Cyber Security Engineer Jobs Explored

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Cyber security engineer jobs are vital in order to keep organizations protected in the event of cyber attacks.

It is important for these roles to be filled with trained professionals in order to implement solid strategies that will prevent hackers from stealing data, or confidential company information.

Not only this but cyber security engineers should equally create awareness among teams around the topic of cyber security to ensure all company employees understand the importance of data protection and network security.

This not only makes their job easier, but also means cyber security becomes a team effort, and hopefully less attackers are successful in penetrating into your organization.

Therefore in this post we have outlined the role and responsibilities of a cyber security engineer, including skills and experience needed as well as salaries and job opportunities.

This is your guide to cyber security engineer jobs, or jobs that are related and should prepare you for what to expect if you are looking to apply yourself.

So, let’s get started.

What Is a Cyber Security Engineer?

Ultimately, cyber security engineers serve as the go-to team member for security policies and procedures for an entire organization.

Security engineers are hired in order to identify the main cyber threats to a company, whether that be phishing or one of the many hacker types out there, through assessing vulnerabilities.

Part of this job role is to perform assessments such as penetration testing and vulnerability scanning in order to discover exactly where the gaps are within a network, and ensure attackers can’t gain access to company systems.

Therefore, cyber security engineers use both electrical engineering and computer science to understand cyberspace, and this allows them to develop a strong defense system against any form of hacker.

Equally, once a defense system is in place, and a companies security architecture is able to mitigate and prevent threats, it is important that the security software and technology that’s in place is monitored over time.

This is where security engineers come in, as although there may be barriers in place, not all attacks can be prevented.

As such, it’s an essential part of this role to continue to monitor all protection in place, reviewing strategies and ensuring the network solutions remain high quality and robust.

hands on laptop keyboard

Cyber Security Engineer Responsibilities

A cyber security engineer’s main role is to protect an organization’s network from cyber attacks.

This can be done by working with other departments to establish appropriate security measures based on the vulnerabilities within an organization’s network.

Therefore, some of the day-to-day responsibilities you can be expected to take care of as a cyber security engineer include:

  • Troubleshooting security and network issues
  • Identifying network vulnerabilities and conducting assessments
  • Ensuring the infrastructure of your organization is secure
  • Planning, implementing and managing security measures
  • Supporting risk mitigation for your organization
  • Designing and implementing end-to-end security designs that meet with your organizations compliance requirements
  • Understanding cloud computing and implementing features into the company network >/li>
  • Enhancing cyber awareness among teams and clients
  • Understanding a variety of security tools

This list is by no means exhaustive, and roles will differ from company to company, as some roles will have more of a specific focus, while others will be a broader engineer position.

Therefore, it may be that during your job search you come across roles that require everything in this list and more, so it’s important to consider getting some extra training or certifications before you start your new role.

At TLR we provide cyber war games which create simulated real world attacks to re-educate you on the fundamentals of cyber security. This can help to enhance your problem solving skills, by placing you in a situation similar to a real attack.

Cyber Security Engineer Skills

Alongside the responsibilities of a cyber security engineer role, there are skills that are essential for success.

For a job role such as this, there are specific skills focusing on cyber security that will help with the daily task of protecting a company network.

Some of these skills can be built up through previous job roles in IT or cyber security, such as:

  • Experience working within the cloud environment
  • Strong analytical and reasoning skills
  • The ability to communicate complex ideas both verbally and in writing
  • Experience combatting advanced threats such as different types of malware
  • Understanding of risk assessment tools and methods
  • Knowledge of what to recommend for individual IT threats
  • Knowledge and understanding of cyber security tools, frameworks, incident management, and best practices
  • Researching most recent cyber threat trends
  • Competency in reading computer code and identifying anomalies
  • Collaboration with other departments
  • Attention to detail and problem-solving skills

As with the responsibilities of this role, this list of skills isn’t exhaustive but it gives a good detailed overview of some of the tasks you will be expected to complete.

Most of your time spent as a cyber security engineer will be spent proactively, looking for vulnerabilities within your organizations network Therefore, you need to have the skills to support you in this task.

team around a table in discussion

What Experience is Needed to Be a Cyber Security Engineer

If you are looking to be a cyber security engineer most positions require at least 5 years of experience in the IT field.

This should be in a similar or related position to a security engineer in order to show you have relevant experience in network protection and security.

Alongside this, Bachelor’s degrees are often required but sometimes just preferred depending on the company. However, if a degree is required it will usually be in computer science, engineering or a technical discipline.

Alongside work experience and a degree it is a good idea to gain some familiarity with the top cyber security organizations.

Two of the most popular that are detailed in many job descriptions, are the National Insitute of Standards and technology (NIST) and Centre for Internet Security (CIS).

Staying up to date with the work of the larger cyber security institutions will help you to stay on top of trends and will equally help you to expand your knowledge as you go.

Finally, there are additional certifications you can get on top of your qualifications to boost your cyber security knowledge such as becoming a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

All of the qualifications outlined above won’t always be required for every cyber security engineer position, as each role will advertise for experience in specific areas for example one role may be cloud computing, and another may be geared towards cyber awareness.

Cyber Security Engineer Salaries

As with many roles in cyber security, salaries will differ from company to company, and depending on the level of role you are applying for.

More generally, cyber security engineer roles can range from $60k, to $150k, however this is of course dependent on your education, experience, location and employer.

For more senior roles, salaries increase and for a Chief Information Security Officer role you can earn up to $270k, due to the increase in responsibility.

Cyber Security Job Roles

Demand is high for cyber security professionals, as hackers are becoming more intelligent when it comes to invading networks and stealing data.

There are always new and creative ways for cyber criminals to penetrate into networks before they are identified by the company or security team.

Therefore, organizations are always looking to strengthen their network by hiring cyber security professionals to implement solid architectures and effective protection strategies.

When searching for cyber security engineer jobs, there are several similar or related titles such as:

  • Network Security Engineer
  • IT Security Engineer
  • Information Security Engineer
  • Information Systems Security Engineer

Equally, if you have built up a bank of experience and skills related to cyber security engineering, you may want to consider more senior roles in the future such as:

  • Cyber Security Consultant
  • Cyber Security Manager
  • Cyber Security Director
  • Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

Due to the variation of job titles, it’s important to consider each section of the job description when on the hunt for a cyber security engineer job, as some include more responsibilities than others.

Cyber security engineers are vital for most organizations, however it is likely that more engineers are hired in sectors that deal with large amounts of sensitive data, such as:

  • Finance and banking
  • The Government
  • Healthcare
  • Manufacturing
  • Technology

Therefore, it’s likely that there will be increased job opportunities in these areas for cyber security engineers, as the confidential nature of the data in these sectors will require robust architectures, and consistent monitoring.

two people looking at screen with coding

Cyber Security Engineer Jobs Explored

Cyber security engineers are an integral part of any organization’s security network.

They are required to both protect and monitor all company data using up to date cyber security knowledge, and a specific skill set tailored towards mitigating threats and creating solid cyber security infrastructures.

As a result, certain experience and qualifications are required in order to ensure that you are successful in protecting your entire organization’s network and the large amounts of confidential data within.

These job roles often involve multiple responsibilities, and therefore it can be overwhelming to handle them all at once.

However, here at TLR, we can help prepare you for your role by providing cyber security training, or tools such as vulnerability scanning to help you create a solid defense against cyber attackers.

If you feel you or your team could help with your cyber security knowledge, or you require some of the tools to help you in a cyber security engineering position, get in touch with our team today.

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Written by

Dave Roberts