Software Engineer

About Proofpoint

Proofpoint is a global front-runner in cybersecurity focused on protecting the interactions among people, data, and AI agents across email, cloud, and collaboration platforms. Trusted by over 80 of the Fortune 100 companies, 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations, Proofpoint specializes in threat prevention, data loss protection, and fortifying resilience in people and AI workflows. Our mission centers on securing the digital realm while empowering people to operate safely and confidently.

Work Culture

Joining Proofpoint means becoming part of a global team dedicated to breaking down barriers and reshaping cybersecurity through our BRAVE core values:

• Bold innovation and dreaming
• Being responsive to feedback and challenges
• Accountability for impactful results
• Visionary problem-solving focused on the future
• Excellence in execution and impact

Role Overview

We are seeking skilled Software Engineers to grow and enhance the Capture and Intelligence platform within Proofpoint. The role involves working primarily in a Python-first monorepo that handles communication capture, compliance workflows, event processing, AI classification, investigative agent processes, and emerging decision-governance solutions. Candidates should be comfortable managing complex production environments involving external APIs, OAuth mechanisms, rate-limiting, asynchronous job orchestration, Postgres databases, customer-specific nuances, AI-driven intelligence, and enterprise-grade reliability. The ideal engineer is a strong coder who can independently take charge of components and workflows while collaborating thoughtfully and precisely with a high-performing team.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and improve backend systems encompassing data capture services, shared platform models, event pipelines, asynchronous workers, APIs, and AI intelligence workflows.
• Deliver robust technical solutions for complex, high-impact projects spanning multiple services or technological domains.
• Handle systems that ingest and standardize communication data from platforms such as Microsoft, Slack, Zoom, Google, Bloomberg, Salesforce, Proofpoint Archive, and other enterprise sources.
• Diagnose challenging production and customer issues related to data accuracy, API functionality, asynchronous failures, scaling, performance, and compliance-sensitive workflows.
• Participate actively in an agile environment through design reviews, code collaborations, pair programming, technical documentation, and sound design decisions.

Expected Outcomes

• Become a trusted and integral member of a high-caliber development team swiftly.
• Quickly understand unfamiliar codebases, domain models, and make safe, well-informed changes without relying on exhaustive documentation.
• Produce pragmatic, thoroughly tested, and maintainable code.
• Balance rapid delivery with operational safety, minimizing avoidable risks.
• Contribute to breaking down complex problems into clear, actionable technical choices.
• Navigate the trade-offs between product urgency, customer needs, engineering quality, and long-term sustainability.
• Comfortably engage with production environments and workflows.

Technical Environment

• Primary technologies include Python 3.12, Pydantic, psycopg/Postgres, SQL, asynchronous job systems, AWS, and orchestration akin to SQS/Lambda.
• Use of shared models encompassing accounts, feeds, events, jobs, schedules, agents, investigations, decisions, archives, and integrations.
• Capture services built around API clients, authentication flows, data normalization, sync orchestration, retry mechanisms, and backfill processes.
• AI systems leveraging structured output from Large Language Models (LLMs), evaluations, token budget management, vector embeddings and search, vLLM/local inference models, and agent workflows.
• Complementary React and TypeScript UI components for settings, agent runs, investigations, decisions, and operational workflows.

Candidate Requirements

• At least 5 years of professional experience developing production backend or full-stack systems with ownership of specific technical domains.
• Strong proficiency in Python, including experience with typed codebases, testing strategies, and production debugging; data modeling in Python is a significant plus.
• For full-stack candidates, advanced knowledge of TypeScript/JavaScript and familiarity with modern UI frameworks is essential and highly valued.
• Operational expertise with relational databases is required, preferably with PostgreSQL; experience in schema design, query optimization, migrations, and ensuring data integrity is advantageous.
• Experience building distributed or asynchronous systems involving message queues, worker processes, retry logic, idempotency, rate limiting, and failure recovery is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with API integrations encompassing OAuth protocols, webhooks, pagination, throttling, and related mechanisms is a strong asset.

Why Choose Proofpoint?

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Comprehensive benefits supporting career growth and wellness.
• Opportunity for career advancement tailored to personal goals.
• Flexible working environments.
• Annual wellness initiatives and community engagement days.
• Continuous recognition of contributions.
• Global networking and collaboration opportunities.

Our Values

Our organizational culture fosters belonging, empowers purposeful work, and drives daily success for all employees. We encourage applications from individuals of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Reasonable accommodations are available during the recruitment and interview process upon request.