Side-by-side distribution
CISO
$286,750
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33%
- Live roles
- 109
Security Engineer
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 48.5%
- Live roles
- 2,017
Highest-paying jobs
Head of National Security Sales (DoW/IC)
Head of Vulnerability Disclosure & Security Community
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), US
Member of Technical Staff, Head of Security
Deputy Chief Information Security Officer - Bank
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Head of Security
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Staff AI Security Engineer
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Offensive Security Engineer, Agent Products
Offensive Security Agent Engineer
Staff+ Application Security Engineer
Staff+ Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products
Staff+ Software Security Engineer
Staff+ Application Security Engineer - M&A
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anthropic
|
$493,750 | 2 |
|
Hippo Insurance
|
$313,750 | 2 |
Planet
|
$275,175 | 2 |
| OS Obsidian Security | $340,000 | 1 |
|
Profound
|
$337,500 | 1 |
Cohere
|
$325,868 | 1 |
|
Cape
|
$325,000 | 1 |
|
OKX
|
$313,055 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
SpaceX
|
$146,250 | 32 |
EverAI
|
$104,103 | 21 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 19 |
Anduril Industries
|
$204,500 | 19 |
Elastic
|
$119,534 | 16 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 15 |
DigitalOcean
|
$189,900 | 13 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 13 |
CISO salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $313,750 | 3 |
| New York | $305,913 | 12 |
| San Francisco | $280,000 | 11 |
| Seattle | $280,000 | 3 |
CISO vs Security Engineer: which pays more?
The median for CISO is $286,750 per year (typically $242,500–$305,913), versus $190,000 for Security Engineer ($146,538–$229,508). That puts CISO about 51% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so CISO and Security Engineer are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.