Sr. Director, Security Engineering

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. Were 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 youll 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.

Company Overview

Proofpoint is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity securing how people data and AI agents connect across email cloud and collaboration tools. Proofpoint is a trusted partner to over 80 of the Fortune 100 over 10000 large enterprises and millions of smaller organizations in stopping threats preventing data loss and building resilience across people and AI workflows. Proofpoints collaboration and data security platform helps organizations of all sizes protect and empower their people while embracing AI securely and confidently.

Job Summary

The Senior Director of Security Engineering will shape and lead Proofpoints enterprise security engineering vision. Reporting directly to the CISO this role is accountable for advancing the platforms tooling and systems that protect our people products and data. You will drive the global security engineering strategydesigning and operating resilient scalable defenses across our infrastructure applications and data. Collaborating with world-class experts across Proofpoint youll elevate protection through automation innovation and engineering excellence.

This role leads critical domains including security architecture the agentic workspace cloud protection detection engineering and automation. You will partner with Product Engineering IT Threat Research and Information Security peers to ensure our controls are effective adaptive and aligned with Proofpoints mission to protect people and defend data.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Define and implement the long-term vision strategy and roadmap for Proofpoints security engineering function aligned with company objectives and emerging threats.

• Establish and evolve enterprise security architecture ensuring secure design across infrastructure applications and identity systems.

• Drive the design and build of scalable detection response and automation platforms that enable continuous visibility and protection across Proofpoints environment.

• Integrate industry-leading DevSecOps practices security automation and zero-trust principles into the broader technology ecosystem.

• Develop and maintain best-in-class security controls frameworks that enable innovation while minimizing risk including initiatives to secure the agentic workspace.

Team Leadership & Development

• Build lead and mentor a global team of security engineers and managers fostering a culture of technical excellence innovation and accountability.

• Empower teams to design implement and operate high-reliability security solutions at scale.

• Drive professional growth diversity and inclusion across the security engineering organization.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with product engineering and operations business units to embed security into system design configuration and delivery.

• Collaborate with Threat Research and Detection Response teams to ensure alignment between detection engineering and incident response capabilities.

• Work closely with Compliance and Legal to ensure Proofpoint meets regulatory and industry standards (FedRAMP SOC 2 ISO 27001 PCI etc.).

Operational Excellence & Risk Management

• Oversee continuous monitoring vulnerability management and security automation to identify and mitigate risks rapidly.

• Ensure effective logging telemetry and observability of security controls across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

• Define and track performance metrics and KPIs to assess control effectiveness maturity and engineering velocity.

Innovation & Emerging Threats

• Stay current on evolving attack vectors infrastructure trends and detection technologies; translate insights into actionable security engineering improvements.

• Drive the evaluation and adoption of advanced tools architectures and methodologies to continuously enhance Proofpoints defensive capabilities.

Evangelism & Leadership Presence

• Serve as an executive voice of security engineering both internally and externally representing Proofpoints technical leadership to customers partners and industry peers.

• Promote security awareness and best practices across the company building alignment on secure-by-design principles.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science Cybersecurity Engineering or related technical field.

• Experience: 10 years in cybersecurity infrastructure or software engineering including at least 5 years in senior leadership roles.

• Proven experience leading large-scale security engineering programs or cloud security operations in SaaS or enterprise environments.

• Deep technical knowledge of cloud infrastructure (Azure AWS GCP) identity systems detection platforms and industry-leading automation frameworks.

• Strong understanding of DevSecOps CI/CD infrastructure-as-code and cutting-edge observability systems.

• Track record of building resilient systems leading through change and influencing across executive teams.

• Relevant certifications (e.g. CISSP CISM or cloud security certifications) preferred.

Preferred Attributes

• Experience in the cybersecurity or SaaS sector.

• Executive presence with the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Strategic data-driven decision-making balanced with a pragmatic understanding of risk and enablement.

• Comfort operating in complex and ambiguous environments providing clarity and direction while driving strategic outcomes.

• Passion for building high-performing diverse technical teams and mentoring future leaders.

Why Proofpoint At Proofpoint we believe that an exceptional career experience includes a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. Here are just a few reasons youll 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 . How to Apply Interested Submit your application here We cant 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:

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

All other cities and states excluding those listed above: