How to hire an information security director

How to hire an information security director, step by step

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

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

What does an information security director do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the information security director you need to hire. Certain information security director 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

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an information security director to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an information security director that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of information security directors.

   Type of Information Security Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Information Security Director	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.	$47-96
   Securities Consultant	A securities consultant is responsible for maintaining the safety and security of the company's premises, including enforcing protection for all the employees and company assets. Securities consultants also handle the confidentiality and stability of data network systems to prevent potential breaches and unauthorized access to information... Show more	$34-55
   Securities Analyst	Securities analysts, also known as financial analysts, are responsible for collecting and interpreting data on securities, economies, corporate strategies, and financial markets. They provide clients with recommendations on investments based on in-depth research... Show more	$28-56

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Cloud Security
   • Risk Management
   • Incident Response
   • NIST
   • Risk Assessments
   • Infrastructure
   • Governance
   • ISO
   • HIPAA
   • Cloud
   • GDPR
   • Vulnerability Management
   • Project Management
   • SOC

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Design and lead implementation of extensive business-wide customer data encryption effort.
   • Lead projects to include standards and policy development, business strategy formulation, infrastructure implementation and process re-engineering.
   • Manage the conversion to a hybrid NAS/disk/tape CommVault base backup environment resulting in decreasing backup windows and improving recovery objectives.
   • Complete regular network scans and submit the results to the ISO.
   • Second step are to compile the data against the HIPAA guidelines and assess areas of success and improvements.
   • Develop a certification program for information security management system in accordance with the ISO 27000 and HITRUST CSF security standards frameworks.

   More information security director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your information security director job description helps attract top candidates to the position. An information security director salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for an information security director in Kansas may be lower than in California, and an entry-level information security director usually earns less than a senior-level information security director. Additionally, an information security director with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average information security director salary

   $141,813yearly

   $68.18 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level information security director salary

   $99,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average information security director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$172,857	$83
   2	Oregon	$152,936	$74
   3	Utah	$152,318	$73
   4	Washington	$151,791	$73
   5	Massachusetts	$149,526	$72
   6	New York	$149,322	$72
   7	New Jersey	$142,817	$69
   8	Wisconsin	$138,955	$67
   9	Arizona	$138,594	$67
   10	Georgia	$138,066	$66
   11	Illinois	$137,971	$66
   12	Pennsylvania	$137,838	$66
   13	Maryland	$137,146	$66
   14	Maine	$131,857	$63
   15	Florida	$131,030	$63
   16	Missouri	$126,339	$61
   17	Iowa	$125,584	$60
   18	Texas	$124,905	$60
   19	North Carolina	$124,557	$60
   20	Connecticut	$123,645	$59

   Average information security director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Chegg	$178,475	$85.81
   2	eBay	$178,320	$85.73	7
   3	PayPal	$173,461	$83.39	19
   4	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$165,301	$79.47	14
   5	Barnes & Noble	$164,253	$78.97
   6	Booking Holdings	$153,891	$73.99
   7	Santander Private Banking International	$152,361	$73.25	2
   8	Ross Stores	$151,984	$73.07	16
   9	Salesforce	$150,541	$72.38	24
   10	Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health	$148,995	$71.63
   11	Stanford Children's Health	$148,985	$71.63
   12	Ouster	$148,157	$71.23
   13	Wistia	$146,135	$70.26
   14	PlusAI	$145,974	$70.18
   15	Hallmark Services Corporation	$145,861	$70.13	4
   16	Maine Behavioral Healthcare	$145,847	$70.12
   17	Zwift	$145,831	$70.11
   18	Baptist Health	$145,813	$70.10	13
   19	AutoFi	$145,787	$70.09
   20	Balto	$145,782	$70.09

4. Writing an information security director job description

   An information security director 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. Below, you can find an example of an information security director job description:

   Information security director job description example

   TransUnion's Job Applicant Privacy Notice
   
   What We'll Bring:
   At TransUnion, we have a welcoming and energetic environment that encourages collaboration and innovation. This gives our people the opportunity to hone current skills while building and discovering new capabilities.
   
   TransUnion constantly analyzes market opportunities for growth through investments and acquisitions. To do this successfully requires a robust and mature M&A pipeline process. TransUnion's Information Security team plays a key part in M&A diligence and integration to ensure a clear and thorough understanding of risks associated with potential targets as well as appropriate planning and delivery of protection capabilities to acquired companies.
   
   As an M&A Information Security Director, you will be part of the deal pursuit and integration teams that work across the globe, driving Information Security goals by helping to lead evaluations of investment and acquisition targets and, as applicable, their subsequent integrations.
   
   Come be a part of our team and work with great people and cutting-edge technology.
   
   What You'll Bring:
   Security Diligence: Lead evaluating M&A targets' security posture-organizational structure, policies, processes, technical capabilities-based on TransUnion's Information Security playbook and standards. Working with M&A targets' technology and information security leaders, oversee execution of TU-led and 3rd party vendor assessments. Present findings to TransUnion's executive leadership. Ensure quality of deliverables-including diligence briefings, security integration plans and cost models-and their alignment with overall approach for business and technology objectives.Security Integration Planning: Lead development of the security integration hypothesis including merging of organizational structure, processes and security capabilities. Lead planning of security integration programs based on results of M&A diligence and security assessments as well as your knowledge of TransUnion's security posture, technology capabilities, and lessons learned from previous integrations.Integration Cost Model Development: Lead development of security integration cost models and financial forecasts while ensuring that they coincide and align with broader technology integration assumptions and milestones as well as TU's strategic direction for information security capabilities.Security Architecture & Capability Planning: Working in conjunction of other parts of Information Security and technology teams, facilitate development of security architecture plans and designs in accordance with integration objectives to bring acquired companies up to TransUnion's on-premise and cloud security standards.Security Posture Assessment Tooling: Help drive additional maturity and standardization in use of assessment tooling to evaluate acquired companies' security postures, particularly for cloud environments. Facilitate adoption of new tools and processes in the M&A playbook.Collaboration: Closely collaborate across M&A teams and locations. Address issues expeditiously, define alternative solutions as needed, resolve conflict and create lasting, productive partnerships with stakeholders in acquired entities. Help ensure that resources and organizational structure exist to promote collaboration and meeting of integration objectives.Communication: Convey goals and objectives to senior management and project team members in a clear and compelling manner. Actively listen during meetings and be comfortable clarifying ambiguity or technical areas beyond your comfort zone of knowledge. Produce concise presentations and other deliverables on a timely basis. Promote open communication within the project team.Change Management: Recognize the impact culture has on success and, if needed, tailor communication and delivery approach to local M&A teams and stakeholders to achieve outcomes. Effectively position projects and their objectives within the context of acquisition priorities to executives and sponsors. Successfully operate within different organizational cultures and norms to achieve M&A objectives.Additional responsibilities related to M&A Information Security Integration to be considered depending on the background and skillset of a successful candidate.
   
   Impact You'll Make:
   Interfacing with executive stakeholders Lead evaluations of investment and acquisition targets and, as applicable, their subsequent integrations.Educate the business and interact with various groups with in TU including, Information Security, Global Technology, and M&A Leadership.
   
   #LI-KJ1
   
   We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability status, veteran status, marital status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.
   
   TransUnion's Internal Job Title:
   Director, InfoSec Governance

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right information security director for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with information security directors they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit information security directors who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your information security director job on Zippia to find and recruit information security director 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

   Your first interview with information security director candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   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 information security director 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 information security director

   Once you've found the information security director candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   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.

   To prepare for the new information security director first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

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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