Security: market
Security Engineer (information security engineer) — the specialist who protects a company's products and infrastructure from attacks: designing secure architectures, finding vulnerabilities, monitoring incidents, responding to threats, compliance. The role family: Application Security (AppSec) — code and application security, DevSecOps — security of CI/CD pipelines, Cloud Security — AWS/GCP/Azure defence, Penetration Tester / Red Team — ethical hacking, SOC Analyst — 24/7 incident monitoring, IAM Engineer — access management, Network Security. Core stack — Burp Suite, OWASP (Top 10, ZAP, Dependency-Check), SAST/DAST (SonarQube, Checkmarx, Snyk), SIEM (Splunk, ELK), Kali Linux, Metasploit, Wireshark, Python for scripts. 37% remote.
The Security market currently has 5,783 open roles, 5,442 of them freshly observed. Median salary $10,750/mo.
37% of Security jobs are full-remote. Lower than Backend/DevOps, because banks require hybrid due to compliance and production-system access.
⚠ salary known for 322 of 5783 jobs; remote share from 4870 with a stated format; 5442 counted as fresh observations; trend and hiring difficulty are not shown
Demand and observed supply
| Open demand | 5,783 |
| Observed supply | — not published |
Over recent weeks the Security direction has produced a steady flow of new openings. Fluctuations are normal (postings cluster at the start of the month) — look at the overall trend.
⚠ candidates matching a vacancy are not counted yet: demand and the observed pool are shown
Salary distribution
One in ten earns under $4,636, one in ten over $18,125. Half the market falls between $6,916 and $15,279. Sample: 322.
Demand geography
| country | jobs |
|---|---|
| US | 2,294 |
| GB | 384 |
| PL | 336 |
| SG | 284 |
| IN | 282 |
| DE | 193 |
| CA | 127 |
| HK | 91 |
| AU | 68 |
| FR | 56 |
The leader by Security job count is US (2294 positions), followed by the major IT hubs of CIS and Eastern Europe. Russia — a strong market thanks to security vendors.
⚠ job counts only: salary by country is not published
Used together with
Top Security Engineer stack 2026 — Burp Suite, OWASP, Python, Linux, SIEM (Splunk/ELK). Pen-Test adds Kali Linux + Metasploit, AppSec — SAST/DAST (Snyk/Semgrep), Cloud Security — AWS Security Hub / GCP SCC.
The most common tech pairs in Security jobs: Burp Suite + OWASP, Snyk + SonarQube, Splunk + ELK, Kali + Metasploit, Vault + Kubernetes. If you're planning a learning roadmap — these combinations give maximum market coverage.
Demand by grade
| grade | jobs |
|---|---|
| senior | 1,847 |
| principal | 547 |
| lead | 490 |
| middle | 152 |
| junior | 108 |
Junior openings are scarce — the market expects either a technical background or specialised certifications (OSCP, CISSP).
⚠ demand side only: the grade of the observed pool is unknown for most of it
Employers
Demand is spread across 2,830 employers. The largest accounts for 1.8%, the top ten for 8.6%; the remaining 91.4% is long tail.
| share | value |
|---|---|
| top-1 | 1.8% |
| top-3 | 4.9% |
| top-10 | 8.6% |
| long tail | 91.4% |
⚠ names are not shown: staffing agencies and end employers are not yet told apart by the classifier
Where Zorky sees this market
Observed across 121 sources; the largest accounts for 23.0% — this market does not rest on a single channel.
Security jobs surface across most major sources: web parsers (HH, Habr Career, Djinni, DOU, NoFluffJobs, JustJoin.it) provide the bulk of the volume. Telegram channels add an exclusive stream — Bug Bounty offers, niche Pen-Test jobs, security conferences.
Recent openings
- IT Infrastructure, Cloud and Cybersecurity Manager
- GRC- Cyber Risk | Remote in Mexico · MX
- Security Analyst · GB
- Technical Engineer – Endpoint Solution · HK
- (Cybersecurity) Principal Security Researcher · PL · $7,974
- Windows Security Engineer · IN
- Infrastructure & Endpoint Security Engineer · UA
- Expert Cyber Security Consultant · DE
Latest open Security jobs — the most recent 10 positions with adequate description quality. The full list is available in our CRM or via the "see all" link below.
Adjacent markets
Security is one of the highest-paid IT specialisations by median thanks to criticality and the scarcity of specialists. Click any direction's bar for a detailed comparison.
⚠ adjacent markets for comparison are not defined yet
How this is measured
- Vacancy
- an open job that cleared the quality gate and lists at least two technologies
- Observed candidate
- a candidate whose stack contains this technology; an aggregate — not a single record leaves the perimeter
- Matchable candidate
- not counted yet
- Window
- jobs open at the moment the snapshot was built
About the data
- Some breakdowns are hidden: their data coverage is not yet sufficient.
- Statistics are shown only where the sample clears a quality gate.
- A missing block does not mean a value of zero.
Breakdowns currently hidden: 8.
Data as of 2026-10-20
Specializations
Security breaks down into 8 sub-specialisations: Security Engineer (general), Application Security (AppSec — code security), DevSecOps (security in CI/CD), Cloud Security (AWS/GCP/Azure), IAM Engineer (access management), Penetration Tester / Red Team (ethical hacking), SOC Analyst (24/7 monitoring), Network Security. Each niche has its own salary range — click a card for detail.
Frequently asked questions
The most common questions about the Security market: pay by level, stack (Burp/OWASP/SIEM), AppSec vs DevSecOps vs Pen-Tester vs SOC, remote, how to start a career, Senior skills. Answers recompute automatically from current data.
What stack does a Security Engineer most often need?
Top 5 technologies in Security jobs: cloud, aws, python, azure, devsecops. Mandatory basics: OWASP Top 10 (must-know), Linux (advanced), Python and Bash for automation, Git. Web security: Burp Suite (the pen-test standard), OWASP ZAP, OWASP Dependency-Check. SAST/DAST: SonarQube, Checkmarx, Snyk, Semgrep. SIEM: Splunk, ELK (Elasticsearch + Logstash + Kibana), QRadar. Pen-test: Kali Linux, Metasploit, Nmap, Wireshark. Cloud security: AWS Security Hub, GCP Security Command Center, Azure Sentinel. IAM: HashiCorp Vault, Keycloak. Certifications: OSCP (offensive), CISSP (managerial), OSCE, CEH, AWS Security Specialty.
How is AppSec different from DevSecOps, Pen-Tester, and SOC Analyst?
AppSec (Application Security) — code and application security, code review, SAST/DAST, threat modeling, OWASP. Works inside a product team. DevSecOps — embeds security into CI/CD pipelines, secrets management, container scanning, GitOps. Close to DevOps + security. Pen-Tester / Red Team — ethical hacking, attack simulation, hunting 0-day vulnerabilities, OSCP/OSCE certifications. More often consulting or specialised companies. SOC Analyst (Security Operations Center) — 24/7 incident monitoring, triage, response, working with SIEM (Splunk/QRadar). By pay: AppSec ≈ DevSecOps > Pen-Tester ≈ Cloud Security > SOC Analyst. Career flow: SOC Tier 1 → Tier 2 → AppSec/Cloud → Senior → Security Architect.
Can Security Engineers work remotely?
Partially: 37% of Security jobs are full-remote. Lower than Backend/DevOps, because banks and fintech require hybrid or office due to compliance — work with PII, payment data, production access. Local security vendors — more often hybrid. International product teams — almost always remote. Pen-Tester freelance (Bug Bounty on HackerOne/Bugcrowd) — fully remote, flexible schedule, ceiling depends only on skill. SOC Analyst — many remote jobs (often shift work). Cloud Security — typically remote (everything through AWS/GCP console).
How is Security Engineer different from DevOps?
DevOps owns the infrastructure and CI/CD — automation, observability, production reliability. Security Engineer owns defence: vulnerability hunting, threat modeling, incident management, compliance. The stack overlaps (Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, cloud) but the focus differs. DevSecOps — the hybrid: a DevOps engineer with security specialisation who embeds SAST/DAST/secrets-scanning into pipelines. By pay Security typically pays 10-20% above DevOps for the specialisation and scarcity. Career flow: Senior Backend → DevOps → DevSecOps; or a separate Security track (SOC → AppSec → Senior Security). Seniors can converge into Security Architect — the top level.
Where to start to become a Security Engineer in 2026?
There's no direct path into Security — usually an evolution from an adjacent role. The two most common entry points: 1) Backend / DevOps Middle (2-3 years) → move into AppSec/DevSecOps by picking up OWASP Top 10, SAST/DAST, threat modeling. 2) SOC Analyst Tier 1 (junior-friendly, shift monitoring) → Tier 2 → specialisation. Pet projects: HackTheBox, TryHackMe (CTF platforms for practising skills), OverTheWire, contributions to open-source security tools. Certifications: OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional — must-have for Pen-Test), CISSP (managerial track), AWS Security Specialty, CKS (Kubernetes Security). Books: "The Web Application Hacker's Handbook" (Dafydd Stuttard), "Black Hat Python", "Threat Modeling" (Adam Shostack).
How many Security Engineer jobs are open across CIS and Europe?
As of the latest data refresh, the Zorky CRM sample contains 7089 active open Security positions across CIS and Eastern Europe. These are postings published in the last 90 days — companies actually hiring. Geography is distributed; the leaders are US, GB, PL. Data is collected from 101 job boards and 15 780 company career sites: Telegram channels (especially for niche Pen-Test and Bug Bounty jobs, security conferences, anti-leak communities), specialised job sites (HH, Habr Career, Djinni, DOU, NoFluffJobs, JustJoin.it, Pracuj.pl), career pages of security vendors. Security is a niche area, so the job volume is smaller than Backend/Frontend, but one of the highest-paid.
Where do Security Engineers earn more — in Russia or in Europe?
The main driver is contract currency and specialisation. Pen-Test and Cloud Security usually pay a premium (+20-30% over the median). Local Russian banks on rouble contracts have closed the gap to the Polish market over 2 years for Senior.
What skills does a Senior Security Engineer need in 2026?
A Senior Security engineer owns the full defence stack in one of the specialisations (AppSec / DevSecOps / Cloud Security / Pen-Test). Basics: OWASP Top 10, Linux (advanced), Python + Bash, Git. Understanding of the development stack (pick one: Backend or Frontend at Senior level). For AppSec: SAST/DAST (SonarQube, Checkmarx, Snyk, Semgrep), Burp Suite advanced, OWASP ZAP, secure code review, threat modeling (STRIDE, PASTA). For DevSecOps: secrets management (HashiCorp Vault), container scanning (Trivy, Snyk), GitOps. For Cloud Security: AWS Security Hub / GCP SCC / Azure Sentinel, IAM at the policy level, compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR). Certifications (OSCP/CISSP/AWS Security/CKS), experience with incident management, leadership.
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