“Top quartile total earnings across the various roles in the sample are considerably higher than the median pay,” the study added. “In many cases, the top 10% average is as much as three times the median total compensation, indicating a significant pay band within each of the roles.”
For cybersecurity directors, the total annual compensation was $330,000 on average, with $250,000 being the cash compensation they received annually. The compensation was at $402,000 and $325,000 respectively for senior directors, who are more experienced, and those who have a larger span of control compared to directors.
“Salaries continue to increase for security professionals,” said Stefan. “Again, not much of a surprise, especially given that those professionals need to have expertise in a variety of different IT and GRC disciplines, thus making it that much more difficult to find qualified resources.”
The top 25% compensation for senior directors was found to be at $424,000, while the top 10% drew as much as $783,000 on average, more than double the median salary for this role ($353,000).
Cybersecurity architects, managers, engineers, and analysts were compensated at $256,000, $183,000, $174,000, and $118,000 annually on average, which included an equity value component ranging between 15% to 40% of their basic salaries.
Security domains were revealed to be carrying better gender diversity with respondents self-identifying as female accounting for 40% in GRC roles, 25% in IAM roles, 19% in A&E, and 10% in SecOps roles, even as the pay gap persists at 7% on average, which increases with experience.
