Cyber Security Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Cyber Security Engineer designs systems that protect the security of large databases, including databases with customer information and patient files. Examines client computer systems, identifies weak points in security, develops and implements new systems, monitors and responds to security issues.
Job Outlook
There were 1545 Cyber Security Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 48745 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Cyber / Information Security Engineer / Analyst industry, which includes the Cyber Security Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Cyber Security Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $116,796.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $115,275.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Cyber Security Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $98,992.
Education and Experience
Posted Cyber Security Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 66.77% |
| Master's Degree | 22.05% |
| Doctoral Degree | 4.24% |
| Other | 4.34% |
Posted Cyber Security Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 8.68% |
| 3 to 5 years | 49.49% |
| 6 to 8 years | 25.58% |
| 9+ years | 16.24% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Cyber Security Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (38.03%)
- Management (36.14%)
- Operations (25.75%)
- Problem Solving (25.5%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (22.18%)
- Leadership (19.58%)
- Research (18.34%)
- Information Technology (18.28%)
- Security Policies (17.99%)
- Planning (12.02%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Security Solutions (17.33%)
- Security Tools (17.32%)
- Scripting (26.07%)
- Vulnerability (0.04%)
- Vulnerability Assessments (9.73%)
- Vulnerability Management (21.77%)
- Threat Modeling (13.24%)
- Security Information And Event Management (SIEM) (20.39%)
- Vulnerability Scanning (10.3%)
- Python (Programming Language) (36.4%)
- Network Security (22.69%)
- Identity And Access Management (13.68%)
- Security Engineering (26.19%)
- Encryption (12.63%)
- Cryptography (10.26%)
- Cyber Security (51.77%)
- Computer Science (42.94%)
- Security Controls (22.56%)
- Cloud Security (20.78%)
- Automation (31.52%)
- Microsoft Azure (26.94%)
- Amazon Web Services (30.61%)
- Penetration Testing (15.13%)
- Application Security (13.94%)
- Auditing (20.22%)
- IT Security Architecture (11.36%)
- Infrastructure Security (9.35%)
- Endpoint Security (11.08%)
- Cyber Threat Intelligence (15.11%)
- Cyber Engineering (21.72%)
- Endpoint Detection And Response (8.77%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Programming Languages (6.75%)
- Industry Standards (7.07%)
- IT Security (9.56%)
- CI/CD (13.26%)
- Terraform (9.75%)
- Splunk (12.04%)
- Kubernetes (9.91%)
- Mitigation (11.4%)
- Network Routing (8.11%)
- Authorization (Computing) (10.14%)
- Security Systems (8.67%)
- Tooling (9.23%)
- Software Engineering (8.94%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (5.51%)
- Security Requirements Analysis (13.31%)
- Risk Analysis (14.32%)
- Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) (4.5%)
- Windows PowerShell (14.77%)
- Systems Development Life Cycle (7.03%)
- Public Cloud (4.74%)
- OAuth (4.08%)
- Risk Management (11.79%)
- Project Management (8.6%)
- Virtual Private Networks (VPN) (7.94%)
- ISO/IEC 27001 (8%)
- Scalability (9.12%)
- Firewall (26.4%)
- Incident Response (24.59%)
- Linux (20.04%)
- Operating Systems (15.29%)
- Software Development Life Cycle (6.89%)
- DevOps (9.98%)
- Information Privacy (7.21%)
- Information Systems (15.25%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (5.03%)
- Software As A Service (SaaS) (6.19%)
- Cloud Computing (4.1%)
- Cloud Infrastructure (7.97%)
- Code Review (7.11%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (7.18%)
- Authentications (13.89%)
- Bash (Scripting Language) (8.73%)
- Software Development (11.57%)
- Systems Engineering (9.26%)
- Active Directory (7.72%)
- Application Programming Interface (API) (10.83%)
- Agile Methodology (11.64%)
- Java (Programming Language) (12.74%)
- JavaScript (Programming Language) (7.27%)
- Access Controls (8.82%)
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC) (7.27%)
- Workflow Management (9.92%)
- Go (Programming Language) (6.86%)
- Git (Version Control System) (3.47%)
- DevSecOps (9.43%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Product Security (5.84%)
- Nessus (5.24%)
- Hardening (7.23%)
- Security Strategies (4.81%)
- Secure Coding (6.45%)
- Transport Layer Security (TLS) (3.61%)
- Security Testing (6.4%)
- Public Key Infrastructure (6.24%)
- Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) (6.85%)
- Intrusion Detection And Prevention (6.63%)
- Intrusion Detection Systems (3.6%)
- Enterprise Security (4.69%)
- Multi-Factor Authentication (3.02%)
- Data Loss Prevention (4.57%)
- Burp Suite (2.89%)
- Information Systems Security (5.71%)
- Cloud Access Security Broker Tools (CASBs) (2.77%)
- Assessment And Authorization (3.48%)
- Cyber Threat Hunting (5.69%)
- NIST 800-53 (5.63%)
- Attack Surface Management (1.94%)
- Cyber Security Policies (3.5%)
- Threat Detection (7.32%)
- Microsoft Sentinel (1.89%)
- MITRE ATT&CK Framework (3.7%)
- Cyber Operations (4.16%)
- Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (4.62%)
- Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (4.32%)
- FedRAMP (4.71%)
- Plan Of Action And Milestones (POA&M) (3.84%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (5.55%)
- Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (5.19%)
- Security Tools (20.82%)
- MITRE ATT&CK Framework (4.45%)
- Endpoint Detection And Response (10.53%)
- Attack Surface Management (2.34%)
- Cyber Threat Hunting (6.83%)
- Amazon Web Services (36.78%)
- Penetration Testing (18.18%)
- Auditing (24.29%)
- Burp Suite (3.47%)
- Computer Science (51.61%)
- Python (Programming Language) (43.75%)
- Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) (8.23%)
- Secure Coding (7.75%)
- Security Testing (7.69%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Cyber Security Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Cybersecurity Engineer
- Security Engineer
- Information Security Engineer
- Cloud Security Engineer
- Network Security Engineer
- Application Security Engineer
- Lead Cybersecurity Engineer
- Product Security Engineer
- Information Systems Security Engineer
- Lead Information Security Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Cyber Security Architect
- Vulnerability Analyst / Penetration Tester
- Cyber Security Manager / Administrator
- Incident Analyst / Responder
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Cyber Security Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Lumen Technologies (1683)
- Amazon (1416)
- Meta (800)
- Marriott International (681)
- Amentum (486)
- Booz Allen Hamilton (479)
- Cox Automotive (454)
- Insight Global (439)
- Leidos (426)
- Motion Recruitment (393)
North Carolina
- Truist Financial (78)
- Wells Fargo (73)
- Motion Recruitment (44)
- The Judge Group (38)
- First Citizens Bank (36)
- Lumen Technologies (32)
- Cisco (32)
- TEKsystems (25)
- Randstad (24)
- Regions Financial (22)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Computer Science Graduate Certificates
- Cybersecurity Graduate Certificates
- Cybersecurity Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.