AI Red Team Specialist
NicheAlso known as: AI Safety Tester, AI Adversarial Researcher, AI Security Specialist
Probe AI systems for vulnerabilities, biases, and failure modes through adversarial testing to ensure safety and reliability before deployment.
Salary Range
The highest-paid specialization or seniority level for ai red team specialists.
About 1 in 25 reaches this level
Very small field of ~3-5K practitioners (est., no BLS code — nearest SOC 15-1212 Information Security Analysts is far broader); only ~150 reach Head of AI Red Teaming at frontier labs and large enterprises at ~$280K total comp (~4%).
Salary data based on 2025 BLS, Glassdoor, and industry reports. Actual compensation varies by location, experience, and employer.
How to Become One
This career typically requires a bachelor's degree.
AI Risk Assessment
Automated red-teaming tools (Microsoft PyRIT, NVIDIA Garak, Promptfoo) now handle routine adversarial probes at scale. The EU AI Act's 2026 mandate drives demand, but the entry-level 'run the fuzzer' work is increasingly automated. Senior creative adversarial thinking remains human, but juniors face a narrower funnel.
Sources
Ratings reflect a 10-year outlook based on 2025-2026 research, weighted toward entry-level impact. Individual outcomes will vary.
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