Information security director vs information security engineer

The differences between information security directors and information security engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an information security director and an information security engineer. Additionally, an information security director has an average salary of $141,813, which is higher than the $97,288 average annual salary of an information security engineer.

The top three skills for an information security director include cloud security, risk management and incident response. The most important skills for an information security engineer are infrastructure, incident response, and security tools.

Information security director vs information security engineer overview

	Information Security Director	Information Security Engineer
Yearly salary	$141,813	$97,288
Hourly rate	$68.18	$46.77
Growth rate	32%	32%
Number of jobs	109,450	120,257
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	6	6

What does an information security director do?

An information security director is an executive professional who is responsible for implementing, designing, managing, and allocating all the security measures using technology in an organization. Information security directors are required to observe security vulnerabilities and threats as well as develop strategies to handle security incidents. They must participate in the deployment of security technologies and implement security policies and procedures. Information security directors must also implement education programs on user awareness and security compliance.

What does an information security engineer do?

An information security engineer specializes in designing and developing systems to protect company and customer data from hackers or any cyber attacks. Their responsibilities revolve around coordinating with different departments to identify their needs, assess existing programs to identify any areas needing improvement, monitor network and system for any problems, and implement preventive measures for protection. Should there be any breaches, it is essential to resolve them right away and conduct an investigation to prevent it from happening again. Furthermore, it is necessary to assist employees in utilizing security systems to ensure smooth workflow.

Information security director vs information security engineer salary

Information security directors and information security engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Information Security Director	Information Security Engineer
Average salary	$141,813	$97,288
Salary range	Between $99,000 And $201,000	Between $73,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Chegg	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Real Estate	Technology

Differences between information security director and information security engineer education

There are a few differences between an information security director and an information security engineer in terms of educational background:

	Information Security Director	Information Security Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Information security director vs information security engineer demographics

Here are the differences between information security directors' and information security engineers' demographics:

	Information Security Director	Information Security Engineer
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 87.1% Female, 12.9%	Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 9.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 9.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between information security director and information security engineer duties and responsibilities

Information security director example 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.

Information security engineer example responsibilities.

Lead the certification and accreditation efforts by implementing NIST 800-53 security controls in order to obtain FISMA compliance.
Implement a manage endpoint encryption solution utilizing TrendMicro MobileArmor to secure university workstations against sensitive data loss.
Ensure that security policies are properly implement using NIST guidelines and perform auditing of logs.
Conduct Java algorithm design reviews and resolve any design issues.
Automate manual queries and integration using WhiteHat API's with PERL and Java.
Update ACAS plugins weekly or when updates become available on the DISA provide website.

Information security director vs information security engineer skills

Common information security director skills

Cloud Security, 6%
Risk Management, 6%
Incident Response, 5%
NIST, 5%
Risk Assessments, 4%
Infrastructure, 4%

Common information security engineer skills

Infrastructure, 7%
Incident Response, 6%
Security Tools, 5%
Network Security, 4%
SIEM, 4%
NIST, 4%

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Information Security Director vs Information Security Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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