Whilst the cybersecurity skills shortage continues to plague the industry, security professionals appear to be reaping the benefits with job opportunities and salaries skyrocketing across the board.
That’s according to Simplilearn, whose recent research found that with over one billion unfulfilled jobs IT security globally and companies of all sizes continuing to fall victim to cyber-attacks as a result, there has never been a better time for security pros to get the job they want.
The firm has detailed the ten hottest roles in cybersecurity at the moment, along with the average salaries each now offers and what certifications are required to get the gig.
Lead software security engineers are most in demand, so if you have a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a similar field with relevant security certifications, you can expect to bring home around $233,000 in this job.
Second most sought after are chief security officers, who are responsible for establishing and communicating best data security practices. Again, a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a similar field could see you earn around £225,000 per year.
Global information security directors make up the top three with average salaries of $200,000. These individuals must be able to anticipate attacks and coordinate responses to breaches and need the usual computer science degree along with extensive security certifications, HIPAA in healthcare or FISMA in finance industry.
Security consultants, CISOs, directors of security and cybersecurity leads came in 4th, 5th 6th and 7th respectively, whilst lead security engineers, cybersecurity engineers and application security managers complete the top ten.
“There has never been a better time to enter the cybersecurity industry,” Simon Hember, group business development director at Acumin Consulting, told Infosecurity. “The global demand has reached unprecedented levels and so there are opportunities right across the board and at all levels – from exciting innovative start-up’s providing a very niche service or solution, to complex global organizations with large multi-disciplinary security, risk and compliance teams.”
There is a lot of competitive tension in the market that drives up salaries and contracting rates especially for the very specialist skill sets, he added.