Summary

Proofpoint is hiring a Senior Director of Product Marketing to own positioning, messaging, and category strategy across Email Security and Data Security. This role needs an owner who understands both problem spaces deeply, not just how to market them.

This is a high-visibility, cross-functional role at the intersection of product strategy, analyst relations, and executive communications, with direct exposure to company leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Own positioning and messaging strategy for Email Security and Data Security, grounded in Proofpoint’s human-centric protection approach and leading with the threats and data risk that SEGs, Microsoft Purview, and legacy DLP tooling miss.

• Partner directly with Product Management and Engineering on both roadmaps, bringing strong technical fluency in email threat detection (BEC, phishing, account takeover) and data loss prevention or insider risk to influence, not just translate, product strategy.

• Lead Analyst Relations strategy and direct engagement for the Email Security and Data Security & Governance categories, including Gartner Magic Quadrant and Forrester Wave cycles, working in close partnership with the AR function.

• Build and run competitive takeout programs against Microsoft Purview, Mimecast, Abnormal Security, and other adjacent players, grounded in real technical differentiation.

• Develop board- and executive-ready narratives for company leadership and customer advisory audiences on where email and data risk are heading.

• Represent Proofpoint externally at Gartner Summits, Protect, and other tier-one industry events as a credible technical and strategic voice, not a talking-points reader.

• Build sales enablement that holds up under technical scrutiny from security-buyer personas (CISOs, security architects), not just competitive one-pagers.

• Push thought leadership on email and data security down to the product level, in partnership with the broader PMM thought-leadership motion.

Qualifications

This role requires a combination very few product marketing candidates carry: hands-on technical experience in both email security and data security, plus personal analyst- and board-level narrative credibility. All of the following are required, not a menu to pick from. 

• Hands-on technical experience in both email threat detection (e.g. phishing, business email compromise, account takeover) and data loss prevention or insider risk, gained through direct work such as security operations, incident response, or DLP policy administration, not solely a marketing vantage point on either. 

• A personal, documented track record briefing Gartner, Forrester, or IDC analysts directly within the last three years, or presenting security strategy to boards or C-suite audiences, with outcomes you can point to (MQ/Wave placement movement, analyst citations, board-level narrative adoption).

• 10+ years in enterprise security product marketing, product management, or GTM leadership, including at least 5 years with direct, hands-on responsibility in both email security and data security specifically, not adjacent categories alone.

• A track record of category-level narrative work, building the story for a category, not just filling in an existing one.

• Executive presence sufficient to represent Proofpoint unaccompanied in front of press, analysts, and enterprise CISOs.

• Bachelor’s degree required; a technical background (security, computer science, or equivalent credential) is strongly preferred over a marketing-only pedigree.

Success in This Role

• Movement on Gartner MQ / Forrester Wave positioning for both categories, with Proofpoint analyst relationships led personally by this person.

• Sales and analyst-facing content holds up under technical questioning from CISOs and security architects without needing an engineer in the room.

• Company leadership uses this person’s narrative framing directly in board- and investor-facing contexts.

• Competitive takeout materials versus Microsoft Purview, Mimecast, and Abnormal Security are credited by field teams as materially improving win rates.

Consistent with Proofpoint values and applicable law, we provide the following information to promote pay transparency and equity. Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets as set out below. Pay within these ranges varies and depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The actual offer will be based on the individual candidate. The range provided may represent a candidate range and may not reflect the full range for an individual tenured employee. This role may be eligible for variable compensation and/or equity. We offer a competitive benefits package, including flexible time off, a comprehensive well-being program with two paid Wellbeing Days and two paid Volunteer Days per year, plus a three-week Work from Anywhere option.

Base Pay Ranges:

SF Bay Area, New York City Metro Area:

California (excludes SF Bay Area), Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Washington DC Metro, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, Virginia, and Alaska:

All other cities and states excluding those listed above: