AI Engineer

About Us

Proofpoint is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity. We protect how people, data, and AI agents connect across email, cloud, and collaboration tools. Over 80 of the Fortune 100, 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations trust Proofpoint to stop threats, prevent data loss, and build resilience across their people and AI workflows. Our mission is simple: safeguard the digital world and empower people to work securely and confidently.

Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.

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

At Proofpoint, you will find an environment where innovation comes from creative collaboration and where everyone is empowered to move quickly and have fun. If you enjoy taking the “im” out of impossible, you will feel right at home with our team!

As an AI Engineer, you will be part of a high-caliber Engineering team focused on designing, building, and supporting AI-driven solutions to classify digital communications for regulated industries. You will collaborate closely with Product Management and fellow engineers to deliver scalable, effective AI solutions. This role is hands‑on and execution, contributing directly to model development, experimentation, and production deployment.

• Contribute to the development and deployment of transformer‑based models for classification tasks, leveraging pre‑trained models, fine‑tuning techniques, and embedding‑based retrieval.
• Evaluate generalized/base models for low true‑positive classification problems and help improve model performance.
• Implement prompt‑based classification techniques and vector‑based retrieval approaches to enhance accuracy and efficiency.
• Design and execute experiments to measure model efficacy, balancing performance with computational cost.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to translate product requirements into practical AI/ML solutions.
• Support build vs. buy evaluations by researching and testing available AI/ML technologies.
• Help ensure AI solutions are scalable, secure, and aligned with enterprise best practices.
• Stay current with advancements in transformers, LLMs, and AI‑driven text classification, applying relevant innovations where appropriate.

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with experience in AI/ML‑focused projects.
• 2+ years of hands‑on experience working with transformer models or NLP.
• Experience with one or more AI/ML frameworks such as Tensor Flow, PyTorch, or Hugging Face Transformers.
• Practical experience applying transformer models to text classification problems.
• Familiarity with prompt engineering, vector‑based retrieval, and embedding models.
• Understanding of AI cost considerations, including model inference costs and optimization techniques.
• Experience contributing to experiments to evaluate and improve model performance.
• Background in cloud environments, containers, Java, and Linux‑based architectures.
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum development processes.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and the ability to communicate effectively within a team environment.
• Degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, or a related field.

Protecting people is at the heart of our award‑winning lineup of cybersecurity solutions, and the people who work here are the key to our success. We’re a customer‑focused and driven‑to‑win organization with leading‑edge products—and many exciting reasons to join our team. We believe in hiring the best brightest and cultivating a culture of collaboration and appreciation. We are a diverse, multinational company with opportunities in all functions, and leaders that welcome candidates from all walks of life.

Apply today and explore your future #Life At Proofpoint  #LI-AA1

At Proofpoint, we believe that an exceptional career experience includes a comprehensive…