Software Engineer III (Backend Python)

About Us

Proofpoint is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity. We protect how people, data, and AI agents connect across email, cloud, and collaboration tools. Over 80 of the Fortune 100, 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations trust Proofpoint to stop threats, prevent data loss, and build resilience across their people and AI workflows. Our mission is simple safeguard the digital world and empower people to work securely and confidently. Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.

How We Work

At Proofpoint you’ll be part of a global team that breaks barriers to redefine cybersecurity guided by our BRAVE core values

Bold in how we dream and innovate

Responsive to feedback, challenges and opportunities

Accountable for results and best in class outcomes

Visionary in future focused problem-solving

Exceptional in execution and impact

The Role

Overview We’re looking for a highly effective and experienced Backend Python Engineer with deep Python expertise to design and deliver scalable, resilient systems as part of a highly successful and collaborative engineering team.

In this role, you will work on highly innovative, next-generation security technologies within our Human Risk Management (HRM) product group. Human Risk Management is a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity that focuses on understanding, measuring, and mitigating risks associated with human behaviour across an organization.

You will take a key role in technical design, architectural decision-making, and code quality, and will be responsible for designing and building a new, large-scale analytics database from the ground up, forming a core foundation of our risk scoring and HRM capabilities. This is a hands-on role with meaningful ownership across the full software development lifecycle, while also contributing to the technical growth of the team.

Your day-to-day

• Lead the design and development of core backend components of a large-scale SaaS platform using Python
• Design, build, and maintain RESTful APIs and highly available management services
• Design and implement scalable distributed systems and intelligent network data-path processing
• Design, build, and evolve a new large-scale analytics database from the ground up, responsible for ingesting high-volume security signals and calculating human risk scores at scale
• Champion engineering best practices, system reliability, and maintainable code
• Provide technical leadership through in-depth code reviews, architectural guidance, and mentoring of other engineers
  
  

• 5+ years of hands-on experience building and operating complex back-end systems in production environments
• Expert-level Python skills, with a proven track record of designing, delivering, and supporting commercial-grade software
• Practical AI assisted/autonomous development experience with AI/agent tools such as Claude code, Devin, etc.
• Demonstrated experience owning system design and architectural decisions, particularly for data-intensive or distributed systems
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including streaming or event-driven architectures
• Strong experience working in agile environments, collaborating across disciplines, and providing constructive technical feedback
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
  
  

• Competitive compensation
• Comprehensive benefits
• Career success on your terms
• Flexible work environment
• Annual wellness and community outreach days
• Always on recognition for your contributions
• Global collaboration and networking opportunities