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Occupation · 2026 assessment

AI Red Team Specialist

Emerging role

An emerging specialist who combines domain expertise with technology in AI governance and regulation. The role focuses on framing tasks, validating outputs, managing risk and taking responsibility for deployment in the real world.

Why this role is emerging: An emerging role at the intersection of AI governance and regulation. It is developing as organizations deploy AI, autonomous systems and robotics; the scope will evolve with practice and regulation.
Very low risk level Search jobs ↗
How risk may change

A forecast estimate, not a guaranteed scenario.

16%2026
23%2028
31%2030
41%2035

Which tasks are exposed

Risk applies to individual tasks—not to a person or an entire occupation.

TaskRisk
Initial classification of events and alerts40%
Log analysis and known-indicator detection37%
Preparing a standard incident report36%
Executing a standard response playbook33%
Investigating a novel attack or violation10%
Threat-time decisions and consequence accountability3%

Task map

AI replaces ↔ AI augments

Each task is positioned by AI capability and the degree of human involvement still required.

  1. 1Initial classification of events and alertsAI 40% · human 89%
  2. 2Log analysis and known-indicator detectionAI 37% · human 82%
  3. 3Preparing a standard incident reportAI 36% · human 89%
  4. 4Executing a standard response playbookAI 33% · human 89%
  5. 5Investigating a novel attack or violationAI 10% · human 94%
  6. 6Threat-time decisions and consequence accountabilityAI 3% · human 93%

Why technology can change this work

  • tools automate data preparation, experiments and parts of modelling
  • cameras, sensors and SIEM systems classify events automatically
  • AI detects anomalies and prioritizes incidents
  • some monitoring and patrol tasks shift to robots

What protects the occupation

  • choosing the right objective, data and model-quality criteria
  • decision accountability under threat
  • a large share of value comes from human judgement, trust or personal accountability
  • unknown scenarios and active adversaries
  • physical intervention or deep investigation

United States · before tax

Average pay and outlook

Estimated nominal monthly pay. The scenario reflects sector, demand and task resilience; it is not a guarantee of income.

2026$9 250per month
2035$14 350scenario estimate
2026: $9 25020262027: $9 70020272028: $10 20020282029: $10 70020292030: $11 25020302031: $11 80020312032: $12 40020322033: $13 05020332034: $13 70020342035: $14 3502035
Find jobs ↗The partner link may contain referral parameters. Data benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ↗

Practical next step

Where to move next

Do not restart from zero: carry your experience forward and add scarce skills.

AI Security Engineer

Emerging role
New role risk14%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit89%

Online Community Safety Manager

Emerging role
New role risk31%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit87%

Deepfake Forensics Analyst

Emerging role
New role risk14%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit85%

Prompt Injection Analyst

Emerging role
New role risk18%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit83%

Autonomous Systems Security Specialist

Emerging role
New role risk13%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit81%

Cyber Resilience Planner

Emerging role
New role risk17%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit81%

Job search and transitions

Find work with a lower risk index

Compare adjacent paths and open a current search for the selected occupation.

Autonomous Systems Security Specialist

Skill fit 81% · risk 13%

Search jobs ↗

Skills you already have

  • data work
  • hypothesis testing
  • model-quality evaluation
  • threat assessment
  • procedural discipline
  • incident response

Skills to build

  • AI-system evaluation
  • model-behavior monitoring
  • AI governance
  • AI security
  • digital forensics
  • autonomous-system security
CurrentAI Red Team Specialist · 16%
→
Keepdata work · hypothesis testing · model-quality evaluation
→
AddAI-system evaluation · model-behavior monitoring · AI governance

Sources and update

Updated: 2026-09-25 · Assessment confidence: Low

International Labour Organization · 2025Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure

Nearly 30,000 tasks; a global assessment of GenAI exposure across detailed occupational groups.

World Economic Forum · 2025The Future of Jobs Report 2025

A survey of more than 1,000 employers representing over 14 million workers across 55 economies.

O*NET Resource Center · 2026O*NET Database

Occupational, task, skill and work-context structure.