Cybersecurity job postings in the US fell by 26.4% year-over-year from January to September 2026, according to analysis by CyberSN.
A total of 235,786 cybersecurity roles were posted on the job market intelligence platform JobSpikr in 2026. This is the lowest amount of US-based cybersecurity jobs advertised in the four years CyberSN has undertaken its analysis, compared to 273,498 in 2023, 244,911 in 2024 and 320,210 in 2025.
There was a particularly significant drop in leadership roles. CISO postings fell from 4632 in January to September 2025 to 2832 in the same period in 2026, a 38.9% reduction.
Other leadership roles that saw substantial dips included cybersecurity director (a 32.5% fall), cybersecurity lead (41% fall) and cybersecurity manager (24.4% fall).
Overall, nine of the 10 cybersecurity functions tracked by the researchers had fewer postings in 2026 compared to 2025. The only exception was research roles, which grew by 26.1%.
The CyberSN researchers said it is not clear whether the sharp decline in job postings reflects less demand for cybersecurity roles from employers or is simply a return from an unusually strong year in 2025.
The report, published on October 16, also highlighted that roles posted in the three quarters tracked in 2026 stayed within 1.5% of one another.
“That is consistent with demand having settled at a lower level rather than continuing to fall,” the researchers wrote.
A significant proportion (39.9%) of postings in 2025 came from small businesses, with 200 or fewer employees. Nearly half (47.3%) were from large firms with 1001 or more employees, and 12.7% from those with 201 to 1000 employees.
AI Security Engineer Postings Surge
AI security engineer roles, grouped in the cybersecurity function of “defense” by CyberSN, jumped by 268.3% in January to September 2026 compared to the same period of 2025.
The share of job postings that mentions AI or machine learning in the job description was similar in 2026 compared to 2025, 14.6% versus 15.1%, respectively.
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September 2026 also saw a surge in cyber data scientist postings, with 667 compared to 247 in the previous month, August. Of all these roles posted in 2026, 88% mention AI in the job description.