Swiss privacy technology company Proton to expand its R&D hub in Vilnius

Proton, a Swiss privacy-focused technology company, is expanding its software engineering operations in Lithuania as part of its broader global development strategy. The Vilnius office, established in 2019, currently employs around 20 specialists and acts as a regional R&D hub integrated into Proton’s global product teams.  

Proton was founded in 2014 by a team of scientists who met at CERN. Guided by the belief that privacy is a fundamental human right, the company has grown into a global provider of secure, open-source services with more than 100 million accounts across 180+ countries. Its products include Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Calendar, Proton Pass, Proton Authenticator, and Proton Wallet. The company’s users range from privacy-conscious individuals to journalists, activists, NGOs in high-risk environments and privacy-first businesses. 

Proton selected Vilnius for expansion due to its high-quality engineering talent, strong university programmes in computer science and cybersecurity, and a mature technology ecosystem. According to Beatriz Dominguez, VP People at Proton, Lithuania also offers favourable conditions for privacy-first innovation, supported by government incentives and strong connectivity to European data infrastructure. 

“Lithuania has proven to be a great fit for Proton’s long-term growth,” she says. “It has a deep pool of engineering talent, particularly in cybersecurity, cryptography and mobile development – areas that directly support our mission. Our Vilnius office plays an important role as a regional R&D hub contributing to Proton’s core services, not back-office functions. With the market now fully activated for hiring, we are excited to expand our team and strengthen our presence within the local tech community.” 

In Vilnius, Proton will be strengthening its capabilities across software engineering, mobile development, data engineering and QA/testing – including leadership roles – as it scales development of core components of its privacy-centric ecosystem. Typical roles will require strong programming skills, familiarity with modern development and CI/CD practices, experience in distributed teams, and alignment with Proton’s mission.  

Elijus Čivilis, General Manager of Invest Lithuania, notes that Proton’s growth highlights the country’s role in the global privacy-tech landscape: “This expansion shows that our ecosystem can support companies working at the technological frontier, from advanced security engineering to large-scale distributed systems. Lithuania offers the talent, infrastructure and regulatory clarity required for building secure digital services relied upon worldwide.” 

  

About Proton 

Proton was started in Switzerland in 2014 by scientists who met at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Our vision is to build an internet where privacy is the default through an ecosystem of services accessible to everyone, everywhere, every day. Our first product, Proton Mail, is now the world’s largest encrypted email service. Subsequent Proton products such as Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive and Proton Pass leverage the same advanced encryption to give users full control over how and with whom their data is shared. Our products are open source, developed by a team of over 500, and supported by an active community in more than 180 countries. Proton's primary shareholder is the non-profit Proton Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. Today, Proton is making privacy universally accessible and protects over 100 million accounts, including those of journalists, some of the world’s largest organizations, and ordinary people from all around the world.