Network security specialist vs senior network engineer

The differences between network security specialists and senior network engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a network security specialist, becoming a senior network engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior network engineer has an average salary of $111,707, which is higher than the $82,206 average annual salary of a network security specialist.

The top three skills for a network security specialist include network security, incident response and IDS. The most important skills for a senior network engineer are switches, BGP, and OSPF.

Network security specialist vs senior network engineer overview

	Network Security Specialist	Senior Network Engineer
Yearly salary	$82,206	$111,707
Hourly rate	$39.52	$53.71
Growth rate	32%	5%
Number of jobs	82,646	35,428
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Average age	42	43
Years of experience	6	2

What does a network security specialist do?

A Network Security Specialist is a person who oversees computer networks to find security threats or unauthorized users. Their responsibilities include: identifying compromised machines, creating briefs of security measures taken, identifying possible security risks, determining the proper procedure to address the risks, assessing software that security aid, and researching security devices to get proper information on installation, audit-related information, and disaster recovery plans.

What does a senior network engineer do?

A senior network engineer is responsible for managing the organization's network infrastructure, handling advanced network issues, upgrading the system's design for optimization, configuring network features, and ensuring the network's highest security measures to avoid unauthorized access and suspicious activities. Senior network engineers work with network architects to implement network designs, run diagnostic tests, and create network solution reports for review and recovery reference. A senior network engineer must have excellent communication and organization skills and broad knowledge of the technology industry, programming languages, and system codes.

Network security specialist vs senior network engineer salary

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

	Network Security Specialist	Senior Network Engineer
Average salary	$82,206	$111,707
Salary range	Between $60,000 And $112,000	Between $85,000 And $145,000
Highest paying City	Sunnyvale, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Washington
Best paying company	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Technology	Finance

Differences between network security specialist and senior network engineer education

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

	Network Security Specialist	Senior Network Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Most common major	Computer Science	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	-

Network security specialist vs senior network engineer demographics

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

	Network Security Specialist	Senior Network Engineer
Average age	42	43
Gender ratio	Male, 83.6% Female, 16.4%	Male, 93.2% Female, 6.8%
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, 8.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 13.5% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between network security specialist and senior network engineer duties and responsibilities

Network security specialist example responsibilities.

Achieve a reputation as a security and technology leader in the LINUX world, interview profiled by several LINUX publications.
Manage project to maximize available bandwidth and throughput by implementing QOS technologies including compression, traffic shaping and priority/custom queuing.
Install new firewalls, switches and routers contingent on management schedule.
Create encryption policy and technical solutions to protect company mobile computing devices including laptops and smart phones.
Manage project to maximize available bandwidth and throughput by implementing QOS technologies including compression, traffic shaping and priority/custom queuing.
Coordinate efforts in moving data from Novell servers to Microsoft server with total overhaul of file and security group structure.

Senior network engineer example responsibilities.

Manage check point firewall logs using check point tracker and splunk.
Manage network / systems security, implement policies, processes PCI, HIPAA compliance.
Manage the SAN base storage environment consisting of EMC CX3-80's and CX700's.
Design and build Cisco Meraki cloud manage firewall, switch, and wireless access points for new facility of marketing firm.
Manage network security processes using ASA firewalls.
Manage, operate and analyze results from Sourcefire detection systems.

Network security specialist vs senior network engineer skills

Common network security specialist skills

Network Security, 12%
Incident Response, 6%
IDS, 5%
Firewall, 5%
Switches, 4%
Intrusion Detection, 4%

Common senior network engineer skills

Switches, 7%
BGP, 5%
OSPF, 5%
Troubleshoot, 5%
Network Infrastructure, 4%
Lan Wan, 4%

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Network Security Specialist vs Senior Network Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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