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Senior security architect vs information security consultant

The differences between senior security architects and information security consultants 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 security architect and an information security consultant. Additionally, a senior security architect has an average salary of $129,456, which is higher than the $103,316 average annual salary of an information security consultant.

The top three skills for a senior security architect include cloud security, cloud and risk assessments. The most important skills for an information security consultant are risk assessments, risk management, and SQL.

Senior security architect vs information security consultant overview

Senior Security ArchitectInformation Security Consultant
Yearly salary$129,456$103,316
Hourly rate$62.24$49.67
Growth rate32%32%
Number of jobs123,555113,409
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Average age4242
Years of experience66

What does a senior security architect do?

Senior security architects deal with developing solutions to accomplish goals and providing ideas about structure, growth, and solutions. Their job revolves around a quick moving environment, constant communication, and working with partners to identify business opportunities. Having this position requires leadership and mentoring skills to help junior team members succeed in this field. They should have technical skills to design and develop solutions to improve an already existing technology. Also, they will be responsible for developing, planning, and executing security systems and strategies.

What does an information security consultant do?

Information Security Consultants are information technology (IT) professionals who are responsible for assessing computer and network systems to implement security solutions for the IT needs of an organization. These consultants must prevent unauthorized access to financial and personal information of the organization by assessing its existing infrastructures and systems for weaknesses. They must provide advice and recommendations on the best method to ensure security for their IT system. Information Security Consultants must also perform penetration testing and malware analysis to identify any network weaknesses.

Senior security architect vs information security consultant salary

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

Senior Security ArchitectInformation Security Consultant
Average salary$129,456$103,316
Salary rangeBetween $96,000 And $173,000Between $76,000 And $138,000
Highest paying CityOlympia, WACarson City, NV
Highest paying stateWashingtonPennsylvania
Best paying companyAppleeBay
Best paying industryProfessionalFinance

Differences between senior security architect and information security consultant education

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

Senior Security ArchitectInformation Security Consultant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Senior security architect vs information security consultant demographics

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

Senior Security ArchitectInformation Security Consultant
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 94.3% Female, 5.7%Male, 71.0% Female, 29.0%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage9%9%

Differences between senior security architect and information security consultant duties and responsibilities

Senior security architect example responsibilities.

  • Achieve full compliance for industry specification standards (UL, NEMA, NIST).
  • Manage logistics of moving necessary equipment for test across country to newly designed/built NSA certify test facility.
  • Provide governance and direction for proper use of data.
  • Implement logging, Nessus, write policies and develop encryption from framework for PCI/SOX compliance.
  • Ensure encryption solutions are in compliance with company policies, regulatory directives, and best practices.
  • Develop enterprise security policy, standards, controls and guidelines base on PCI, SOX, HIPPA, and NIST standards.
  • Show more

Information security consultant example responsibilities.

  • Manage the conversion to a hybrid NAS/disk/tape CommVault base backup environment resulting in decreasing backup windows and improving recovery objectives.
  • Perform privacy and security assessments and HIPAA compliance analysis of cloud-base medical service; draft legal opinion letter regarding same.
  • Provide guidance to different teams for closing critical infrastructure, network and application security vulnerabilities report in 3rd party security audit.
  • Defined/Creat tables, process SQL backup restore via export/import.
  • Select and on-board audit firm to perform management SOX testing.
  • Perform ISO testing to ensure compliance with security framework controls.
  • Show more

Senior security architect vs information security consultant skills

Common senior security architect skills
  • Cloud Security, 8%
  • Cloud, 8%
  • Risk Assessments, 5%
  • Encryption, 5%
  • Firewall, 5%
  • Windows, 4%
Common information security consultant skills
  • Risk Assessments, 6%
  • Risk Management, 6%
  • SQL, 6%
  • NIST, 6%
  • Infrastructure, 6%
  • Subject Matter Expertise, 6%

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