, we have developed data-driven product features, leveraging a range of model architectures from tree-based models to state-of-the-art transformers.

About the Role

As a Staff AI Platform Engineer at Proofpoint, you will play a key role in shaping our AI Platform, which powers AI Research and production services. This platform spans public cloud infrastructure, shared services, developer tooling, and secure workflows that allow AI teams to innovate quickly and responsibly.

You will work at the intersection of cloud platforms, production services, and AI enablement. Your contributions will accelerate AI innovation across Proofpoint while ensuring our platform remains resilient, scalable, and secure.

Responsibilities

• Design and build platform resources using Infrastructure as Code (IAC) (e.g. Terraform, Helm).
• Architect and scale secure cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) that support distributed training and large-scale API services.
• Deliver and operate shared services and tooling that empower Data Scientists and Engineers across Proofpoint.
• Ensure reliability, security, and compliance while enabling high-velocity development.
• Partner with AI and product teams to integrate and train models securely and efficiently.
• Mentor other engineers, champion best practices, and influence technical direction across teams.
• Continuously explore new technologies and approaches to improve platform performance, security, and developer experience

Qualifications

• Deep experience building and running public cloud infrastructure at scale, with strong knowledge of at least one major public cloud provider (AWS and Azure preferred).
• Strong software engineering skills (Python preferred), with an emphasis on building maintainable, secure, and reliable systems.
• Hands-on experience with Linux containers and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Track record of operating API services and/or shared infrastructure at scale.
• Strong understanding of cloud security, identity management, and networking.
• Ability to influence technical direction, drive cross-team initiatives, and mentor others.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with distributed training for AI/ML workloads.
• Experience with data privacy and regulatory frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, AI Act, ISO 42001, etc.).
• Experience with privacy-preserving AI techniques (federated learning, differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, secure enclaves).
• Understanding of adversarial ML or AI security threat modeling.

Why Proofpoint

As a customer focused and driven-to-win organization with leading edge products, there are many exciting reasons to join the Proofpoint team. We believe in hiring the best the brightest and cultivating a culture of collaboration and appreciation. As we continue to grow and expand globally, we understand that hiring the right people and developing great teams is key to our success! We are a multi-national company with locations in many countries, with each location contributing to Proofpoint’s amazing culture! #LI-AN1

Why Proofpoint? At Proofpoint, we believe that an exceptional career experience includes a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. Here are just a few reasons you’ll love working with us:

• Competitive compensation
• Comprehensive benefits
• Learning & Development: We are committed to the growth and development of our team members, offering a range of programs including leadership and professional development workshops, stretch project assignments, and mentoring opportunities to help employees reach their full potential.
• Flexible work environment: [Remote options, hybrid schedules, flexible hours, etc.].
• Annual wellness and community outreach days
• Always on recognition for your contributions
• Global collaboration and networking opportunities

Our Culture:

Our culture is rooted in values that inspire belonging, empower purpose and drive success-every day, for everyone. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. If you need accommodation during the application or interview process, please reach out to accessibility@proofpoint.com. How to Apply Interested? Submit your application here https://www.proofpoint.com/us/company/careers. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Consistent with Proofpoint values and applicable law, we provide the following information to promote pay transparency and equity. Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets as set out below. Pay within these ranges varies and depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The actual offer will be based on the individual candidate. The range provided may represent a candidate range and may not reflect the full range for an individual tenured employee. This role may be eligible for variable compensation and/or equity. We offer a competitive benefits package, including flexible time off, a comprehensive well-being program with two paid Wellbeing Days and two paid Volunteer Days per year, plus a three-week Work from Anywhere option.

Base Pay Ranges:

SF Bay Area, New York City Metro Area:

Base Pay Range: 194,475.00 - 285,230.00 USD

California (excludes SF Bay Area), Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Washington DC Metro, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, Virginia, and Alaska:

Base Pay Range: 162,375.00 - 238,150.00 USD

All other cities and states excluding those listed above:

Base Pay Range: 148,425.00 - 217,690.00 USD