Information security engineer vs senior security consultant

The differences between information security engineers and senior security consultants 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 engineer and a senior security consultant. Additionally, a senior security consultant has an average salary of $120,769, which is higher than the $97,288 average annual salary of an information security engineer.

The top three skills for an information security engineer include infrastructure, incident response and security tools. The most important skills for a senior security consultant are cloud security, infrastructure, and governance.

Information security engineer vs senior security consultant overview

	Information Security Engineer	Senior Security Consultant
Yearly salary	$97,288	$120,769
Hourly rate	$46.77	$58.06
Growth rate	32%	32%
Number of jobs	120,257	66,226
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	6	6

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.

What does a senior security consultant do?

A senior security consultant is an information technology (IT) expert specializing in establishing security protocols and systems to protect a company's data and network. Their responsibilities revolve around performing internal research and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current IT security systems, recommending solutions to problem areas, and suggesting new tools and techniques to improve data security. Furthermore, as a senior security consultant, it is essential to monitor the company's systems and networks and promptly respond to any breaches, conducting corrective and preventive measures to prevent it from ever happening again.

Information security engineer vs senior security consultant salary

Information security engineers and senior security consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Information Security Engineer	Senior Security Consultant
Average salary	$97,288	$120,769
Salary range	Between $73,000 And $129,000	Between $91,000 And $159,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state	California	Nevada
Best paying company	The Citadel	Amazon
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between information security engineer and senior security consultant education

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

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

Information security engineer vs senior security consultant demographics

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

	Information Security Engineer	Senior Security Consultant
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7%	Male, 86.1% Female, 13.9%
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 engineer and senior security consultant duties and responsibilities

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.

Senior security consultant example responsibilities.

Manage GLBA security awareness and training program and annual information security awareness activities.
Work alongside the QA department to ensure all documents are concise and well written in order to meet ISO's standards.
Monitor company s internal logs and traffic via Splunk to proactively investigate suspicious traffic and determine if the anomalies are malicious.
Perform email and file encryption transition for global financial/insurance company.
Assist organizations with creation of their management systems and registration to international (ISO) security and service management standards.
Provide technical leadership, task management, and engineering support to customers in the development of cryptography and key management solutions.

Information security engineer vs senior security consultant skills

Common information security engineer skills

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

Common senior security consultant skills

Cloud Security, 9%
Infrastructure, 7%
Governance, 5%
Java, 5%
Risk Management, 5%
Access Management, 4%

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Information Security Engineer vs Senior Security Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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