Cybersecurity & Info Security

Security engineers, penetration testing, security operations

Cybersecurity and information security is one of the most exciting and challenging areas in the digital sector, and opens up the opportunity to work in many different industries. Demand for hiring in these areas consistently outstrips supply, and opportunities can range from technical positions to roles in strategy and leadership.

There are a few key areas that job listings fall into. At the junior and mid level, security engineers largely design and maintain secure systems. This needs familiarity and experience with cloud security, identity and access management and the principles of secure software development. If organisations are trying to proactively identify their vulnerabilities, they may hire penetration testers and red team positions, looking for certifications like OSCP, CEH or CREST. Roles in security operations like SOC analysts and incident responders are on the front line of threat detection and response. For these roles, the key skills will be in SIEM platforms, threat intelligence and forensic investigation.

For more experienced cybersecurity workers, roles might look like Chief Information Security Officer, Head of Security or Security Architect. Rather than working on the day-to-day practicalities of cybersecurity and information security, these roles involve a lot of communication, translating technical risk into business strategy. Beyond working in engineering and IT teams, these more senior roles will demand the ability to advocate for security across an organisation. At this level, job descriptions may contain a requirement for ISO 27001 certification, which is the globally recognized standard for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS), as well as NIST, SOC 2 and Zero Trust architecture.

At all levels, there is a baseline expectation for cloud security experience, whether in AWS, Azure or GCP, or some mix of the three.