Lead Engineer - AI Security

Target • Brooklyn Park, MN

6d • $132,000 - $238,000

About The Position

As a Lead Engineer on Target’s AI Security team, you will collaborate with technical and leadership teams across Target Tech to assess, validate, and continuously improve the security of AI systems and platforms. You will identify risks and gaps in existing AI implementations, evaluate security controls and mitigations, conduct architectural and technical reviews, and provide actionable recommendations to strengthen the security posture of AI solutions. The role requires deep technical expertise in AI security, threat modeling, security controls, testing methodologies, and industry standards. You will serve as a trusted advisor and hands-on expert, helping teams identify emerging risks, validate security assumptions, and continuously improve security as AI capabilities are deployed and scaled across the enterprise.

The role also calls for strong interpersonal and communication skills to support open, cooperative partnerships across the enterprise. Target notes that job duties may change at any time due to business needs.

The position may be considered for a remote or hybrid arrangement depending on Target’s needs. Remote team members work full-time from home or another non-Target location, without a desk at a Target location, and may travel to headquarters up to four times per year. Hybrid team members may work remotely or onsite at a Target location depending on role, team, and daily tasks. Work duties must be performed within the country of the primary work location unless otherwise prescribed by Target.

Requirements

• Four-year degree or equivalent experience.
• Software developer comfortable working in several programming languages across different platforms.
• At least 7 years of hands-on technology experience, with deep knowledge of multiple cybersecurity domains, including Information Protection, Cloud Security (GCP strongly preferred), Network Security, IAM, Automation, and SIEM.
• LLM security expertise, including RAG, MCP, input validation, and sandboxing.
• In-depth understanding of the OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications.
• Solid understanding of AI and machine learning.
• Understanding of prompt injection styles, including direct, indirect, and RAG poisoning.
• Knowledge of MCP authentication patterns, including dynamic client registration.
• Knowledge of RAG authorization patterns.
• Experience mitigating security risks of local coding agents.
• Solid understanding of containerization technologies and tools.
• Seeks cross-team collaboration opportunities and demonstrates curiosity and ability to learn.
• Stays current on relevant technologies through self-directed learning.
• Excellent written and verbal interpersonal skills, including strong presentation abilities.
• Proven ability to use a variety of security tools and technologies across diverse environments, with technical depth to understand and implement end-to-end solutions aligned with reference security architecture requirements.
• Good understanding of security management workflows in large enterprise organizations and complex environments.
• Good understanding of the current threat landscape and the challenges organizations face.
• In-depth knowledge of security frameworks, standards, and best practices, such as NIST and ISO/IEC 27001.
• Strong understanding of network security, cryptography, and secure software development.
• Experience with security technologies such as firewalls, IDS/IPS, SIEM, and DLP.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• GCP native security product experience.
• Commercial security product experience.
• LLM security expertise.
• Vertex AI experience.
• AWS or Azure experience.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with AI platform, product, and engineering teams to evaluate AI systems’ security posture throughout their lifecycle.
• Define and evaluate security assessment methodologies, testing frameworks, and assurance standards for AI technologies.
• Develop and execute AI security validation strategies, including threat modeling, attack simulation, and adversarial testing.
• Conduct technical reviews of AI products, platforms, and architectures to identify security improvement opportunities.
• Partner with engineering teams to validate secure deployment patterns for AI workloads across cloud and hybrid environments.
• Assess AI architectures, models, agents, and supporting infrastructure for security risks, vulnerabilities, and design weaknesses.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of security controls, guardrails, and mitigations for AI applications and platforms.
• Perform hands-on security analysis and testing of complex AI-enabled systems, identifying gaps in architecture, implementation, and operational controls.
• Recommend risk mitigation strategies and prioritized remediation plans to improve AI system security and resilience.
• Advise on AI security best practices, including model security, prompt injection defenses, agent security, supply chain security, and data protection.
• Prioritize security improvements that measurably reduce risk while enabling innovation and business objectives.
• Identify emerging AI-specific threats, attack techniques, and vulnerabilities, and communicate potential business impact.
• Collaborate with security, architecture, and engineering teams to improve AI security controls and governance practices.
• Assess and communicate security risks to stakeholders, balancing technical realities, business priorities, and organizational objectives.
• Serve as a trusted advisor on AI security as AI capabilities evolve across the enterprise.

Benefits

• Eligible team members and dependents may receive comprehensive health benefits, which may include medical, vision, dental, and life insurance.
• 401(k).
• Employee discount.
• Short-term disability.
• Long-term disability.
• Paid sick leave.
• Paid national holidays.
• Paid vacation.
• Additional financial, education, and well-being benefits may be available to eligible team members.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior