Principal Engineer - AI Security

Thrivent is a financial organization committed to helping others thrive with purpose. They are seeking a Principal Engineer in AI Security to define and lead their strategy for defending against emerging AI-powered threats, focusing on protecting the enterprise from adversarial AI capabilities. The role involves deep technical expertise in AI-driven threats and requires collaboration across teams to implement scalable protections.

Responsibilities:

• Apply expert-level knowledge of AI-driven threats, cyber defense, and enterprise security architecture to define and drive outcomes that protect the organization from emerging AI-powered attack vectors
• Create the enterprise strategy for defending against AI-enabled threats, including automated vulnerability discovery, exploitation, and adversarial AI techniques
• Establish architecture for detection, prevention, and response capabilities specific to generative AI threat patterns
• Define and implement security patterns and guardrails to enable safe and secure enterprise consumption of AI technologies
• Drive integration of AI threat detection and controls into existing cyber defense tooling and platforms
• Build threat models focused on generative AI attack patterns and emerging adversarial techniques
• Use independent, critical thinking to translate evolving AI threat intelligence into scalable engineering controls and defensive capabilities
• Lead the development of detection and response mechanisms for AI-driven attacks across enterprise environments
• Design and implement telemetry strategies to identify anomalous behavior indicative of AI-enabled threats
• Partner with Cyber Defense teams to operationalize detections, response playbooks, and automation for AI-related incidents
• Prototype and evaluate defensive applications of AI to enhance detection, response, and security operations
• Develop architecturally significant components that advance the organization’s ability to defend against AI-driven adversaries
• Lead research initiatives focused on emerging AI threat capabilities, adversarial AI techniques, and evolving attack methodologies
• Maintain deep expertise in industry frameworks such as OWASP LLM Top 10 and MITRE ATLAS
• Continuously evaluate and introduce modern security technologies and approaches to address AI-era risks
• Drive adoption of innovative defensive techniques across the organization to stay ahead of threat evolution
• Provide deep technical expertise in AI security to solve complex, high-impact problems and remove critical technical roadblocks
• Partner with product owners and engineering teams to incorporate AI security requirements into technical designs and user stories
• Act as a technical leader in system design across teams, ensuring AI security considerations are embedded into broader architecture decisions
• Mentor engineers and elevate AI security capabilities within teams
• Partner closely with Cyber Defense, IAM, and Application Security teams to integrate AI threat protections across the security ecosystem
• Promote adherence to enterprise security standards while extending them to address AI-specific risks
• Broker design and implementation of AI security controls across product teams to support strategic priorities
• Drive alignment across teams on detection engineering, telemetry, and response strategies for AI threats
• Influence senior leadership on AI risk posture, threat landscape evolution, and required investments in defensive capabilities
• Provide enterprise-wide guidance on AI security architecture, ensuring consistent and scalable protection strategies
• Represent the organization externally on AI security topics when appropriate (industry forums, partnerships, etc.)
• Translate complex AI security risks into actionable insights for both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Define enterprise-level capabilities required to defend against AI-powered threats
• Shape the strategic direction for AI security across cyber defense, detection engineering, and secure AI adoption
• Provide subject matter expertise to guide platform and security investments related to AI risk mitigation
• Establish and promote engineering standards for AI security, including secure AI usage patterns and detection frameworks
• Collaborate across teams to ensure consistent application of AI security controls and design patterns
• Drive adoption of best practices for integrating AI threat protections into engineering workflows and platforms
• Provide technical leadership in identifying and responding to AI-driven security incidents and emerging threats
• Introduce resilient and scalable technologies to improve detection and response capabilities for evolving attack patterns
• Evaluate and implement enhancements to CI/CD and operational pipelines to incorporate AI security controls
• Influence cross-functional teams to proactively address risks associated with AI-enabled development and deployment
• Provide technical expertise in evaluating AI security tools, detection platforms, and emerging defensive technologies
• Assess how vendor solutions align with enterprise strategy for defending against AI-driven threats
• Contribute to selection criteria for platforms that enhance AI security posture and detection capabilities
• Mentor engineers in AI security concepts, threat modeling, and detection engineering
• Provide guidance on best practices for securing AI-enabled systems and defending against adversarial AI techniques
• Deliver training, workshops, and knowledge-sharing sessions to build AI security expertise across the organization
• Engage in the broader AI and security community to strengthen organizational expertise and visibility in AI security
• Support recruitment efforts to hire engineers with specialized skills in AI security and advanced cyber defense
• Model Thrivent’s leadership competencies: Model the Way, Rally the Team, and Deliver Outcomes
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and strong security practices aligned to evolving AI risks

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or related technical field, or equivalent work experience
• 10+ years of experience in security engineering or related field
• Proven experience defining and executing enterprise security strategy
• Deep knowledge of modern threats, attack techniques, and detection engineering
• Experience with threat modeling, incident response, and security operations
• Demonstrated ability to influence both technical and executive stakeholders
• Experience working with AI/ML systems and security implications
• Knowledge of adversarial AI techniques and AI threat modeling
• Experience with XDR, SIEM, and detection engineering practices
• Familiarity with AI security frameworks (e.g., OWASP LLM Top 10, MITRE ATLAS)
• Financial services industry experience