How to hire a director of information technology security

How to hire a director of information technology security, step by step

Here's a step-by-step director of information technology security hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a director of information technology security job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new director of information technology security
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a director of information technology security do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the director of information technology security you need to hire. Certain director of information technology security roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect director of information technology security also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of director of information technology security salaries for various roles:

   Type of Director Of Information Technology Security	Description	Hourly rate
   Director Of Information Technology Security	Information security analysts plan and carry out security measures to protect an organization’s computer networks and systems. Their responsibilities are continually expanding as the number of cyberattacks increases.	$43-87
   Director, Technical Operations	A director of technical operations is in charge of spearheading the efforts in optimizing business operations. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to determine the best operational practices, setting goals and objectives, allocating budgets, coordinating different departments, and evaluating the performance of technicians and engineers... Show more	$47-96
   Vice President, Technology	A vice president of technology is in charge of overseeing all technological operations in a company while managing the workforce involved, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Typically, it is their responsibility to establish goals and objectives, devising strategies to enforce them... Show more	$50-104

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • NIST
   • Risk Management
   • Risk Assessments
   • Architecture
   • Cloud
   • Project Management
   • Access Management
   • Incident Response
   • ISO
   • Cloud Security
   • PCI
   • Governance
   • HIPAA
   • Network Security

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage systems and implement security patches maintenance of all company computer systems, windows and Linux.
   • Assemble and evaluate proper documentation requirements and manage SDLC to support pre-production.
   • Manage cloud transition and operations of several key technologies responsible for portal and administrative computing.
   • Manage the conversion to a hybrid NAS/disk/tape CommVault base backup environment resulting in decreasing backup windows and improving recovery objectives.
   • Include ITIL service management, financial system, formal service desk and trouble-ticket systems, networks, and servers.
   • Provide SOX audit testing of general security controls to ensure regulatory compliance for critical applications.

   More director of information technology security duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your director of information technology security job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A director of information technology security can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, directors of information technology security' average salary in hawaii is 30% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level directors of information technology security 50% less than senior-level directors of information technology security.
   • Certifications. A director of information technology security with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a director of information technology security's salary.

   Average director of information technology security salary

   $128,305yearly

   $61.69 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level director of information technology security salary

   $90,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average director of information technology security salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$150,970	$73
   2	Oregon	$133,755	$64
   3	New Jersey	$132,628	$64
   4	Washington	$131,392	$63
   5	Georgia	$127,738	$61
   6	New York	$126,985	$61
   7	Pennsylvania	$126,975	$61
   8	Rhode Island	$126,580	$61
   9	Massachusetts	$126,502	$61
   10	Maryland	$126,237	$61
   11	Illinois	$125,163	$60
   12	North Carolina	$123,628	$59
   13	New Mexico	$121,873	$59
   14	Virginia	$121,507	$58
   15	Texas	$119,433	$57
   16	Minnesota	$117,241	$56
   17	Iowa	$112,108	$54
   18	Colorado	$109,469	$53
   19	Ohio	$106,897	$51
   20	Florida	$106,895	$51

   Average director of information technology security salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Capgemini	$153,104	$73.61	60
   2	Sony Pictures	$130,870	$62.92	10
   3	BMO Capital Markets	$130,065	$62.53	2
   4	UBS	$129,732	$62.37	5
   5	Streamline Healthcare Solutions, LLC	$128,218	$61.64	1
   6	Nintendo	$126,951	$61.03	6
   7	Avery Partners	$126,393	$60.77
   8	Robert Half	$126,213	$60.68	120
   9	General Electric	$125,311	$60.25	3
   10	Asb	$124,885	$60.04
   11	Graphic Packaging International	$124,274	$59.75	2
   12	Veros Credit	$123,923	$59.58
   13	ClientSolv	$123,758	$59.50
   14	CipherHealth	$123,505	$59.38
   15	Centizen	$123,140	$59.20
   16	Randstad North America, Inc.	$122,365	$58.83	3
   17	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	$122,264	$58.78	1
   18	Satellite Healthcare	$121,748	$58.53
   19	Volkswagen Group of America	$119,809	$57.60
   20	MLK Community Healthcare	$118,762	$57.10

4. Writing a director of information technology security job description

   A director of information technology security job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a director of information technology security job description:

   Director of information technology security job description example

   The Director, IT - Security Operations will lead and operate our Enterprise Security Operations Center, which includes internal employees and Managed Service Providers. This role will be accountable for ensuring our ability to efficiently and effectively detect, analyze, and respond to the organization's information security threats. As a key member of the IT Security leadership team, this role brings current knowledge and future vision to support the evolution of our core security operations and leading the improved adoption of new practices and capabilities to mature our overall cybersecurity posture.
   This role is hybrid based with three days in office at our HQ location in Bridgewater, NJ.
   
   * Develop strong working relationships with support teams, management, and cross functional working groups.
   * Ensure appropriate governance over Managed Service Providers
   * Provide appropriate inputs to the problem management process while supporting other team members in processes and techniques used to manage significant incidents.
   * Provide oversight of the 24x7x365 Security Operations Center (SOC) and Security working teams to support security monitoring, protection, and delivery of security services for the organization.
   * Own responsibility for continued/active communication and escalation channels between various teams and working groups within the organization, and with external vendors or security service providers.
   * Identify SOC and Incident Response processes and standards across the organization.
   * Own the critical process steps - detection, validation, containment, remediation, and communication - for security events and incidents such as malware infections, potential compromise, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), etc.
   * Drive strategy for Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) and oversee the effectiveness of the technology and process. Involve appropriate tuning, correlation of critical logs, connection to incident response process, and reporting of relevant metrics.
   * Member of the Security Incident Response Team (SIRT) by responding to critical security incidents and leading escalation teams with response, containment and remediation.
   * Provide guidance to develop, maintain and promote a set of security operations playbooks with internal IT teams and external working groups to effectively trigger and execute the security incident response process.
   * Propose new standards, tools, policies and procedures to improve security, compliance and risk management activities based on security operations findings, or security events or incidents.
   * Report status on activities, issues, projects, etc. to senior management, including the effectiveness and efficiency of security activities.
   * Collaborate with IT teams and security colleagues to ensure audit readiness, and to prepare for internal and external audits.
   
   Qualifications
   
   * 10 years of experience in Security Monitoring / Incident Response.
   * Experience managing and leading a Security Operations team.
   * Advanced understanding of the information security threat landscape. Should be up to date on current attacker tools, techniques, and procedures.
   * Ability to quickly and effectively investigate security incidents, perform root cause analysis, and document findings.
   * Understanding of frameworks and standards, such as SANS Institute Critical Security Controls, ISO/IEC 27001/2, COBIT 5, NIST, OWASP, and Risk Management Frameworks, as well as Privacy Act and other rules and regulations.
   * Understanding of cybersecurity principles such as encryption ports, protocols & services, policies, procedures, physical security, risk management, configuration management, ethics, access control, security architecture, continuity of operations, contingency planning, application security, network security, etc.
   * Experience in penetration testing, threat intelligence and detection of incidents / network monitoring.
   * Understanding of existing and emerging technologies.
   * Experience of being a member of Cyber Incident Response teams (as a member and leader).
   
   Education and Experience
   
   * Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Security or equivalent educational or professional experience and/or qualifications.
   * Security certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CEH, Security+ or equivalent certifications a plus.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right director of information technology security for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your director of information technology security job on Zippia to find and recruit director of information technology security candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit directors of information technology security, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   If your interviews with director of information technology security applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new director of information technology security

   Once you have selected a candidate for the director of information technology security position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new director of information technology security. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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