The demand for cybersecurity engineers has skyrocketed as artificial intelligence generates vast amounts of new code and models like Anthropic's Mythos create new threats.
The demand for cybersecurity engineers has skyrocketed as artificial intelligence generates vast amounts of new code and models like Anthropic's Mythos create new threats.
Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm for Fortune 100 companies, has been inundated with inquiries in recent months. Businesses are looking for executives with experience in cyber incident response and data protection who also have the technical knowledge to review code.
“Jobs that used to come up once a year are now coming up every week. I think it’s because of the fear and uncertainty in this AI arms race,” Austin Cowan, a top-level executive recruiter at Heidrick & Struggle, told The New York Times.
While AI is upending the job market — especially in Silicon Valley — the risks and pitfalls associated with the technology have sparked a new wave of hiring for cybersecurity professionals.
Demand is so strong that some recruitment agencies say they are turning away clients, in part because there simply aren’t enough qualified candidates on the market. According to job search platform Glassdoor, cybersecurity job openings increased by 11% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
Security hiring has skyrocketed as IT professionals increasingly use AI to generate code, sometimes making mistakes and creating vulnerabilities in the process. In addition, leading AI labs have warned that their latest technologies, such as Anthropic’s Mythos model, can be used to find and exploit vulnerabilities in software, making it much easier for hackers to compromise corporate infrastructure.
This hiring hype demonstrates that AI can also help create jobs, despite gloomy predictions that the technology could replace a huge portion of the workforce.
“We’re going to need people to sort through this ‘bugopocalypse,’” says Leah Kissner, LinkedIn’s chief information security officer. “I think we won’t fully understand how to build a sustainable, long-term AI security system for at least a few years.”
Kissner noted that they are literally combing the market in search of engineers who possess not only technical skills, but also the flexibility of thinking to navigate the atmosphere of uncertainty and chaos caused by the AI revolution, as well as understand the principles of operation of complex corporate infrastructure.
“The job market for cybersecurity professionals is getting hotter,” Dr. Kissner added.
Last month, AI startup Anthropic announced the creation of a new model, Mythos , which demonstrates exceptional results in finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in the software that powers the world’s energy grids, financial institutions, and large companies. The announcement sparked a global uproar, as businesses and governments began to frantically prepare for how attackers might later use the technology. A week later, OpenAI unveiled a similar technology called GPT-5.4-Cyber . Both companies have made the technology available only to a limited number of partners for testing.
According to Michael Piacente, managing partner at Hitch Partners, a security executive search firm, requests from businesses looking for highly skilled cybersecurity executives have been “increasingly common” since Anthropic introduced the Mythos model. His firm has been inundated with such requests.
“Compared to last fall, demand has increased 5 to 7 times,” he noted. “As a result, we had to turn down a significant number of orders.”
Recruiters say candidates interviewing for top security roles have significant negotiating leverage, and compensation packages are rising rapidly. Although they are still not as high as those of top AI researchers, who can earn up to $250 million a year, Austin Cowan noted that packages of $7 million to $8 million are becoming increasingly common for cybersecurity executives.
“A few years ago, that kind of amount would have made anyone fall off their chair in amazement,” he noted. “Now there’s a realization that there are critically few people with that skill set, so we have to go and get them.”
The recruitment hype is gradually trickling down to mid-level positions. According to Kissner, cybersecurity engineers are now demanding higher pay and more interesting tasks, which only intensifies the competition for talent among employers.
