Associate Security Engineer Jobs in Austin, TX (NOW HIRING)

You Belong Here

The Protiviti Career provides opportunity to learn, inspire, and advance within a collaborative and inclusive culture. We hire curious individuals for whom learning is a passion. We lean into our mission: We Care. We Collaborate. We Deliver.

At every level, we champion leaders who live our values of integrity, inclusion, innovation, and commitment to success. Imagining our work as a journey, we believe integrity guides our way, inclusion moves us forward together, innovation creates new destinations, and our commitment to success empowers us to deliver on our vision to be the most trusted global consulting firm.

Where We Need You

Protiviti is looking for an experienced Associate Director to help build and be a leader in the Security of AI practice within the Cybersecurity & Resilience team.

The Security of AI discipline is one of the fastest-moving areas in enterprise risk today. Every organization deploying AI - whether building proprietary models, integrating LLMs, or standing up agentic workflows - needs to answer hard questions about threat modeling, governance, red teaming, model integrity, and data security. We're helping them answer those questions, and we need a successful leader who can drive that work technically, commercially, and intellectually.

What You Can Expect

As an Associate Director, you will lead client engagements at the intersection of AI adoption and security risk. You will develop lasting relationships with client executives and serve as a trusted advisor across the full arc of their AI security journey - from initial risk assessment and governance design through red teaming, secure architecture, and ongoing monitoring. You will also mentor, train, and coach senior consultants and managers as you build the next generation of AI security practitioners in the practice.

• Lead Security of AI engagements - AI risk assessments, threat modeling for LLM-integrated applications, agentic system security reviews, red team exercises, and governance program design

• Shape and advance Protiviti's Security of AI service offerings. Partner with practice leadership to evolve methodology, tooling, and delivery accelerators that keep our offerings aligned with emerging client needs and market direction.

• Develop the practice. Help recruit, mentor, and retain top talent. Coach managers and senior consultants on technical depth, client delivery, and career growth within the AI security space.

• Support business development. Lead and contribute to client pursuits, develop proposals, and collaborate with directors and managing directors on account strategy and expansion within priority accounts.

• Build Protiviti's external presence in AI security. Contribute thought leadership through publications, speaking engagements, and participation in industry working groups to strengthen brand recognition and market positioning.

What Will Help You Be Successful

• You have a genuine point of view on how AI is changing the threat landscape - and you've been building and testing that view hands-on, not just reading about it.

• You are comfortable operating at the executive level. You can walk a CISO through an AI risk assessment, explain prompt injection to a board, and translate governance requirements into engineering guidance - all in the same engagement.

• You don't wait for the industry to catch up. When a new attack vector, model architecture, or regulatory development surfaces, you find out about it on your own and start forming a view before your clients ask.

• You care about the business outcome, not just the security finding. You understand that the goal is to help clients move faster with AI, not to slow them down, and your recommendations reflect that.

• You want to build something. You see this role as an opportunity to shape a practice, define service lines, and leave a mark on how the profession approaches AI security - not just execute on someone else's playbook.

• You care about developing the people around you. You want to be the reason someone two or three levels below you becomes the next senior leader in this space.

Do Your Talents Include the Following?

• 8+ years in cybersecurity, with meaningful depth in at least one of: security architecture, AI/ML security, application security, cloud security, or security consulting

• Direct experience with AI security risks - prompt injection, data poisoning, model inversion, supply chain threats in ML pipelines, agentic system access control, or LLM-integrated application security

• Familiarity with the emerging AI security and governance landscape: OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, NIST AI RMF, MITRE ATLAS, EU AI Act, and sector-specific AI risk guidance

• Track record of owning client relationships and managing multi-workstream engagements from kickoff through delivery

• Strong communicator. You can explain AI risk to a security engineer, a CISO, and a board - without changing the substance

• Experience leading and developing teams of consultants and senior consultants

Your Educational and Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline (Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Management Information Systems, Mathematics, or similar) or equivalent demonstrated experience

• 8+ years working in cybersecurity, with at least 3 years in professional services, consulting, or a client-facing advisory role

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite applications with specific emphasis on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

• Professional certification such as CISSP, CISM, CCSP, CISA, or equivalent preferred

Our Hybrid Workplace

Protiviti practices a hybrid model, which is a combination of working in person with a purpose and working remotely. This model creates meaningful experiences for our people and our clients while offering a flexible environment. The ratio of remote to in-person requirements vary by client, project, team, and other business factors. Our people work both in-person in local Protiviti offices and on client sites, which can include local or out-of-state travel based on our projects and client requests and commitments.