Amid the technical discussions taking place around AI and its role in cybersecurity, it is vital not to lose sight of the human impact AI is having in the industry. Arguably, the most critical of these issues is the effect on jobs.

One of the most important roles of a CISO is to assess the strategic make-up and direction of the teams that they manage, ensuring they are hiring for the right roles and skillsets to meet their organization’s needs. This task has taken on extra significance with the rapid adoption of AI in organizations of all sectors.

Cybersecurity leaders must understand how the growing adoption of AI necessitates additional or different skills and competencies within their department and adjust hiring strategies accordingly.

Forward-thinking CISOs must also consider the broader, industry-wide implications of AI on cybersecurity jobs. This includes maintaining a healthy talent pipeline, ensuring organizations have the skills required to stay secure in the future.

How AI is Impacting Security Jobs Today

In order to make the most effective strategic decisions around hiring, security leaders should take a step back and understand how AI is impacting the volume and nature of cybersecurity jobs today.

The Volume of Cybersecurity Jobs 

On the surface, AI adoption doesn’t appear to be leading to a reduction in cybersecurity jobs.

An analysis by the Cisco-founded AI Workforce Consortium found that the number of advertised cybersecurity roles rose by 9.5% across G7 countries for the six-month period ending in March 2026.

Close to a third (28.5%) of these job postings required AI skills, suggesting that AI adoption is driving new skills within roles rather than making those roles redundant.

This is a trend being observed by Ajay Hayre, a principal consultant at UK recruitment firm Robert Walters, who specializes in cybersecurity hiring.

“AI has certainly influenced the demand for cybersecurity professionals, but not necessarily by reducing the number of vacancies. It has shifted the focus of recruitment toward roles that require expertise in AI technologies,” he told Infosecurity.

Hayre added that he has observed some businesses hiring for emerging AI-specific roles within cybersecurity teams.

Similarly, Jon Brandt, senior director of professional practices and innovation at ISACA, noted that AI-mature organizations are needing to hire for extra security positions to account for AI-related initiatives across the wider business.

“Here, there is ample opportunity to guard or increase staff – even temporarily – to address gaps in documentation and data governance activities,” he said.

However, the picture is far from clear cut, and there have undoubtably been cybersecurity job losses caused at least in part by AI adoption.

Jeff Combs, a recruitment and career strategy consultant, told Infosecurity that he has seen a “staggering” number of cybersecurity professionals laid off in the past three years due to the impact of AI.

“A significant number of them have said the companies are cutting payroll to support AI investments. Several were responsible for critical systems, yet an algorithm said they were not needed anymore. I wish I had a better outlook but all I see the degradation of two professions – security and recruitment – and AI is a major driving force behind this,” he warned.

The Impact of AI on Entry-Level Jobs

A granular look at how AI is influencing hiring in cybersecurity reveals concerning trends when it comes to those seeking their first job in the industry.

The AI Workforce Consortium report found that while senior cybersecurity postings grew 65% between October 2025 and March 2026, junior roles only rose by 5.9% over the same period.

In an ISC2 survey published in July 2026, the majority (56%) of security professionals reported that AI has somewhat or significantly reduced the need for entry-level positions over the past year.

This “experience gap” can at least be partly explained by the influence of AI, with tools able to complete tasks typically associated with technical entry-level jobs in cybersecurity, such as alert triaging and report writing.

According to respondents of the ISC2 survey, the top two areas where AI security tools will improve efficiencies the fastest were network monitoring and intrusion detection – both of which are security tasks that contain significant entry-level responsibilities.

This is also the reality observed by Kam Karaji, director of cybersecurity and risk management, NFL, who told Infosecurity that the reduced opportunities for new candidates is a major issue facing the cybersecurity industry.

“Entry-level cybersecurity roles have traditionally been built around that grind work – triage, logging, documentation, repetitive analysis. It's boring, but it's where people learn the fundamentals of how systems behave, how to spot patterns, how to think like an attacker. You can't shortcut that development,” he explained.

“Now that AI can do a lot of that routine work, we're at risk of squeezing out the entry point,” Karaji warned.

How AI is Changing the Nature of Roles

The rising use of AI in cybersecurity is also significantly changing the nature of technical roles in the sector, and the human skills required to fulfil these functions.

The AI Consortium report observed that workers in roles like security engineers and SOC analysts have been freed up from high-volume, repetitive tasks, such as triaging alerts and correlating threat intelligence feeds, and are now more focused on strategic oversight functions of AI tools, such as validating outputs.

Karaji confirmed that a number of technical roles in his team have changed noticeably due to AI taking on these types of tasks.

“That's freed them up for more interesting work: threat hunting, incident analysis, strategy consultation. That's genuinely positive,” he said.

Revamping Your Cybersecurity Hiring Strategy

Security leaders must consider the above workplace trends related to AI and adapt their hiring practices to ensure their organization has the necessary human skills to maintain a strong security posture.

The AI Skills Needed in Security Teams

According to the 2025 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, AI was the most pressing skill need (41%) cited by respondents.

