Average Security Architect Salary in 2018

As the rise in security becomes a concern for most businesses, the security industry is also in demand for talented individuals who know how to protect data. The security architect is a bit different than other security professionals, because this opportunity involves crafting the way hardware and software is built in the best way to protect the company. Your architecture protects the company from security threats both externally from the Internet to internal threats from viruses or malware that steal employee data directly from the local computer.

Prerequisites: What You Need for Security Architecture Job Experience

Of course, to understand how to architect a secure system, you should have experience in the way cybersecurity works. This can be either from experience, schooling or even both. You should know how hardware protects the internal network from external environments like the Internet and bots. You should also understand viruses and malware that affect internal computers such as keyloggers or spyware that sends data directly from a computer to a hacker’s server. All of the basic and more complex parts of data security should be understood.

What Does a Security Architect Do?

Architects in any IT field are responsible for creating systems, but you’ll also need enough experience to maintain the system you build. In most cases, you’ll enter a job where the system is already built, and you’ll need to jump in and maintain current systems and make suggestions on how to improve the current security protection. In many cases, you need to think like a hacker who wants to steal data. You’ll probably be on-call, which means you’ll need to answer late night phone calls if there is a breach in security. You’ll need to mitigate the threat and stop the hacker from stealing or damaging any data and systems.

How Much Money Does a Security Architect Make?

Because of the complex nature of the job and the fact that you must be on-call most days, a security architected is compensated accordingly. Security architects start at around $50,000 each year and can work up to $150,000 each year. Take a look at the salary ranges in the image below.

You’ll see that a senior security architect starts at $120,000 each year, and this number increases with the more experience you gain. Virtualization security architects are also important. These architects determine the security for users working remotely such as those who work from home through a VPN. These architects make about $110,000 each year. An enterprise architect makes about $150,000 each year. These architects are responsible for systems that span across the globe. A senior manager who oversees all of this design and architecture makes about $150,000 each year, but senior managers and VPs can make much more with large enterprise companies. Finally, the base and average for most security architects is around $110,000, which is an excelling salary for most areas.

If you like security and the way hardware works to protect data, you’ll love to get involved in this exciting career.