Remote Security Engineer Salary 2026: What You Can Actually Earn
Location-independent cybersecurity pays $130K-$200K+ - but your certifications, specialization, and employer type determine where you land
Remote security engineering is one of the few tech disciplines where location almost never costs you money. Cybersecurity threats do not respect office hours or zip codes. Neither do the professionals defending against them.
In 2026, the global cybersecurity talent shortage exceeds 3 million unfilled positions. That chronic undersupply - combined with the inherently remote-compatible nature of security work (monitoring dashboards, cloud infrastructure, threat intelligence, incident response) - means companies actively recruit security engineers regardless of where they live.
The result: remote security engineers earn some of the highest location-independent salaries in tech.
Remote Security Engineer Salaries in 2026
The median remote security engineer salary at a US-headquartered employer is approximately $160,000 per year - on par with or above on-site roles in all but the most expensive metros. See live remote security engineer salary data →| Experience Level | Years | Remote Salary Range (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Junior | 0-2 yrs | $80,000-$105,000 |
| Mid-Level | 2-5 yrs | $115,000-$150,000 |
| Senior | 5-9 yrs | $160,000-$195,000 |
| Staff / Principal | 9+ yrs | $200,000-$240,000+ |
Junior ranges reflect roles at MSSPs, smaller companies, or positions focused primarily on alert triage and compliance tasks. Senior and staff numbers represent engineers who own security architecture, lead incident response, or run red team operations - work that commands premium pay anywhere.
Compare all security engineer markets: Security Engineer Salary - All Cities
Why Remote Security Pays So Well
Most tech roles show some remote discount. Security is the exception, for structural reasons:
The talent shortage is acute. The ratio of open security positions to qualified candidates is worse than almost any other engineering discipline. When a company posts a senior AppSec engineer role, they may receive 5-10 qualified applications. A remote software engineering role might receive 200. Geographic restrictions on a security hire eliminate candidates without solving the shortage. Security work is inherently async. Threat monitoring runs 24/7. Incident response happens at 3 AM. Vulnerability assessments are delivered as reports. Penetration tests are scoped and executed asynchronously. Security architecture reviews happen in documents and tickets. The in-office presence adds nothing to the quality of the work. Clearance and specialization matter more than location. A security engineer with an active TS/SCI clearance, OSCP certification, and 7 years of cloud security experience is rare - and employers know it. Hiring managers are not filtering that candidate pool further by zip code.Top Remote-Friendly Security Employers in 2026
Cybersecurity-Native Companies
Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike are the two largest pure-play cybersecurity employers globally, and both have significant remote workforces. Security engineers here work on threat intelligence, cloud security platforms, endpoint detection, and XDR products. Total compensation for senior engineers reaches $200K-$250K including equity. Tenable (vulnerability management) and Rapid7 (SIEM and managed detection) both operate large distributed security engineering teams. These are solid remote employers for engineers interested in product-side security work rather than enterprise consulting. Qualys and Veracode offer remote roles focused on application security scanning and DevSecOps - a fast-growing area as companies shift security left in their development pipelines.Bug Bounty and Offensive Security Platforms
HackerOne and Bugcrowd have built the infrastructure for the bug bounty economy and employ remote security engineers in platform security, researcher operations, and triaging roles. Beyond full-time employment, both platforms offer top bug bounty researchers six-figure annual earnings from program payouts alone - a fully remote income stream based on demonstrated skill. Offensive Security (the company behind the OSCP certification) and Bishop Fox hire remote penetration testers at $130K-$190K for experienced practitioners.Consultancies with Remote Practices
Mandiant (now Google Cloud), Coalfire, Deloitte Cyber, and NCC Group have all expanded their remote consulting practices. Security consulting was traditionally on-site-heavy, but cloud infrastructure assessments, code reviews, and compliance engagements are now routinely delivered remotely.Big Tech Remote Security Roles
Amazon (AWS Security), Google (Cloud Security, Project Zero, Chronicle), and Microsoft (Azure Defender, MSRC) all hire remote security engineers at senior levels. These roles are competitive and typically require 5+ years of experience, but compensation reaches $200K-$250K+ in total comp for strong candidates.
