Detection Engineer Intern

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

Proofpoint is looking for a skilled Detection Engineer to join our Account Takeover Protection team. This position is at the forefront of detecting and mitigating account takeover threats for cloud applications like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and more.
In this role, you will be responsible for designing and maintaining advanced threat detection logic to identify suspicious activities, risky behaviors, and malicious actions that attackers are performing as part of account takeover attacks.
This is a unique opportunity to combine engineering, data analysis, and cybersecurity threats to shape the future of account takeover prevention.
Please note - This is a 12 month Placement Internship starting in June 2026
Key Responsibilities:
Develop, test, and deploy threat detection logic to detect suspicious or risky activities.
Continuously improve detection logic to minimize false positives/negatives and ensure high accuracy.
Collaborate with peer Threat Researchers to incorporate new attack techniques and indicators of compromise (IOCs) into detection capabilities.
Work closely with Product Management to align detection capabilities with broader security goals and customer needs.
Key Skills and Qualifications:
Hands-on experience using Python, Pandas and big data querying (AWS Athena preferred) for analyzing and parsing large data sets.
Strong investigative skills to troubleshoot for debugging issues, like false positives/negatives and enhance detection accuracy.
Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including threat intelligence, product management, and engineering.
Preferred Qualifications:
Prior experience in a threat research or detection engineering role.
Familiarity with cybersecurity fundamentals, especially threat detection, behavioral analysis, and cloud account security.
Prior experience working with Data Science tools (Spark, PySpark, AWS Sagemaker Notebook, Jupiter Notebook) building supervised and unsupervised Machine Learning models for anomaly detection and data classification.

Why Proofpoint?

At Proofpoint, we believe that an exceptional career experience includes a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. Here are just a few reasons you’ll love working with us:

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

Our Culture:

Our culture is rooted in values that inspire belonging, empower purpose and drive success-every day, for everyone.

We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. If you need accommodation during the application or interview process, please reach out to [email protected].

How to Apply

Interested? Submit your application along with any supporting information- we can’t wait to hear from you!