How to hire a senior security & network engineer

How to hire a senior security & network engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior security & network engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior security & network engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior security & network engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior security & network engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The senior security & network engineer hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a senior security & network engineer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a senior security & network engineer that fits the bill.

   The following list breaks down different types of senior security & network engineers and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Senior Security & Network Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Security & Network Engineer	Computer networks are critical parts of almost every organization. Network and computer systems administrators are responsible for the day-to-day operation of these networks.	$37-76
   Information Technology Administrator	An Information Technology (IT) administrator is a professional responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of an organization's IT systems and ensuring that the systems are running effectively. IT administrators must conduct consistent analyses of the computer system and install updates when needed... Show more	$24-50
   Administrator	Administrators are administrative professionals who oversee the whole office or department. They manage office activities and supervise administrative functions in the office... Show more	$22-54

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Network Security
   • Cisco Asa
   • Switches
   • Network Infrastructure
   • BGP
   • ASA
   • Troubleshoot
   • Windows
   • OSPF
   • Intrusion Detection
   • Network Devices
   • Linux
   • TCP/IP
   • Servers

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage external DNS for corporate domains and external ISP IP blocks.
   • Configure, manage devices ASA 5520-40-80 site to site VPN and perimeter security.
   • Configure and tune BGP attributes to achieve maximum efficiency and redundancy.
   • Manage information technology security, including backups, firewalls, and routers.
   • Analyze and test network protocols (Ethernet, TCP/IP) using Wireshark tool.
   • Provide first-level support for the Linux and UNIX servers used to house the VDSS applications.

   More senior security & network engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the senior security & network engineer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A senior security & network engineer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a senior security & network engineer in Mississippi may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level senior security & network engineer. Additionally, a senior security & network engineer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average senior security & network engineer salary

   $112,202yearly

   $53.94 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior security & network engineer salary

   $78,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 14, 2025

   Average senior security & network engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$156,693	$75
   2	Nevada	$132,032	$63
   3	New York	$124,711	$60
   4	Maryland	$124,050	$60
   5	Massachusetts	$121,391	$58
   6	Arizona	$118,687	$57
   7	Virginia	$113,658	$55
   8	Delaware	$113,367	$55
   9	New Jersey	$112,548	$54
   10	Pennsylvania	$111,100	$53
   11	Texas	$108,880	$52
   12	District of Columbia	$108,616	$52
   13	Rhode Island	$107,300	$52
   14	North Carolina	$107,298	$52
   15	Illinois	$105,240	$51
   16	Connecticut	$104,505	$50
   17	Ohio	$99,928	$48
   18	Colorado	$99,228	$48
   19	Georgia	$98,101	$47
   20	West Virginia	$97,311	$47

   Average senior security & network engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Credit Karma	$177,343	$85.26
   2	Fox Broadcasting Company	$152,994	$73.55
   3	Bloomberg	$147,528	$70.93	3
   4	Square	$147,306	$70.82
   5	CDW	$142,260	$68.39	6
   6	ItsOn	$141,960	$68.25
   7	Argo AI	$139,412	$67.03
   8	Future	$139,273	$66.96	1
   9	OneLogin	$133,455	$64.16
   10	Motion Recruitment	$132,306	$63.61	26
   11	Robert Half	$131,292	$63.12	89
   12	Recruit	$129,935	$62.47	2
   13	DRW	$129,319	$62.17
   14	Randstad North America, Inc.	$128,658	$61.85	9
   15	NetCraftsmen	$128,415	$61.74
   16	Cira Infotech	$128,403	$61.73
   17	Colorado State Express	$128,403	$61.73
   18	Blockchain	$128,403	$61.73
   19	Apex Systems	$128,352	$61.71	2
   20	Nordstrom	$128,310	$61.69	1

4. Writing a senior security & network engineer job description

   A good senior security & network engineer job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a senior security & network engineer job description:

   Senior security & network engineer job description example

   As a Senior Network Engineer, you will design, implement, and manage our enterprise, datacenter and cloud networks. This position entails leadership in the design of future networks as the company grows. The position is a highly skilled technical position that involves intricate knowledge of Data Center, clouds and Enterprise networks along with SDN, network security, network performance, network capacity management.
   
   Self-Motivated and self-starter who approaches technical problems with creative solutions. Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and deliverables.
   NOTE: Required skills cloud networking, SD-WAN, Datacenter networking, Network Automation, and Network security
   
   Responsibilities:
   
   As a Senior member of the Network Engineering team, you will
   Analyze and recommend contemporary and emerging technologies and act as an expert liaison working with all teams providing network solution architecture and project delivery. The expert in building network automation and enabling self-service to meet the functional objectives of the business. Interact with vendors to ensure proper solution design, quotes and resolve issues to meet project delivery timeline and operation SLA. Define, implement and maintain network operations procedures, standard configuration templates, performance reports, topology diagrams, and documentation as required. Identify process improvements to streamline and improve overall IT service management & delivery. You will support a global environment with multiple Crestron locations. Collaborate with product engineering teams for technical evaluation, development and testing of their network requirements
   
   Qualifications
   Bachelor’ s degree in Engineering, computer science. Industry leading certifications preferred such as CCIE 8+ years demonstrated experience in designing and implementing network supporting datacenter system virtualization, application load balancing, application hosting, application acceleration, 8+ years of enterprise and campus networking includes but not limited Cisco Wi-Fi, Cisco ISE, 802.1x, LAN, Remote Access VPN. 4+ years strong experience directly related to cloud networking (Azure, AWS, Openstack, VMware), SDWAN, SDN (software defined network), with building automated workflow using Rest API and orchestrations tool. Must have experience of networking features and protocols such as spanning tree, ARP, CDP, EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, VTP, EtherChannel, 802.1Q trunking, HSRP, GLBP, VSS/VSL, QoS, TCP/IP, UDP, IPSEC, MPLS, H.323, QOS, SIP, port security, DMVPN, Multicast, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, IPsec, RADIUS/TACACS+, SNMP, Windows Server 2012, 2016 experience, and Linux knowledge preferred.
   #RecruitPS

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find senior security & network engineers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior security & network engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit senior security & network engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting senior security & network engineers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a senior security & network engineer applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior security & network engineer

   Once you've found the senior security & network engineer candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a senior security & network engineer?