Network security consultant vs senior security engineer

The differences between network security consultants and senior 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 a network security consultant and a senior security engineer. Additionally, a senior security engineer has an average salary of $122,480, which is higher than the $92,993 average annual salary of a network security consultant.

The top three skills for a network security consultant include network infrastructure, switches and routers. The most important skills for a senior security engineer are cloud security, java, and linux.

Network security consultant vs senior security engineer overview

	Network Security Consultant	Senior Security Engineer
Yearly salary	$92,993	$122,480
Hourly rate	$44.71	$58.88
Growth rate	32%	32%
Number of jobs	79,888	69,850
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	6	6

Network security consultant vs senior security engineer salary

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

	Network Security Consultant	Senior Security Engineer
Average salary	$92,993	$122,480
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $126,000	Between $90,000 And $164,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Palo Alto Networks	Roku
Best paying industry	Finance	Manufacturing

Differences between network security consultant and senior security engineer education

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

	Network Security Consultant	Senior Security Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Network security consultant vs senior security engineer demographics

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

	Network Security Consultant	Senior Security Engineer
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 92.0% Female, 8.0%	Male, 91.2% Female, 8.8%
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 network security consultant and senior security engineer duties and responsibilities

Network security consultant example responsibilities.

Manage multiple network suppliers in a global environment in determining a proper choice for the SIEM.
Design and manage information systems security policy, implementation, and management for a globally distribute MPLS infrastructure.
Work on documenting and finding UNIX security holes within Harris' network.
Act as liaison between network team and Protiviti for their ongoing PCI compliance certification process
Act as an escalation point for alerts generate by a SIEM and other relate tools.
Complete system maintenance and upgrades during establish off-hour maintenance windows, and in the event emergency repairs or network upgrades.

Senior security engineer example responsibilities.

Manage logistics of moving necessary equipment for test across country to newly designed/built NSA certify test facility.
Assess cloud providers and products to meet NIST 800-53 for accreditation of applications operating in the cloud.
Involve in migrating JBOSS /Fat java applications to RHEL6 upgrade.
Conduct vulnerability scans using NESSUS to scan the CMS QIO network infrastructure.
Install and maintain security infrastructure, including IPS/IDS, log management, and SIEM systems.
Design and implement a plan to upgrade the ACAS infrastructure to include MDA's remote sites.

Network security consultant vs senior security engineer skills

Common network security consultant skills

Network Infrastructure, 9%
Switches, 9%
Routers, 7%
Windows, 6%
NMAP, 5%
Linux, 4%

Common senior security engineer skills

Cloud Security, 8%
Java, 8%
Linux, 5%
Windows, 5%
Incident Response, 4%
Security Engineering, 4%

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Network Security Consultant vs Senior Security Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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