Cybersecurity job postings surged more than 40% over the last year, new report finds

Demand for cybersecurity talent spiked more than 40% over the last year, with employers adding more than 714,000 job postings for cybersecurity roles during the 12-month period ending in April 2022, according to new data released Tuesday.

The findings come from CyberSeek, a joint initiative between the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, job market analytics firm Emsi Burning Glass, and tech industry nonprofit CompTIA.

According to the data, nearly 40% of the new job postings came during the first four months of 2022, signaling a recent uptick in demand for cybersecurity workers. The finance and insurance industry accounted for the most postings — the first time in more than a decade that the professional, scientific and technical services industry wasn’t in the top spot for cybersecurity recruiting, according to the group. 

As the cyber threat landscape has become increasingly prevalent, industries across the board have been vulnerable to ransomware attacks and phishing campaigns, contributing to the heightened demand for cybersecurity talent. CyberSeek data shows a 43% demand increase for cyber-specific jobs as opposed to an 18% increase in demand across the broader employment market throughout the 12-month study.

National Cyber Director Chris Inglis spoke about the new data at the RSA conference on Tuesday, calling the increase in job postings “dramatic” and emphasizing the need to broaden the talent pool that the government and private sector recruits from. “We need to re-examine those jobs and understand which part of those people are attempting to substitute for technology,” he said. “It might not be that every one of those needs a computer science degree or electrical engineering degree... Let's take a look at the other end of that and make sure that we've opened these possibilities to the broadest possible population.”

A number of organizations in the government and cybersecurity industry have launched initiatives in recent years to train more cybersecurity workers and expand the talent pool. Last week, for example, the Cyber Halo Innovation Research Program announced its first university partnership for a program that offers students a two-year route to a cybersecurity career at the U.S. Space Force or a partner organization.

But according to the data released Tuesday, some of the most in-demand jobs are at senior levels. Postings for IT managers and directors rose 224% year-over-year and postings for program managers rose 169%, while postings for software developers and engineers rose 92% during the same period.