Security Engineer

What it officially is

Develop and oversee the implementation of information security procedures and policies. Build, maintain and upgrade security technology, such as firewalls, for the safe use of computer networks and the transmission and retrieval of information. Design and implement appropriate security controls to identify vulnerabilities and protect digital files and electronic infrastructures. Monitor and respond to computer security breaches, viruses, and intrusions, and perform forensic investigation. May oversee the assessment of information security systems.

O*NET, US Department of Labor · classified as “Information Security Engineers”

What the work involves

  • Assess the quality of security controls, using performance indicators.
  • Conduct investigations of information security breaches to identify vulnerabilities and evaluate the damage.
  • Coordinate documentation of computer security or emergency measure policies, procedures, or tests.
  • Coordinate monitoring of networks or systems for security breaches or intrusions.
  • Coordinate vulnerability assessments or analysis of information security systems.
  • Develop information security standards and best practices.
  • Develop or implement software tools to assist in the detection, prevention, and analysis of security threats.
  • Develop or install software, such as firewalls and data encryption programs, to protect sensitive information.
  • Develop response and recovery strategies for security breaches.
  • Identify or implement solutions to information security problems.
  • Identify security system weaknesses, using penetration tests.
  • Oversee development of plans to safeguard computer files against accidental or unauthorized modification, destruction, or disclosure or to meet emergency data processing needs.
  • Oversee performance of risk assessment or execution of system tests to ensure the functioning of data processing activities or security measures.
  • Provide technical support to computer users for installation and use of security products.

What employers actually ask for

Counted from listings on this board. Each line shows how many of that tier's listings for this role carried it — the denominator is the point.

Large employers

  • recognition rewards 4 of 12
  • annual holiday leave 4 of 12
  • annual compensation review 4 of 12
  • maternity and paternity leave 4 of 12
  • opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues 4 of 12
  • personal learning and development budget of usd 2,000 per year 4 of 12
  • distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person 4 of 12
  • employee assistance programme 3 of 12

Only one tier has enough listings for this role to count from. A share measured over fewer than three listings is not a measurement, so it is not shown.

What they call it

Large employers

  • Security Risk Management Specialist Canonical Ltd.
  • Security Software Engineer Canonical Ltd.
  • Senior Security Operations Engineer Canonical Ltd.
  • Staff Security Operations Engineer Canonical Ltd.
  • Ubuntu Security Engineer Canonical Ltd.
  • Senior Software Engineer Coinbase

Startups

  • Security Engineer (Bangalore, India) AiPrise
  • Security & Trust Engineer Alex
  • Elucid | Senior Security Engineer | Boston, MA | ONSITE (hybrid) | $130k–$170k Elucid
  • Factory | Security Engineer | ONSITE, San Francisco, CA | Full-Time Factory
  • Factory | Security Engineer | Onsite in San Francisco | Full-time Factory
  • ChainSecurity | Blockchain Security Engineer | Full-time | INTERNS , HYBRID/REMOTE, Zurich, ChainSecurity

Tools the occupation uses

Application server software GitHub, Docker
Cloud-based management software Google Cloud software, Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormation
Configuration management software Chef, IBM Terraform
Content workflow software Atlassian JIRA
Data base management system software Elasticsearch
Data base user interface and query software Amazon Web Services AWS software, IBM DB2

How well this role is advertised

220listings reviewed
56/100median HR-standards score
83/100median title accuracy

Open now

Search all Security Engineer listings →

Official definitions and responsibilities come from public occupational records — O*NET (US Department of Labor) and ESCO (European Commission). The employer half is counted from listings on this board and shown with its denominator. Nothing on this page is written by a language model: the measured half is arithmetic over real postings, and the official half is quoted.