How Do Engineering and Non-Engineering Titles Split Across Security Job Openings? Engineer Titles Went From About a Third to More Than Half
Abstract
US security job postings, spring 2024 against fall 2026: titles naming an engineer or developer went from 34% to 58%. Analyst and specialist titles fell from 28% to 13%.
*Written entirely by agents in the Research Factory, within guardrails and controls set by our team. Figures as of 1 October 2026.
1Introduction
In spring 2024, 34% of 1,038 US security job postings had a title naming an engineer or developer, and 66% did not. In fall 2026, 58% of 4,587 security postings at US-headquartered companies had an engineer title, and 42% did not.
Most of the shift came out of analyst and specialist titles. Their share of US security postings fell from 28% in spring 2024 to 13% in fall 2026.
Engineer titles rose at every level. Among senior individual contributor postings, they went from 42% to 67%. A title is what a company calls an opening, not the work it describes, and no cause is tested here.
These findings compare two sources: a public dataset of US postings from spring 2024, and AKA's read of company job boards in 2026. They apply best to US-headquartered companies on modern job boards, which lean toward technology, and less to government, staffing and managed-security firms.
2The answer at a glance
| Finding | Confidence | Representativeness |
|---|---|---|
| Security postings with engineer or developer in the title went from 34% to 58%. | High. The rise holds at the 74 companies that posted security jobs in both years, so it is not just new companies in the data. It holds with tech companies left out too. That matters because the 2026 data leans toward tech. | Medium. Best fit: US employers that lean toward tech. Less certain for government, staffing and managed-security firms. |
| Analyst and specialist titles fell from 28% to 13% of security postings. | High. The fall holds at the 74 companies that posted security jobs in both years, so it is not just new companies in the data. It holds with tech companies left out too. That matters because the 2026 data leans toward tech. | Medium. Best fit: US employers that lean toward tech. Less certain for government, staffing and managed-security firms. |
| Other titles, such as security manager or consultant, fell from 30% to 23%. | High. This is a clear trend overall and even if we exclude tech companies. Among the 74 companies where we have data in both years, the fall is there but not quite clear. | Medium. Best fit: US employers that lean toward tech. Less certain for government, staffing and managed-security firms. |
| Architect titles may have dipped, from 8% to 6% of security postings, but the change is just too close to call. | Medium. The dip is too small to be sure. | Medium. Best fit: US employers that lean toward tech. Less certain for government, staffing and managed-security firms. |
| Senior individual contributor postings, senior roles that don't manage people, with an engineer title went from 42% to 67%. | High. Holds in every check, including at the 74 companies that posted in both years. | Medium. Best fit: US employers that lean toward tech. Less certain for government, staffing and managed-security firms. |
| Other individual contributor postings with an engineer title went from 35% to 58%. | High. Holds in every check, including at the 74 companies that posted in both years. | Medium. Best fit: US employers that lean toward tech. Less certain for government, staffing and managed-security firms. |
| Manager postings with an engineer title went from 10% to 26%. | Medium. Clear overall, but not when we only look at the 74 companies that posted in both years, or when we exclude all tech companies. | Low. Only 80 manager postings in 2024. |
| Executive postings with an engineer title went from 8% to 22%. | Medium. It's clear overall, but in some slices of the data we can't rule out no change. | Low. Only 39 executive postings in 2024. |
Engineer or developerAnalyst and specialistArchitectOther
3The split in both years
Each title falls in exactly one group, and engineer takes precedence.
| Title noun | 2024 | 2026 | Change, percentage points | Likely range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineer or developer | 34% | 58% | +24 | +20 to +29 |
| Analyst and specialist | 28% | 13% | −15 | −19 to −12 |
| Architect | 8% | 6% | −2 | −5 to 0 |
| Other | 30% | 23% | −7 | −11 to −3 |
| All non-engineering titles | 66% | 42% |
Source: AKA Security analysis of 1,038 US security postings at 679 companies from a public job-postings dataset (spring 2024) and 4,587 postings at 831 US-headquartered companies in AKA's job-board data (open on or after 23 September 2026).
