US Cybersecurity Job Postings Fall 26% as Demand for AI Security Engineers Surges
Summary
CyberSN’s report found US cybersecurity job postings fell 26.4% in January–September 2026, while demand for AI Security Engineers rose 268.3%. Nearly 15% of listings referenced AI, but the report does not explain the causes of the changes.
Key points
- The report counted 235,786 US cybersecurity job postings from January through September 2026, down 26.4% from the same period in 2025 and the lowest level in four years.
- AI Security Engineer postings rose 268.3% year over year; Cyber Data Scientist postings increased 203.5%.
- Just under 15% of listings referenced AI, with the share reaching 20% in September 2026.
- AI-related skills appeared most often in Research roles (32.7%), followed by Offense (23.3%), GRC (19.8%), and Plan (18.9%).
- Postings declined sharply for several roles, including Cyber Insider Threat Analyst (55.6%), Cyber Risk Analyst (51.5%), and Penetration Tester (45.9%).
- CyberSN says the report measures what skills job listings request, not why demand changed; the CISO decline partly reflects an unusually strong 2025.
Article Details
- Publisher
- CyberSN
- Report Period
- January–September 2026, compared with the same period in 2025 and earlier years
- Scope
- US cybersecurity job postings, categorized by CyberSN’s taxonomy of 45 functional roles across ten categories
- Sample Size
- 235,786 postings from January to September 2026; duplicates removed from data aggregated from JobSpikr
- Key Statistics
- Cybersecurity postings totaled 235,786 in January–September 2026, down 26.4% from 320,210 in the same period of 2025.
- AI Security Engineer demand increased 268.3% year over year; Cyber Data Scientist demand increased 203.5%.
- Just under 15% of postings referenced AI, compared with 15.1% in the same period of 2025; the share peaked at 20.0% in September 2026.
- Cyber Insider Threat Analyst postings fell 55.6% to 1,088; Cyber Risk Analyst postings fell 51.5% to 4,031; Penetration Tester postings fell 45.9% to 3,063.
- CISO postings, including CSO, BSO and ISO, fell 38.9% year over year to 2,832, nearly matching 2024’s 2,808.