Also called: ML Security Engineer, LLM Security Engineer, AI Application Security Engineer
Protects AI systems from attacks like prompt injection, poisoned training data and model theft, and makes sure AI tools don't leak private data.
You test whether a company's AI assistant can be tricked into revealing customer records by a hidden instruction on a web page. You add filters and permission rules to block it, then review a new AI agent before it's allowed to send emails.
Estimate; BLS information security analysts earn $129,180 median (May 2025), and AI security specialists earn more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in computer science or cybersecurity plus security experience; machine learning knowledge is a big plus.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science.
Growing much faster than average (about 21% over 10 years). BLS projects +21% for information security analysts, 2025-35; AI security is one of its fastest-growing corners.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps scan for attacks, but attackers use AI too; threat thinking and judgment stay human, though routine checks get automated.
Classes: AP Computer Science A, AP Statistics, Math.
Official data: O*NET occupation 15-1212.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.