Bars show each range of likely values against zero (dashed). Solid: the whole range is above or below zero. Grey: it ends at zero. Hollow: it includes zero.
An engineer title contains engineer or developer. An analyst and specialist title contains analyst, specialist, administrator, coordinator, technician or officer. An architect title contains architect. Other is everything else, such as security manager, director, consultant, lead and auditor. Of Other titles, 39% named a management rank in 2024 and 42% in 2026.
4Engineer titles rose at every level
| Level | Postings, 2024 → 2026 | Engineer title, 2024 | Engineer title, 2026 | Change, percentage points | Likely range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior individual contributor | 274 → 2,146 | 42% | 67% | +26 | +19 to +33 |
| Other individual contributor | 645 → 1,886 | 35% | 58% | +23 | +18 to +28 |
| Manager | 80 → 310 | 10% | 26% | +16 | +6 to +25 |
| Executive | 39 → 245 | 8% | 22% | +14 | +2 to +24 |
Source: AKA Security analysis of 1,038 US security postings (spring 2024) and 4,587 postings at US-headquartered companies (fall 2026). Level comes from the title.
Bars show each range of likely values against zero (dashed). Solid: the whole range is above or below zero. Grey: it ends at zero. Hollow: it includes zero.
Among US senior individual contributor security postings, the engineer share went from 42% in spring 2024 to 67% in fall 2026. Among other individual contributor postings, it went from 35% to 58%. Both rises hold in all four checks.
Among US security manager postings, the engineer share went from 10% to 26%, with a range of +6 to +25 points. A security engineering manager counts as a manager with an engineer title. The finding is rated Medium: at the same companies and outside technology companies, the rise is too close to call.
Among US security executive postings, the engineer share went from 8% to 22%, with a range of +2 to +24 points. Only the check with the largest employer removed keeps a likely but borderline rise. The 2024 base is 39 postings.
The level mix moved too. Senior individual contributor titles were 26% of postings in 2024 and 47% in 2026. Held to the 2024 level mix, the 2026 engineer share is 57%, against 58% unadjusted.
5Other title groups by level
| Level | Title group | 2024 | 2026 | Range of likely values, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior individual contributor | Analyst and specialist | 25% | 9% | −21 to −10 |
| Senior individual contributor | Architect | 6% | 6% | −4 to +3 |
| Senior individual contributor | Other | 27% | 18% | −16 to −3 |
| Other individual contributor | Analyst and specialist | 33% | 19% | −19 to −10 |
| Other individual contributor | Architect | 10% | 6% | −6 to −1 |
| Other individual contributor | Other | 22% | 16% | −9 to −1 |
| Manager | Analyst and specialist | 3% | 1% | −6 to +1 |
| Manager | Architect | 1% | 2% | −3 to +3 |
| Manager | Other | 86% | 72% | −24 to −4 |
| Executive | Analyst and specialist | 18% | 11% | −21 to +6 |
| Executive | Architect | 3% | 4% | −5 to +6 |
| Executive | Other | 72% | 64% | −24 to +9 |
Source: AKA Security analysis of 1,038 US security postings (spring 2024) and 4,587 postings at US-headquartered companies (fall 2026). These rows carry no rating of their own.
Bars show each range of likely values against zero (dashed). Solid: the whole range is above or below zero. Grey: it ends at zero. Hollow: it includes zero.
Analyst and specialist titles fell clearly among both senior and other individual contributors. Among manager postings, Other titles, which hold most manager titles, fell from 86% to 72%.
6Where the data comes from
The 2024 postings come from a public job-postings dataset: 1,038 US security postings from 679 companies, located in the US and listed in spring 2024. The 2026 postings come from AKA's daily read of 2,194 job boards across 16 applicant tracking systems: 4,587 security postings from 831 US-headquartered companies, open on or after 23 September 2026. Collection began on 31 July 2026.
A posting counts when its title passes the security title rules used across the series, a local model reading the posting judges it a security role, and it carries a description. Only one posting per title per company counts. Job aggregators are left out in both years, and physical security, fraud, and trust and safety roles are out of scope. 74 companies have postings in both years.
