Senior security engineers can be equated with being the electronic superheroes of a particular organization. They focus on designing computer systems that can deal with disruptions such as natural disasters or malicious cyber-attacks. They analyze computer networks, ensure they are running securely, and foresee possible security issues that may arise in the future.
A senior security engineer's duties include, but are not limited to, designing, implementing, maintaining, and operating information system security controls and countermeasures. Secondly, they analyze and recommend security controls and procedures. Moreover, they also are in charge of monitoring information security systems for security incidents and vulnerabilities. Educational requirements include a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity, computer science, or a related field. Furthermore, for a senior position, employers will also look for a master's degree in a similar field along with proven work experience, usually around ten or more years.
Holding a senior position has its perks. Along with being the leader of a team, they earn an average hourly salary of $58.79. That is equivalent to $122,289 annually. The career is projected to grow 32% in the following years.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior security engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $58.79 an hour? That's $122,289 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 32% and produce 35,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many senior security engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, detail oriented and problem-solving skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a senior security engineer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.7% of senior security engineers included identity, while 11.0% of resumes included information security, and 5.5% of resumes included incident response. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the senior security engineer job title. But what industry to start with? Most senior security engineers actually find jobs in the technology and finance industries.
If you're interested in becoming a senior security engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 42.8% of senior security engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 33.7% of senior security engineers have master's degrees. Even though most senior security engineers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior security engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a senior security engineer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior security engineer resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior security engineer. In fact, many senior security engineer jobs require experience in a role such as network engineer. Meanwhile, many senior security engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as security engineer or senior network engineer.