Principal AI Red Team Operator

Verizon; Cary (NC); Hybrid; USD 121,000 - 231,000; Full time

Job summary

Verizon is seeking a Principal AI Red Team Operator to lead adversarial assessments on enterprise AI/ML systems, maturing testing frameworks and playbooks. You will report findings to engineering and leadership, delivering remediation guidance to secure the AI lifecycle.

The role emphasizes developing scalable AI security capabilities, staying ahead of GenAI threats, and coordinating with cross-functional teams in a hybrid work model.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or four+ years of relevant work experience.
• Six+ years of relevant work experience.
• Experience conducting AI evaluations or developing AI safety/security systems.
• Experience using adversarial prompting strategies to compromise enterprise AI systems.
• Experience with data poisoning or related attack vectors.

Responsibilities

• Mature & Scale the Program: Build, refine, and operationalize AI red team frameworks, playbooks, and automated testing tools aligned with industry standards (e.g., MITRE ATLAS, OWASP).
• Execute AI Red Teaming: Plan and conduct complex manual and automated adversarial assessments on enterprise AI systems (LLMs, RAG architectures, agents).
• Report & Consult: Present findings and risk insights to technical teams and senior leadership, providing actionable remediation guidance.
• Research Emerging Threats: Track evolving GenAI vulnerabilities and enhance testing capabilities.

Skills

AI evaluations

AI Safety

Adversarial prompting

Data poisoning

Python

Cloud platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Ollama

LlamaFiles

Job description

You want more out of a career. A place to share your ideas freely - even if they're daring or different. Where the true you can learn, grow, and thrive. At Verizon, we power and empower how people live, work and play by connecting them to what brings them joy. We do what we love - driving innovation, creativity, and impact in the world. Our V Team is a community of people who anticipate, lead, and believe that listening is where learning begins. In crisis and in celebration, we come together - lifting our communities and building trust in how we show up, everywhere & always. Want in? Join the #VTeamLife.

What you'll be doing...

The Verizon Cyber Security (VCS) organization enables the business by protecting assets and information across Verizon networks, infrastructure, and applications. VCS integrates cybersecurity governance, policies, technologies, and operations across Verizon, working to embed security into the design and lifecycle of technology systems.

Reporting into the AI Security Operations Manager, the Principal AI Red Team Operator serves as the technical subject matter expert responsible for planning and executing end-to-end adversarial assessments on AI/ML systems. Beyond assessment execution and findings delivery, a critical component of this role is program maturation. You will lead the development of testing frameworks, playbooks, toolsets, and metrics that scale and elevate Verizon's AI Red Teaming capability.

Responsibilities associated with the position include:

• Mature & Scale the Program: Build, refine, and operationalize AI red team frameworks, playbooks, and automated testing tools aligned with industry standards (e.g., MITRE ATLAS, OWASP).

• Execute AI Red Teaming: Plan and conduct complex manual and automated adversarial assessments on enterprise AI systems (LLMs, RAG architectures, agents) targeting prompt injection, data poisoning, and model exploitation.

• Report & Consult: Present findings and risk insights to both technical engineering teams and senior leadership, providing actionable remediation guidance to secure the AI lifecycle.

• Research Emerging Threats: Track evolving GenAI vulnerabilities, experiment with novel attack vectors, and continuously enhance testing capabilities to stay ahead of adversaries.

This position can be located in other valid Verizon locations.

What we're looking for:

You'll need to have:

• Bachelor's degree or four or more years of relevant work experience.

• Six or more years of relevant work experience required, demonstrated through one or a combination of job-related work experience, military experience, or specialized training or education (non-collegiate).

• Experience conducting AI evaluations or developing AI Safety/Security systems.

• Experience using adversarial prompting strategies (role play, DAN, etc.) to compromise enterprise AI systems.

• Experience using other than prompt strategies to compromise AI systems (data poisoning, embedding inversion, etc.).

Even better if you have:

• Strong understanding of AI model architectures and development.

• Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles and practices.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

• Experience in traditional web application testing.

• Experience using local LLMs for prototyping and experimentation with GenAI (e.g., Ollama, LlamaFiles).

• Experience in training and educating others on Generative AI tools.

• Knowledge of programming languages such as Python.

• Experience with cloud computing platforms such as GCP, AWS, or Azure.

• Demonstrated continual learning around the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Where you'll be working

In this hybrid role, you'll have a defined work location that includes working from home and a minimum of three days per week in the office, which will be set by your manager. Employees are responsible for maintaining compliance with hybrid work policies.

Scheduled Weekly Hours 40

Equal Employment Opportunity

Verizon is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to veteran status, disability or other legally protected characteristics.

Benefits and Compensation

• From health and wellness benefit options including: medical, dental, vision, short and long term disability, basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, AD&D insurance, identity theft protection, pet insurance and group home & auto insurance.
• We also offer a matched 401(k) savings plan, up to 8 company paid holidays per year and up to 6 personal days per year, paid parental leave, adoption assistance and tuition assistance, plus other incentives, we've got you covered with our award-winning total rewards package.
• Depending on the role, employees have the opportunity to receive compensation in the form of premium pay such as overtime, shift differential, holiday pay, allowances, etc.
• Newly hired employees receive up to 15 days of vacation per year, which grows with additional service.
• For part-timers, your coverage will vary as you may be eligible for some of these benefits depending on your individual circumstances.

The salary will vary depending on your location and confirmed job-related skills and experience. This is an incentive based position with the potential to earn more. For part-time roles, your compensation will be adjusted to reflect your hours.The annual salary range for the location(s) listed on this job requisition based on a full-time schedule is: $120,500.00 - $231,000.00.