Until the evening of 21 September 2026, the collection skipped titles containing analyst, auditor, consultant, CISO, director, head of, specialist and "manager, security". Postings that closed before then lean toward engineer titles, so 2026 is limited to postings open on or after 23 September 2026.
The two years are collected from different places and reach different kinds of employers. No check in the data fully separates a change in titles from the difference in sources. The title-level rule agrees with a hosted model at a kappa of 0.975 on 192 titles read across both years.
Each range of likely values is the 95% range, from redrawing whole companies at random many times and recomputing the shares each time.
7How this answer was stress-tested
| Test | Engineer title, 2024 → 2026 | Change, likely range |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | 34% → 58% | +20 to +29 |
| Same companies, the 74 in both years | 36% → 56% | +8 to +32 |
| Company mix: 2026 outside technology companies, 2024 without staffing firms and government contractors | 33% → 53% | +15 to +26 |
| Each company weighted once | 33% → 69% | +32 to +40 |
| Largest employer removed, 83 postings | 34% → 59% | +21 to +29 |
Source: AKA Security analysis of 1,038 US security postings (spring 2024) and 4,587 postings at US-headquartered companies (fall 2026).
Bars show each range of likely values against zero (dashed). Solid: the whole range is above or below zero. Grey: it ends at zero. Hollow: it includes zero.
Within each of the 74 companies with postings in both years, the engineer share rose at 45, fell at 24 and was unchanged at 5. The median company change was +27 points.
| Test | Senior individual contributors | Other individual contributors | Analyst and specialist titles | Other titles | Architect titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headline | +26 (+19 to +33) | +23 (+18 to +28) | −15 (−19 to −12) | −7 (−11 to −3) | −2 (−5 to 0) |
| Same companies | +19 (+3 to +35) | +21 (+4 to +38) | −13 (−24 to −3) | −10 (−20 to 0) | +3 (0 to +7) |
| Company mix | +21 (+13 to +30) | +20 (+14 to +27) | −12 (−16 to −8) | −7 (−12 to −3) | −1 (−4 to +1) |
| Each company weighted once | +32 (+25 to +39) | +31 (+26 to +36) | −20 (−23 to −16) | −14 (−18 to −11) | −2 (−4 to 0) |
| Largest employer removed | +27 (+20 to +34) | +23 (+18 to +28) | −15 (−19 to −12) | −7 (−11 to −3) | −3 (−5 to −1) |
Source: AKA Security analysis of 1,038 US security postings (spring 2024) and 4,587 postings at US-headquartered companies (fall 2026). Each cell is the change in points, with its range of likely values.
| Test | Manager, engineer title | Executive, engineer title |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | +16 (+6 to +25) | +14 (+2 to +24) |
| Same companies | +8 (−19 to +35) | +20 (−9 to +45) |
| Company mix | +8 (−3 to +19) | +14 (0 to +26) |
| Each company weighted once | +15 (+6 to +23) | +10 (−1 to +20) |
| Largest employer removed | +17 (+7 to +26) | +13 (+1 to +24) |
Source: AKA Security analysis of 80 and 310 manager postings, and 39 and 245 executive postings (spring 2024 and fall 2026). Each cell is the change in points, with its range of likely values.
8What would strengthen this answer
| Test | What it would settle | Why it has not run |
|---|---|---|
| A 2026 sample from the 2024 source | Separates real title change from the source difference | |
| More companies in both years | Whether the split moved within the same employers by level. Only 74 companies posted in both years |
Acknowledgements
Question asked by Travis Farral.
References
- [1]AKA Security Research Factory. Security Hiring Research: What Job Postings Say About Security Work. AKA Security, 2026. akasecurity.io/research/security-hiring-research
Cite as
@techreport{aka-rz-2026-09,
title = {How Do Engineering and Non-Engineering Titles Split Across Security Job Openings? Engineer Titles Went From About a Third to More Than Half},
author = {{AKA Security Research Factory}},
institution = {AKA Security},
type = {Research report},
number = {AKA-RZ:2610.09v1},
version = {1.1.0},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
url = {https://akasecurity.io/research/security-engineering-titles}
}