Security Engineer to AI Engineer
Your Skills Transfer.

More than you'd expect. Threat modeling translates directly to AI risk assessment. Red team experience is invaluable for LLM jailbreak testing and prompt injection research. Your systems thinking helps with AI infrastructure security. The adversarial mindset—thinking like an attacker—is exactly what's needed for AI safety and robustness testing. Companies are desperate for people who understand both security AND AI.

The field is exploding. Key areas include: prompt injection prevention and detection, jailbreak research and red teaming, AI guardrails implementation, model access control and authentication, data poisoning detection, AI supply chain security, and compliance (EU AI Act, emerging regulations). Companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, and every enterprise deploying AI need these skills. Most AI engineers have zero security background—you have a massive advantage.

Not for AI security roles. You need to understand how LLMs work conceptually—tokenization, attention, context windows, fine-tuning—but not the mathematical derivations. Focus on practical skills: prompt engineering, API security, guardrail implementation, and red teaming techniques. The deep ML math is for researchers building models, not for securing them.

For security engineers, 3-6 months is realistic for an AI security role. You're not starting from zero—you're adding AI context to existing skills. Month 1-2: Learn LLM fundamentals and how models work. Month 2-4: Deep dive into AI security specifics (prompt injection, jailbreaks, guardrails). Month 4-6: Build portfolio projects and start applying. Your security experience accelerates this significantly compared to a typical career changer.

Look for: AI Security Engineer, LLM Red Team Engineer, AI Safety Engineer, ML Security Specialist, Prompt Security Engineer, or AI Trust & Safety roles. Some companies call it AI Risk or AI Governance. Also consider AI Engineer roles at security-focused companies—your background becomes a differentiator. Don't limit yourself to 'AI Security' in the title; many AI Engineer positions desperately need security thinking.

Start with understanding how LLMs actually work—take a practical course like Andrej Karpathy's 'Neural Networks: Zero to Hero' or fast.ai. Then explore OWASP LLM Top 10 and research on prompt injection (Simon Willison's blog is excellent). Build a project: try red teaming an open-source LLM or building guardrails. Document everything—your security-informed perspective on AI vulnerabilities is valuable content.

Not necessarily. While some programming experience is helpful, many of my clients have successfully transitioned from web development, data science, or other technical backgrounds. We'll assess your current skills during our strategy call and create a personalized plan that meets you where you are.

Most clients invest 10-15 hours per week, but this can be flexible based on your schedule. We'll have weekly 1:1 calls plus time for you to work on projects and learning. The key is consistency. Regular, focused effort beats occasional marathons.

You become a member of the AI Native Engineer community, and you stay and keep going. Career transitions take different amounts of time for everyone, and I'm not going to abandon you if things take longer. You get ongoing support through good times and bad.

Online courses give you content. 1:1 coaching gives you a personalized roadmap, direct feedback on your work, career strategy, interview prep, and accountability. You get answers to your specific questions and guidance tailored to your unique situation instead of generic advice meant for everyone.

Investment details are discussed during the 30-minute strategy call, where we'll assess your goals and create a custom plan. The program is designed to pay for itself quickly through your increased salary. Most AI engineers see a 20-50% pay increase.

Absolutely. Most of my clients work full-time and make steady progress. We'll schedule calls at times that work for you and create a realistic plan that fits your schedule. Consistency matters more than intensity.