When asked about the key AI-specific skills required by cyber professionals, AI in threat detection and response was identified as the most important, cited by 42% of respondents.

Skills related to AI infrastructure and policy also ranked highly, which relates to securing actual AI systems used in organizations. These included defending AI models from attack (35%), securing AI integrations in cloud and edge deployments (31%) and governance and policy implementation (30%).

Read now: Understand How AI Systems Can Be Attacked, and Defend Them

Data integrity and privacy (30%) and regulatory compliance (29%) related to AI usage were also ranked highly by cybersecurity professionals surveyed.

The AI skills needed in modern security teams encompass a broad range of areas, both technical and non-technical in nature.

The AI Consortium study highlighted the need for workers in technical cyber roles to develop strategic skillsets in order to effectively carry out oversight and governance tasks relating to AI tools. These include ethical reasoning, systems thinking and stakeholder engagement.

Simply requesting AI knowledge in a job advert won’t be sufficient in ascertaining the candidates’ suitability.

Karaji explained that he ensures that new team members have genuine AI literacy for the particular security role they are applying for, well beyond just being able to show they can use tools like ChatGPT.

“For analysts and engineers, familiarity with LLM capabilities and limitations is now expected. For threat intelligence roles, it's essential; AI is changing how we do reconnaissance and pattern analysis. For leadership and governance roles, it's table stakes: you need to understand the risk implications and the capability uplift,” he said.

Considering AI-Specific Qualifications

The number of AI-specific cybersecurity qualifications developed by industry associations has grown.

In July, ISC2 announced it had begun developing a new AI certification, which will help define the knowledge, skills and abilities required to secure AI systems, manage AI threats and mitigate AI risk.

Meanwhile, ISACA offers multiple “Advanced in AI” certifications, including Advanced in AI Security Management (AAISM), Advanced in AI Audit (AAIA) and Advanced in AI Risk (AAIR).

While employers often don’t require such credentials in cybersecurity, many professionals see them as important to stand out in a competitive marketplace, ISACA’s Brandt noted.

Whether to require formal qualifications in cybersecurity job postings is a key consideration for security leaders.

Given the fact that AI technologies are constantly evolving, security leaders need to look for evidence that candidates are interested in continuous learning and development in this space. Qualifications could be a good gauge of that willingness to learn.

Recruitment consultant Ajay said: “This means looking for professionals who demonstrate curiosity and a proactive approach to emerging technologies. For example, perhaps they’ve completed certifications or training related to AI applications within the cybersecurity field.”

However, the NFL’s Karaji told Infosecurity that so far, he hasn’t required formal AI certifications as they are still in their infancy.

“I care more about someone's ability to think critically about AI – where it works, where it fails, where it creates new attack surface. That's harder to certify and easier to assess in conversation,” he said.

He expects this situation to change somewhat as AI literacy becomes incorporated into baseline cybersecurity qualifications, similar to what has happened with cloud security.

“It won't be a separate qualification; it'll just be part of the foundation. The candidates who don't have it will find themselves outcompeted,” Karaji added.

How to Protect Entry-Level Security Roles

Many businesses will see the short-term financial benefits of relying on AI to fulfil many functions traditionally taken on by junior staff. However, there is an argument that forward-thinking security leaders ought to push back against this temptation to ensure the industry retains a substantial talent pipeline in the future.

Karaji noted that it is a challenge for CISOs to make the business case for retaining significant entry-level opportunities.

“When you can automate alert triage, why keep a junior analyst doing it? From a pure efficiency standpoint, you can't defend it,” he said.

Nevertheless, Karaji emphasized that the future health of the cybersecurity profession requires people to gain experience in tasks like alert triage, which provides baseline skills that allow them to progress into more senior roles later on.

The case must be made to the boardroom that it is in the interests of the organization’s long-term security posture to retain entry-level positions, even where they could be largely automated.

“We might see a bifurcation: organizations with strong internal development pipelines and those that struggle to find experienced people because they cut off the entry point,” Karaji warned.

Similarly, ISC2’s Beale urged security leaders to do everything they can to protect entry-level positions, including redesigning them to fit into the AI era.

“Use AI to take away some of the repetitive work but keep the learning and prioritize mentoring opportunities. Give junior professionals the chance to understand the fundamentals, test their thinking and learn when to trust AI and, just as important, when not to. That is how we protect the talent pipeline,” he advised.

Conclusion

Alongside deciding the types of AI tools to deploy and how to utilize them effectively, cybersecurity leaders are also grappling with how the technology is impacting the human make up of their teams, which is substantial.

In this landscape, a strategic look at hiring practices needs to be taken, understanding how roles in their teams are changing and where new positions may be required.

This will likely require difficult conversations and choices, from requiring specific AI skills and qualifications in job advertisements to ensuring entry-level roles are protected and not subsumed by AI.

The decisions made today, as AI’s influence in cybersecurity takes hold, will have long-term implications for both individual organizations, and that of the wider cybersecurity profession.