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Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) jobs: 93 open roles, pay, industries and skills

93 open Chief Information Security Officer jobs (CISO), taken from employers’ own career sites and checked to still be open. Also listed as Chief Security Officer, Head of Information Security, Head of Cybersecurity. Listings that state pay show a median of $262,000 a year.

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The market for Chief Information Security Officer work

Every figure is counted from verified open listings. Pay is what the employer advertises for the job.

Verified open Chief Information Security Officer jobs
93

Source: NextChapter, checked against employer career sites, last 7 days.

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Median pay in listings that state it
$262,000

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

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State with the most openings
Illinois (20)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Industry hiring the most
Transportation & Logistics (40%)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Listings that are remote
36%

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

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Listings that ask for an AI skill
37%

Source: NextChapter verified openings, read in full.

What a CISO does

C-suite role in Security.

Protecting the company’s data and systems: security strategy, risk, incident response and the board’s view of cyber risk.

Reports to the CIO, CTO, CEO or general counsel, depending on the company.

Other ways this role is written

  • CISO
  • Chief Information Security Officer
  • Chief Security Officer
  • Head of Information Security
  • Head of Cybersecurity

Listings under any of these titles are counted on this page. Assistant, associate, manager and staff titles are not.

Open Chief Information Security Officer jobs

Verified against the employer’s own career site within the last week.

Showing the newest 15 of about 93 verified open jobs here. Search all jobs

Search all Chief Information Security Officer jobs

CISO salary

From 21 open listings that state pay. Annual, in US dollars, base pay only.

Lower quarter
$225,000
Median
$262,000
Upper quarter
$295,000

Leadership pay often includes bonus and equity that a listing does not state. Treat these figures as the floor of the conversation, not the whole package.

Best industries for CISO jobs

Employers hiring the most, as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry. Median pay shown where at least 8 listings state it.

Where CISO jobs are

States with the most open listings; median pay where at least 8 listings state it.

Skills CISO jobs ask for

Named in the listings themselves, as a share of 37 Chief Information Security Officer listings that name skills. Leadership listings name fewer skills than individual-contributor ones, so this is a signal, not a checklist.

Most named in CISO listings

  1. 1. risk management65%
  2. 2. audit41%
  3. 3. aws32%
  4. 4. hipaa22%
  5. 5. gdpr22%
  6. 6. due diligence19%
  7. 7. azure19%
  8. 8. machine learning14%
  9. 9. ci/cd11%
  10. 10. devops11%

Across all Security openings

  1. 1. risk management15%
  2. 2. python14%
  3. 3. aws13%
  4. 4. audit13%
  5. 5. azure10%
  6. 6. ci/cd8%
  7. 7. linux7%
  8. 8. kubernetes6%
  9. 9. gcp6%
  10. 10. terraform4%

AI skills for CISO jobs

Specific AI skills named in the full posting text, such as prompt engineering, AI governance or an AI tool. A general mention of AI does not count.

37% of 46 open Chief Information Security Officer listings ask for a specific AI skill, against 18% of all Security openings.

AI skills named most often

  1. 1. AI governance and risk28%
  2. 2. AI tools in daily work11%
  3. 3. AI workflow automation9%
  4. 4. Responsible AI9%
  5. 5. LLM application engineering7%
  6. 6. AI adoption and change management4%

Do AI skills change chief information security officer pay?

For Security roles in general, as of November 9, 2026. This is the function’s figure, not one for chief information security officer alone: one title rarely has enough listings on both sides.

Among Security listings, those that ask for an AI skill advertise +8.5% (about $16.5k) compared with similar listings that do not, matched on level and industry.

Listings that ask for an AI skill
$208,500
median, from 510 paid listings
Listings that never mention AI
$140,000
median, from 458 paid listings

Advertised pay only: the midpoint of the range an employer posted, on live U.S. postings read from the full text. “Asks for an AI skill” means the posting names a specific AI skill; “no AI” means it never mentions AI. A difference in what is advertised is not a promise of what you would be paid, and it does not show that learning a skill causes a raise.

See the AI-skill pay table for every function · Check your own pay against these listings

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The Security ladder

The same function at other levels: where this role comes from and where it leads.

All Security jobs

Job titles under CISO

The exact titles employers use, with their own job and salary pages.

Employers hiring for CISO roles

  • Uline 34
  • Tatari 3
  • JRG Partners 3
  • Zipline 2
  • RAND 2
  • Lightfield 2
  • Yale University 2
  • Avalara 2
  • City of New York 2
  • Beyond SOF 1
  • Kirby Partners 1
  • Hashgraph 1

Recruiters who place CISO roles

Search firms with live public searches in Security, counted from their own job postings, not self-described. Each has at least two at this level.

  • JRG Partners

    3 live public searches in Security at this level

All Security search firms

Podcasts and media CISO leaders follow

Hand-picked, each checked to be live. Links go to the publisher.

  • Darknet Diaries

    Podcast · Jack Rhysider

    True stories about hackers, breaches and cybercrime.

  • Risky Business

    Podcast · Patrick Gray and James Wilson

    Weekly information security news and analysis, with related shows from the same network.

  • CyberWire Daily

    Podcast · Dave Bittner, N2K Networks

    A daily podcast and news site on cybersecurity.

  • CISO Series

    Podcast · David Spark

    Podcasts for security leaders, including Defense in Depth and Cyber Security Headlines.

  • Security Now

    Podcast · Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

    A weekly show on security news and how the underlying technology works.

  • Krebs on Security

    Publication · Brian Krebs

    Investigative reporting on cybercrime and security incidents.

  • Cybersecurity Dive

    Publication · Informa TechTarget

    News on cybersecurity incidents, policy and enterprise security.

CISO questions

What does a CISO do?
Protecting the company’s data and systems: security strategy, risk, incident response and the board’s view of cyber risk. Reports to the CIO, CTO, CEO or general counsel, depending on the company.
What does CISO stand for?
CISO stands for Chief Information Security Officer. The same job is also written Chief Security Officer, Head of Information Security, Head of Cybersecurity.
How many CISO jobs are open?
93 verified open Chief Information Security Officer jobs, each checked against the employer’s own career site within the last week.
How much does a CISO make?
Among 21 open Chief Information Security Officer listings that state pay, the median is $262,000 a year, and half of listings fall between $225,000 and $295,000. This is pay the employer advertises for the job, not total compensation such as bonus or equity.
Where are CISO jobs?
Illinois (20), California (15), Wisconsin (15), New York (11) have the most open Chief Information Security Officer listings. About 36% of listings that state a work arrangement are remote.
Which industries hire for CISO roles?
Transportation & Logistics (40%), Technology & Software (25%), Financial Services & Banking (8%), Government & Public Sector (6%), as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry.
What skills do CISO jobs ask for?
The skills named most often in open Chief Information Security Officer listings are risk management, audit, aws, hipaa, gdpr.
Do CISO jobs ask for AI skills?
37% of 46 open Chief Information Security Officer listings read in full name a specific AI skill. The most common is AI governance and risk.

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