Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint establishes AI Security CoE in Hyderabad, plans to hire 200+ engineers

Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint is expanding its footprint in India as local enterprises accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence and seek to secure employees, AI agents, and sensitive data. As part of this growth, the company is establishing a new AI Security Engineering Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Hyderabad and plans to hire more than 200 engineers over the next two years.

The newly announced Hyderabad centre will concentrate on AI security technologies. Its focus areas will include capabilities related to AI governance, runtime protection, and security for AI applications, co-pilots, and autonomous agents. These capabilities build upon technology acquired through Proofpoint's recent purchase of Acuvity.

Proofpoint currently employs about 100 people in India, alongside more than 550 extended team members at its Pune CoE. The company also maintains go-to-market hubs in Delhi and Bengaluru, and is opening a new office in Delhi to scale sales, customer success, technical support, and partner operations.

Speaking on the market dynamics, Proofpoint CEO Sumit Dhawan noted that Indian enterprises are adopting technology and AI at a steady pace without widespread hesitation. He pointed out that companies recognize both the advantages of AI and the expanded risk surface it introduces. Recent customer acquisitions for the firm in India span the BFSI, BPO, defence, and public sectors, including one of the country's largest private sector banks.

The decision to build an engineering presence in India is closely tied to evolving AI-driven security threats. According to Dhawan, proximity to customers enables the company to collaborate effectively on developing intent-based models. The Hyderabad facility will house specialists in data science and artificial intelligence tasked with building these models and working alongside organizations currently deploying AI technologies.

Proofpoint reports that its India business has tripled over the past 12 months, with new customer acquisition growing at a double-digit rate. Dhawan places India among the top five global markets in terms of both AI adoption speed and awareness of the necessity to secure AI implementations.

Alongside engineering expansion, Proofpoint is scaling its data and AI infrastructure in India to address privacy and data sovereignty requirements, such as those introduced by the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA). The company has operated a local data centre supporting Indian customers since the third quarter of 2025. This sovereign architecture is designed to help organizations keep sensitive information within national boundaries while scaling alongside growing workloads and customer demand.

Proofpoint's India workforce has grown over the past 18 to 24 months, transitioning from a minimal presence to several hundred employees and extended team members. Dhawan expects a similar growth trajectory over the next year to 18 months as the company develops the Hyderabad CoE and builds out its technical and customer-facing operations.

"Proofpoint's expansion in Hyderabad highlights how global technology firms are shifting from mere sales presence to core engineering and research in India. As Indian enterprises rapidly adopt AI and navigate strict data localization norms like the DPDPA, building local Centres of Excellence ensures companies can address compliance and security challenges directly at the source. This trend underscores India's rising status as a critical hub for advanced technology development." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes