Security hiring research, from the Research Factory.

Every day the Research Factory reads about 200,000 job postings. Each piece answers one question about how security work is changing, with its ratings and the tests behind it.

Every piece includes a full research paper, with references and a citation.

How each run worksFall 2026
  1. 01 Read about 200,000 postings a day from about 2,200 job boards done
  2. 02 Keep about 17,000 security and engineering postings since July done
  3. 03 Score labels against one to three frontier model families done
  4. 04 Recompute every figure from source before publishing done
  5. 05 Publish only when every control passes done

Ten questions, each answered with rated findings.

Q1 Are security specialties turning into engineering jobs?

Detection and response, identity and general security roles moved toward engineering.

Confidence in this finding: High Representativeness: Medium
8 findings inside, each rated
Share of each specialty's postings with an engineer title Spring 2024September 2026
Detection and response 19% → 50%
Vulnerability management 27% → 50%
Identity and access (IAM) 41% → 65%
Threat intelligence 0% → 34%
GRC 4% → 24%
AppSec and product security 81% → 87%
Cloud security 68% → 78%
Architecture 2% → 13%
Privacy 25% → 45%
General security analyst or engineer 42% → 61%
Asked by Jamie Dicken
Q2 Is security leadership contracting relative to individual contributors?

Not measurably. Manager titles were 7.7% of postings in spring 2024 and 6.8% in 2026.

Likely range −3.0 to +1.0 points
Confidence in this finding: Medium Representativeness: Medium
6 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Jamie Dicken
Q3 What do companies expect of entry-level security hires?

Python and AI tool use, more often than in 2024.

Confidence in this finding: High Representativeness: Medium
5 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Lenny Zeltser
Q4 What AI skills do security postings ask for, and how do they differ by level?

It differs by level. Senior individual contributors are asked to secure AI more often than other individual contributors and managers.

Confidence in this finding: High Representativeness: Medium
6 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Lenny Zeltser
Q5 How do expectations differ by company size and industry?

The median asks for five years at every size. Startups ask for eight or more years less often.

Confidence in this finding: High Representativeness: Medium
6 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Lenny Zeltser
Q6 When a posting expects AI use, are security managers asked to be more hands-on?

More often. 78% of manager postings that expect AI ask for hands-on work, against 43% without. 32 and 47 postings.

Confidence in this finding: Medium Representativeness: Low
5 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Lenny Zeltser
Q7 How does security hiring at AI-first companies differ from everyone else?

More AI engineering openings for every security opening than everyone else.

Confidence in this finding: High Representativeness: Medium
7 findings inside, each rated
Asked by William Lin
Q8 Which security roles had the largest rise in posted pay ranges, spring 2024 to 2026?

No role family measurably rose more than another.

Confidence in this finding: Low Representativeness: Low
7 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Ross Young
Q9 How do engineering and non-engineering titles split across security job openings?

Engineer titles went from 34% to 58% of security postings since spring 2024.

2024
34%
2026
58%
Confidence in this finding: High Representativeness: Medium
6 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Travis Farral
Q10 How are security job postings screening and authenticating candidates?

Recruiting-scam and impersonation warnings went from 0.7% to 11.3% of security postings since spring 2024.

Confidence in this finding: High Representativeness: Medium
4 findings inside, each rated
Asked by Evan Wolff

Ask the Research Factory a question.

This is not a live chat. Accepted questions become new pieces, published in a later release.

  1. 01 You ask, with the decision it would inform You
  2. 02 We check job postings can answer it Our team
  3. 03 Approved questions join the reader queue Our team
  4. 04 Agents write the analysis, ratings and piece Research Factory
  5. 05 Every answer runs our standard controls Our controls
  6. 06 Published and tagged, credited if you want Research Factory
Ask the Research Factory a question
Answers come as published pieces, not replies. Not every question can be answered from job postings.