HYDERABAD | 20 August 2026: Proofpoint, a global cybersecurity and data protection company, has established a new AI Security Engineering Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Hyderabad as part of a significant expansion of its India operations. The company plans to hire more than 200 engineers over the next 12 to 24 months, while also expanding its go-to-market presence through a new office in New Delhi. 

The expansion follows strong momentum in India, with Proofpoint reporting that its India business has tripled over the past 12 months, accompanied by double-digit growth in new customer acquisition. The Hyderabad centre will strengthen India’s role within Proofpoint’s global R&D organisation and support the company’s broader AI security roadmap.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • AI Security Engineering CoE: The new Hyderabad centre will advance next-generation AI security technologies, including AI governance, runtime protection and security for AI applications, copilots and autonomous agents.
  • 200+ Engineering Hires: Proofpoint plans to recruit more than 200 engineers over the next 12 to 24 months, expanding its engineering capabilities in India.
  • Strong India Growth: Proofpoint’s India business has tripled over the past year, with new customer acquisition growing at a double-digit rate.
  • Expanding Multi-City Footprint: The Hyderabad centre and new Delhi office build on Proofpoint’s existing India presence, including its Pune Centre of Excellence with more than 550 extended team members and go-to-market operations in Delhi and Bengaluru.

Headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, Proofpoint Inc. is a global cybersecurity company focused on protecting people, data and AI agents across email, cloud and collaboration environments. The company was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2021 for approximately $12.3 billion. Under CEO Sumit Dhawan, Proofpoint has expanded beyond its traditional email-security positioning into data security, insider threat management and AI security. The company’s latest India investment comes as enterprises accelerate the adoption of AI applications, copilots and autonomous agents, creating new security requirements around data, users and machine-driven activity.

As the digital landscape evolves, generative AI and autonomous agents have fundamentally altered the enterprise threat surface. Modern corporations are battling highly sophisticated AI-generated phishing, prompt injection attacks, and complex data exfiltration scenarios. By establishing this dedicated AI Security CoE in Hyderabad, Proofpoint ensures it commands the sovereign, deep-tech engineering capacity required to train defensive algorithms, securing the collaborative workspace for millions of global users.

THE INNOVATION MANDATE: BUILDING AI SECURITY CAPABILITY

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We are now expanding further with a new AI Security Engineering Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad, a new Delhi office, and continued investment in sales, customer success, technical support, and our partner ecosystem. These cumulative investments, combined with strong market demand, underpin the growth we’ve seen over the past 12 months.

– Sumit Dhawan, Chief Executive Officer, Proofpoint

The Hyderabad centre will form part of Proofpoint’s global R&D organisation, with a mandate focused on emerging AI security requirements. Its work will support technologies across:

  • AI Security: Developing capabilities to secure AI applications, copilots and autonomous agents as enterprises increasingly incorporate them into business workflows.
  • AI Governance and Runtime Protection: Advancing technologies designed to provide governance and protection for AI systems while they are in use.
  • Data and Security Integration: Extending Proofpoint’s broader data security capabilities, including Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) and data loss prevention, to address risks emerging from increasingly complex AI-enabled environments.

The expansion also includes a new Delhi office, alongside continued investment in sales, customer success, technical support and the company’s partner ecosystem. This strengthens Proofpoint’s ability to combine local customer engagement with the engineering capabilities being developed in India.

Industry Insights

Proofpoint’s expansion highlights several broader shifts in India’s capability-centre ecosystem:

  1. From Support to Product Engineering: The establishment of a dedicated AI security engineering centre reflects the growing role of India in developing specialised, globally deployed technology capabilities rather than serving primarily as a support or delivery location.
  2. AI Security as a New Capability Layer: As enterprises deploy AI applications and autonomous agents, cybersecurity is expanding beyond traditional user and endpoint protection to include AI governance, runtime security, data protection and the monitoring of machine-driven activity.
  3. India as a Global Engineering Base: The combination of a new Hyderabad R&D centre, an expanding Pune engineering presence and customer-facing operations across multiple cities demonstrates how global technology companies are building distributed capability networks in India.
  4. Growth Beyond Traditional Email Security: Proofpoint’s investment also reflects its broader shift towards a unified security proposition spanning people, data and AI agents, with India becoming an increasingly important market as well as an engineering base.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

Proofpoint’s new AI Security Engineering Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad, combined with its planned engineering expansion and new Delhi office, strengthens India’s position within the company’s global operating model. The investment is significant beyond the scale of hiring. It demonstrates how cybersecurity companies are increasingly locating specialised AI, data security and product-engineering capabilities in India to support global technology roadmaps.

For India’s GCC and global capability ecosystem, Proofpoint’s move is another indicator of the shift from conventional delivery operations towards high-value engineering, product development and emerging-technology ownership.

Curated by SSF Global

Tracking the shifts shaping GCCs, enterprise ecosystems, and the future of global business.

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SSF Global is a Global Community for Enterprise Function Leaders and serves as a research & advisory platform focused on Global Business Services (GBS), Global Capability Centres (GCCs), and the evolution of enterprise innovation in India and beyond. We track, publish, and partner in narratives that shape how capability centres transform into hubs of trust, intelligence, and sustainable growth. We also evaluate, assess and benchmark the GCCs for their performance, maturity and other parameters using our proprietary tools built from the knowledge gained from direct interaction with our members (GCCs & GBS).