How to become an AI security engineer
Role guide and learning paths
As organisations continue to roll out AI powered solutions and software, the need for people who can plan, manage and assess the associated risks is also rising.
AI security engineers play a crucial role in securing AI systems and large language models, ensuring that AI adoptions are completed in the most safe and secure way.
- AI security engineers secure AI solutions against threats
- The reduce risk and ensure compliance
- It is a role that requires cyber security and AI governance training
- It offers a string of career opportunities as AI adoptions accelerate.
What role do AI security engineers play in a business?
As businesses increasingly look to roll out AI-powered systems at scale, AI security engineers are needed to integrate security into design and minimise vulnerabilities.
AI security engineers are needed to deal with compliance issues in AI, ensuring that systems deal with compliance issues in AI, ensuring that systems meet the legal requirements, such as GDPR and the EU AI Act.
They also play a key role in the deployment of AI, making sure that safety guidelines are maintained at all stages in the AI development process. They work in collaboration with other engineering teams. In particular, they focus on embedding AI security into workflows.
Your path to becoming an AI security engineer
1: Learn fundamental IT and cyber security skills
Grasping the essentials of cyber security and IT and cloud infrastructure is a must have first-step for a career in AI security. Focus on building programming skills, like Python, as well as basic knowledge of cyber security, such as the OWASP Top 10.
2: Study the latest AI threats
AI security risks are quickly evolving, and it's important to stay across the latest technology and developments. Staying up to date with the latest threats can help security professionals to direct their skills training.
3: Build AI and machine learning literacy
Once you have cyber security and IT skills under your belt, it's important to build a foundational understanding of AI and machine learning principles.
Understanding how generative AI and machine learning models work will also help you to understand their vulnerabilities and risks.
4: Specialist AI security training
Consider a dedicated training courses, such as an AI or cyber security apprenticeship to build dedicated AI security skills. You should also look into earning a specialist AI security engineer training, such as the Certified AI Security Engineer certification.
Top skills that AI security engineers need
Successful AI security engineers need proficiency in a range of cyber security, technical AI and human skills. This includes:
- AI literacy
- Cloud and IT infrastructure
- Cloud security
- Machine learning systems
- Python programming
- Security automation
- Threat modelling
Looking to train your team in AI security? Get in touch with our experts to discuss your requirements.
Top courses for AI security engineers
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AI security frequently asked questions
What is an AI security engineer?
As an AI Security Engineer, your role is critical in securing the AI systems and LLM's. You will assess the security of AI applications, identifying vulnerabilities and implementing the required security.
You will create AI threat models to analyse AI security risks and develop mitigation strategies and design secure AI systems and help architect AI implementations with appropriate security controls while preserving functionality.
You'll also guide AI security decisions and lead discussions about AI security trade-offs and recommend appropriate security measures.
What are the day-to-day responsibilities of an AI security engineer?
The day-to-day responsibilities of an AI security engineer can include many tasks, such as developing AI threat models. Building security tooling and automation are also common jobs in an AI security engineer's day. Its likely that you'll need to do some instrumentation detection and response too. Many AI security engineers also deal with DevSecOps and cross-functional collaboration. AI security engineers even deal with and even compliance and governance.
What is the salary of an AI security engineer in 2026?
The average salary of an AI security engineer in 2026 is around £54,000 a year. Although it can go up to £100,000 plus a year with experience.
How does an AI security engineer differ from other cyber security roles?
The role of an AI security engineer differs from other cybersecurity roles in terms of the targets, threats, and the systems they deal with. AI security engineers must focus on AI prompts and learning networks instead of cloud infrastructure.
They also must deal with issues like data poisoning and prompt injection instead of malware or ransomware. This means they must build different skills from those of other cybersecurity professionals. Such skills frequently include machine learning, API security, and Python.
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