AI Security Hiring Focuses on Red-Teaming, SOC Orchestration and Governance
Cybersecurity Dive, Tuesday, October 20th, 2026
A SANS job tracker finds 850+ open AI/ML security engineer roles, plus growing demand for AI red-teamers and AI GRC leads.
SANS analyzed public job postings from mid-September 2026 to count open AI security roles and median salaries.
It found more than 850 openings for AI and machine learning security engineers (median $140,000), nearly 100 for AI red-team specialists ($124,000) and about 430 for AI governance, risk and compliance leads ($146,000).
Employers included Amazon, Mastercard, Cloudflare and SpaceX.
SANS links the demand to attacks on AI applications, prompt-injection flaws and widespread unapproved employee AI use, and expects roles focused on deepfakes and post-quantum migration to emerge next.