Senior information security consultant vs information security engineer

The differences between senior information security consultants and information 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 senior information security consultant and an information security engineer. Additionally, a senior information security consultant has an average salary of $106,150, which is higher than the $97,288 average annual salary of an information security engineer.

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

Senior information security consultant vs information security engineer overview

	Senior Information Security Consultant	Information Security Engineer
Yearly salary	$106,150	$97,288
Hourly rate	$51.03	$46.77
Growth rate	32%	32%
Number of jobs	115,978	120,257
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	6	6

What does a senior information security consultant do?

A senior information security consultant manages and executes consultancy tasks in information compliance and security areas like privacy regulation, cybersecurity, cloud security, and software quality. They manage and conduct assessments depending on specific frameworks and lead teams during client projects. These professionals support organizations in implementing information security management systems as per the ISO standards. Also, senior information security consultants, coach medium consultants, and junior consultants on service offering and knowledge development. Also, they promote services and knowledge offerings.

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.

Senior information security consultant vs information security engineer salary

Senior information security consultants and information security engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Information Security Consultant	Information Security Engineer
Average salary	$106,150	$97,288
Salary range	Between $79,000 And $141,000	Between $73,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	California
Best paying company	RingCentral	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Telecommunication	Technology

Differences between senior information security consultant and information security engineer education

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

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

Senior information security consultant vs information security engineer demographics

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

	Senior Information Security Consultant	Information Security Engineer
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 83.1% Female, 16.9%	Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7%
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 senior information security consultant and information security engineer duties and responsibilities

Senior information security consultant example responsibilities.

Audit and recommend controls to mitigate risks and achieve compliance with SOX and GLBA regulations.
Manage the conversion to a hybrid NAS/disk/tape CommVault base backup environment resulting in decreasing backup windows and improving recovery objectives.
Utilize standard frameworks & guidelines such as ISO27001, OUM, NIST, ASD, PSR and NZISM.
Develop Cisco firewall policy and maintenance plans.
Organize NIST 800-53A lifecycle security activities: information categorization, audit, inventory and configuration management support.
Assume primary operational responsibility for Symantec DLP implementation

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 information security consultant vs information security engineer skills

Common senior information security consultant skills

Risk Assessments, 10%
Risk Management, 9%
Cloud Security, 7%
NIST, 6%
Security Assessments, 5%
Project Management, 5%

Common information security engineer skills

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

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Senior Information Security Consultant vs Information Security Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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