Physical security engineer vs senior security engineer

The differences between physical security engineers 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 physical security engineer and a senior security engineer. Additionally, a senior security engineer has an average salary of $122,480, which is higher than the $84,784 average annual salary of a physical security engineer.

The top three skills for a physical security engineer include CCTV, security design and video surveillance systems. The most important skills for a senior security engineer are cloud security, java, and linux.

Physical security engineer vs senior security engineer overview

	Physical Security Engineer	Senior Security Engineer
Yearly salary	$84,784	$122,480
Hourly rate	$40.76	$58.88
Growth rate	32%	32%
Number of jobs	118,927	69,850
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	6	6

Physical security engineer vs senior security engineer salary

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

	Physical Security Engineer	Senior Security Engineer
Average salary	$84,784	$122,480
Salary range	Between $60,000 And $118,000	Between $90,000 And $164,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Roku
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between physical security engineer and senior security engineer education

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

	Physical Security Engineer	Senior Security Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Computer Science
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Physical security engineer vs senior security engineer demographics

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

	Physical Security Engineer	Senior Security Engineer
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 90.6% Female, 9.4%	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 physical security engineer and senior security engineer duties and responsibilities

Physical security engineer example responsibilities.

Coordinate and manage the installations of security systems with the USAO, GSA, and security installer.
Implement a manage endpoint encryption solution utilizing TrendMicro MobileArmor to secure university workstations against sensitive data loss.
Implement PKI procedures for entire division.
Create ETL processes for importing access data into SQL databases via SSIS and SQL store procedures.
Create access risk metrics and reports using SQL server reporting that goes up to a management committee.
Participate in project meetings and conference calls with facilities groups, USAO personnel, GSA, general contractors and subcontractors.

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.

Physical security engineer vs senior security engineer skills

Common physical security engineer skills

CCTV, 36%
Security Design, 25%
Video Surveillance Systems, 23%
Scheme, 5%
Control Systems, 5%
Card Readers, 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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Physical Security Engineer vs Senior Security Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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