Lead, AI Security Engineer

Our Purpose

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.

Title and Summary

Lead, AI Security Engineer

Job Description Summary
As a Lead Information Security Engineer specializing in AI Security, you will help design, implement, and improve security practices for AI systems, applications, and platforms. You will work with engineering, data science, product, and security teams to assess AI-related risks, support secure design decisions, validate controls, and help embed security into AI development and deployment activities. This role requires strong technical knowledge of AI technologies, application security, secure system design, and risk management, along with the ability to coordinate work across teams and provide practical guidance to engineers and stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
Security Architecture Design
Support the design and implementation of secure AI architectures, reference patterns, secure design guidance, and engineering practices for AI systems and platforms.
Partner with security architects, engineering teams, and product teams to apply AI security requirements consistently across assigned initiatives.
Evaluate AI technologies and architectures to identify security risks and recommend appropriate mitigation approaches.
Vulnerability Assessment
Apply established methodologies, tools, and assessment practices to evaluate AI systems against emerging threats, adversarial techniques, and model exploitation risks.
Lead or support security assessments, red team activities, and penetration testing efforts focused on AI models, AI agents, LLM applications, and supporting infrastructure.
Work with application and platform teams to document findings, prioritize remediation, and track risk reduction activities through closure.
Secure AI Development
Help define and apply security requirements and best practices across the AI development lifecycle, including data handling, model development, validation, deployment, monitoring, and retirement.
Partner with engineering, data science, product, and security teams to incorporate security-by-design principles into AI initiatives.
Provide technical guidance on the security evaluation of AI technologies, platforms, and business use cases within assigned areas of responsibility.
Compliance and Standards
Contribute to internal security standards, control guidance, and governance processes for AI security.
Stay current on regulatory requirements, industry frameworks, and emerging guidance from organizations such as NIST, ISO, OWASP, MITRE, and global regulatory bodies.
Support internal alignment with AI security standards and assist teams in understanding applicable control expectations.
Research and Innovation
Research emerging AI security threats, attack techniques, and defensive capabilities to inform team practices and assigned security initiatives.
Contribute to the development and improvement of security methods, patterns, and tooling used to protect AI systems and data.
Translate relevant research and industry trends into practical recommendations for engineering and security teams.
Documentation and Reporting
Develop and maintain technical guidance, assessment notes, architecture recommendations, control mappings, and operational documentation for AI security activities.
Prepare clear findings, risk summaries, remediation recommendations, and status updates for technical teams, managers, and security stakeholders.
Author practical implementation guidance, playbooks, and technical documentation that support consistent AI security practices.
Advisory and Support
Serve as a technical advisor for assigned AI security initiatives, providing guidance on architecture, risk mitigation, technology evaluation, and control implementation.
Influence security decisions within projects and platforms by providing clear, evidence-based guidance on AI security risks and mitigations.
Partner with product, engineering, and security stakeholders to align AI security activities with risk management objectives.
Technical Leadership and Mentorship
Provide day-to-day technical leadership and support to engineers and partner teams working on AI security topics.
Share knowledge through documentation, working sessions, team discussions, and practical coaching of peers and engineering partners.
Help improve engineering practices and consistency in AI security through reusable guidance, examples, and lessons learned.
Experimentation and POCs
Lead or support proof-of-concept activities and technical evaluations focused on emerging AI technologies, security controls, and threat scenarios.
Assess the security implications of new AI technologies and provide practical recommendations based on technical and risk analysis.
Partner with internal teams, vendors, and research groups to evaluate security solutions and determine fit for assigned use cases.
Qualifications
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Strong experience in information security, including experience supporting AI security, application security, cloud security, security architecture, or secure software engineering initiatives.
Working knowledge of AI technologies, machine learning systems, large language models, AI agents, data protection, and secure software engineering practices.
Experience applying security requirements, design patterns, and control guidance in complex technology environments.
Strong knowledge of AI security threat modeling, adversarial machine learning concepts, model security, data security, secure deployment architectures, and cloud security.
Ability to influence technical decisions and support adoption of security practices across engineering teams.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
Experience presenting technical concepts, risk assessments, and remediation recommendations to technical and management audiences.
Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, OSCP, GIAC certifications, AI Security certifications, or equivalent are desirable.
Experience contributing to industry forums, research, open-source projects, standards discussions, or internal communities of practice is a plus.

Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role. In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact reasonable_accommodation@mastercard.com and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly.

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

• Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;

• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;

• Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and

• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.

In line with Mastercard’s total compensation philosophy and assuming that the job will be performed in the US, the successful candidate will be offered a competitive base salary and may be eligible for an annual bonus or commissions depending on the role. The base salary offered may vary depending on multiple factors, including but not limited to location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Mastercard benefits for full time (and certain part time) employees generally include: insurance (including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, disability, life insurance); flexible spending account and health savings account; paid leaves (including 16 weeks of new parent leave and up to 20 days of bereavement leave); 80 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time, 25 days of vacation time and 5 personal days, pro-rated based on date of hire; 10 annual paid U.S. observed holidays; 401k with a best-in-class company match; deferred compensation for eligible roles; fitness reimbursement or on-site fitness facilities; eligibility for tuition reimbursement; and many more. Mastercard benefits for interns generally include: 56 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time; jury duty leave; and on-site fitness facilities in some locations.

Pay Ranges

O'Fallon, Missouri: $140,000 - $231,000 USD