Principal Security Engineer - AI Security & GenAI Data Protection

Principal Security Engineer, AI Security & GenAI Data Protection

Citizens is seeking a Principal Security Engineer to lead the design, implementation, and enterprise rollout of its AI Security and Generative AI (GenAI) data protection capability. This individual will serve as the technical owner of the AI Gateway platform, driving evaluation, deployment, policy engineering, inline remediation, governance, and ongoing operations across sanctioned and unsanctioned AI usage. The role partners across Cybersecurity, Data Protection, Technology, Risk, Privacy, Legal, and business teams to reduce data loss risk while enabling responsible AI adoption.

Work Arrangement: Hybrid – 4 days onsite, 1 remote in one of the following hubs: Johnston, RI | Boston, MA | Marlton, NJ | Pittsburgh, PA | Phoenix, AZ | Irving, TX |  | Cleveland, OH | Columbus, OH | Philadelphia, PA  (We are open to considering remote talent requiring executive approval).

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end to end AI Gateway capability across evaluation, proof of concept, selection, deployment, configuration, policy tuning, operational support, and continuous improvement.

• Develop and execute a phased rollout from monitor mode to warn and coach to targeted blocking, using observed AI traffic and risk metrics to establish baselines and control implementation.

• Engineer and tune controls for GenAI prompts, file uploads, browser traffic, embedded copilots, and sanctioned and unsanctioned AI applications.

• Implement inline remediation controls including redaction, quarantine, user coaching, warning, and blocking.

• Establish instance aware controls that distinguish corporate from personal accounts and reduce data leakage risk.

• Assess AI and agentic integration risks involving AI agents, Model Context Protocol (MCP), non human identities, third party integrations, and emerging access paths.

• Integrate AI Gateway telemetry with SIEM, SOAR, ITSM, identity platforms, data protection solutions, and evidence repositories.

• Define and operationalize governance standards, policy lifecycle processes, exception handling procedures, escalation paths, and ownership models.

• Measure and report program effectiveness through coverage, policy accuracy, false positive and false negative trends, remediation outcomes, audit evidence quality, and user experience metrics.

• Partner with business leaders and AI platform owners to introduce coaching and enforcement controls with minimal disruption.

• Stay current on AI security threats, GenAI data loss trends, agentic AI developments, MCP capabilities, and evolving security technologies.

• Contribute to standards, procedures, training materials, and enterprise communications related to secure AI adoption.

• Support risk, audit, and regulatory readiness through maintenance of defensible security evidence, policy decisions, exceptions, and enforcement outcomes.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Information Technology, or related field, or equivalent professional experience.

• 7+ years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, information security engineering, or related technical disciplines.

• 2+ years of hands on experience with Data Protection, SSE, SASE, CASB, DLP, AI Security, GenAI Security, or similar inline security technologies.

• Direct AI Gateway experience strongly preferred.

• Deep understanding of GenAI data flows and security risks across prompts, uploads, browser traffic, embedded copilots, APIs, AI agents, and third party integrations.

• Experience implementing enterprise security controls capable of monitoring, coaching, redacting, quarantining, or blocking risky data movement in real time.

• Strong knowledge of SIEM, SOAR, ITSM, identity management, and security orchestration workflows.

• Experience with identity and access management concepts including corporate versus personal instances, least privilege, non human identities, OAuth, OIDC, and service to service access.

• Understanding of data protection, governance, risk management, and regulated industry control requirements.

• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical risks into actionable business guidance.

• Proven experience leading cross functional security platform rollouts and balancing risk, usability, and business objectives.

Preferred Qualifications

• CISSP, CCSP, CISM, or comparable security certifications.

• Experience with AI Security, DLP, SSE, SASE, CASB, DSPM, or related data protection platforms.

• Experience with Cyera Omni, Netskope AI Security, AISecOps, or similar technologies.

• Familiarity with Python, PowerShell, APIs, automation, reporting, and workflow orchestration.

• Experience working in financial services, healthcare, or other highly regulated industries.

• Experience developing governance standards, risk based enforcement models, exception management processes, and control evidence frameworks.

• Experience securing agentic AI environments, MCP enabled integrations, AI agents, non human identities, prompt and upload workflows, and GenAI data leakage scenarios.

Pay Transparency

The salary range for this position is $130,000 to $195,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn additional incentive earnings. Actual pay is based on various factors including, but not limited to, the budget, work location, and relevant skills and experience.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement plans, parental leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs, and generous paid time off exceeding local requirements.

Citizens Benefits Overview; https://jobs.citizensbank.com/benefits

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected status.