Senior cyber security analyst vs network security engineer

The differences between senior cyber security analysts and network security 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 senior cyber security analyst, becoming a network security engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior cyber security analyst has an average salary of $91,144, which is higher than the $88,322 average annual salary of a network security engineer.

The top three skills for a senior cyber security analyst include cyber security, incident response and NIST. The most important skills for a network security engineer are network security, windows, and cisco asa.

Senior cyber security analyst vs network security engineer overview

	Senior Cyber Security Analyst	Network Security Engineer
Yearly salary	$91,144	$88,322
Hourly rate	$43.82	$42.46
Growth rate	32%	5%
Number of jobs	64,649	91,892
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	42	43
Years of experience	6	2

What does a senior cyber security analyst do?

A senior cybersecurity analyst provides assistance in designing and implementing IT security systems in organizations or companies. Senior cybersecurity analysts protect the computer networks of organizations from any cyber-attack. They respond and analyze different cyber incidents as necessary. They offer actionable investigative leads to investigators to prevent terrorist or criminal acts in the future. Also, they establish and update procedures and documentation for various duties in ISO and ITIL formats.

What does a network security engineer do?

A network security engineer is responsible for maintaining the safety and security of all the organization's network systems, conducting regular configuration and maintenance to avoid unauthorized access and suspicious activities that may pose risks for the company's integrity. Network security engineers manage security threats and strategize resolutions to mitigate the reoccurrence of security issues. They also develop security enhancement recommendations, update network infrastructure, and monitor system activities. A network security engineer should have excellent communication and technical skills, as well as a strong command of programming languages and system codes.

Senior cyber security analyst vs network security engineer salary

Senior cyber security analysts and network security engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Cyber Security Analyst	Network Security Engineer
Average salary	$91,144	$88,322
Salary range	Between $69,000 And $119,000	Between $64,000 And $120,000
Highest paying City	San Mateo, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Nike	The Knot
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Retail

Differences between senior cyber security analyst and network security engineer education

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

	Senior Cyber Security Analyst	Network Security Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Computer Information Systems	Computer Science
Most common college	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Senior cyber security analyst vs network security engineer demographics

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

	Senior Cyber Security Analyst	Network Security Engineer
Average age	42	43
Gender ratio	Male, 81.2% Female, 18.8%	Male, 90.7% Female, 9.3%
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, 8.0% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 13.9% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between senior cyber security analyst and network security engineer duties and responsibilities

Senior cyber security analyst example responsibilities.

Research and authore white paper advocating a framework for managing risk to the most critical DoD systems.
Implement a manage endpoint encryption solution utilizing TrendMicro MobileArmor to secure university workstations against sensitive data loss.
Lead ArcSight SIEM, MacAfee HBSS, mail gateway and firewall administrator.
Use Splunk and FireEye CMS, among other tools for security response to triage security issues.
Interrogate and monitor agency network traffic using QRadar SIEM.
Import data sources into Splunk and write custom RegEx to parse key fields.

Network security engineer example responsibilities.

Add and manage nodes in SolarWinds for monitoring purposes using SNMP v1/v2/v3.
Work with VMware NSX with deployment of greenfield environment and managing and troubleshooting issues with NSX.
Interact successfully with both program leads and DoD customer to ensure objectives are completed on time.
Experience in managing and troubleshooting Linux or Unix base operating systems.
Manage information technology security, including backups, firewalls, and routers.
Design and manage information systems security policy, implementation, and management for a globally distribute MPLS infrastructure.

Senior cyber security analyst vs network security engineer skills

Common senior cyber security analyst skills

Cyber Security, 18%
Incident Response, 7%
NIST, 6%
Windows, 6%
RMF, 5%
DOD, 4%

Common network security engineer skills

Network Security, 10%
Windows, 5%
Cisco Asa, 4%
Switches, 4%
Linux, 4%
Troubleshoot, 3%

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Senior Cyber Security Analyst vs Network Security Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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