Key Skills That Command Remote Security Premiums
Not all security skills pay equally. Remote employers in 2026 pay the most for:
Cloud Security
AWS, GCP, and Azure security configuration, IAM architecture, and cloud-native security tooling (GuardDuty, Security Hub, Chronicle) are the highest-demand skills in security today. Every company migrating to cloud needs engineers who understand the shared responsibility model and can implement it correctly. Cloud security skills typically add $15K-$25K to base compensation.
Penetration Testing and Offensive Security
Hands-on offensive skills - web application testing (OWASP Top 10 plus advanced techniques), network penetration testing, and red team operations - are perennially undersupplied. Experienced pentesters with OSCP or GPEN credentials command $160K-$200K remotely and are rarely unemployed for long.
SIEM and SOAR
Proficiency with security information and event management platforms (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Elastic SIEM) and security orchestration tools (Palo Alto XSOAR, Splunk SOAR) is required for detection engineering and SOC leadership roles. Engineers who can build detection rules, tune alert fidelity, and automate response playbooks are in high demand at both tech companies and MSSPs.
Zero Trust Architecture
Zero trust network access (ZTNA), identity-aware proxies, microsegmentation, and BeyondCorp-style implementations are the current frontier of enterprise security architecture. Security engineers who can design and implement zero trust at scale command significant premiums.
Compliance Frameworks
SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA/HITECH expertise is demanded by fast-growing SaaS companies facing their first enterprise or healthcare customer audits. Security engineers who can own a compliance program - scoping controls, managing audit evidence, and advising engineering teams - earn $130K-$170K remotely. Less technically glamorous than offensive security, but highly bankable.
Remote Security vs. On-Site: The Real Comparison
For most tech roles, the remote-vs-on-site pay comparison is nuanced. For security engineering, it is remarkably straightforward: the delta is small, and sometimes inverts in favor of remote.
At large tech companies, on-site San Francisco roles edge out remote by $10K-$20K at the base level - but the cost-of-living differential and elimination of commute and relocation costs mean remote comes out ahead on a purchasing-power basis almost everywhere outside the Bay Area.
At mid-size tech companies and startups, remote security engineering often pays identically to or slightly above on-site - because the company is already accustomed to distributed teams, and security is too specialized to restrict geographically.
The one market where on-site outperforms remote: Washington DC defense and intelligence community roles. TS/SCI clearance positions require physical presence in cleared facilities. These roles pay $120K-$180K in base salary but can involve bonuses, clearance premiums, and career paths unavailable to remote workers.
For most security engineers not pursuing the cleared contractor path, remote offers equivalent compensation with significantly better lifestyle economics.
Building a Home Lab for Remote Security Work
A functional home lab is not required to get hired - but it is a strong differentiator during interviews and an accelerator for skill development.
Starting setup (under $500 total):Certifications Worth Pursuing for Remote Security Roles
OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional) - the hands-on gold standard for offensive security. Required or strongly preferred for pentesting and red team roles. Adds $15K-$25K to base salary. The 24-hour hands-on exam is grueling, which is exactly what makes it credible. CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) - the senior-level certification for security management, architecture, and compliance. Typically required for CISO-adjacent roles and government or enterprise security positions. Demonstrates broad domain knowledge across 8 security disciplines. CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) - more accessible than OSCP, widely recognized in government contracting and enterprise security. Less respected at top tech companies (which prefer hands-on evidence), but valuable for clearing HR filters at Fortune 500 and public sector employers. AWS Security Specialty / GCP Professional Cloud Security Engineer - cloud security certifications from the major providers. Highly valued for cloud security engineering roles and typically yield $10K-$20K salary premiums for engineers who can demonstrate hands-on implementation, not just exam prep. GPEN / GWAPT / GREM (GIAC certs) - GIAC's portfolio covers penetration testing, web application testing, and reverse engineering and malware analysis. These certifications are expensive ($800-$1,200 each) but highly regarded in the defense and finance sectors.Negotiation Tips for Remote Security Engineers
Lead with scarcity data. The 3-million-position global shortage is not a talking point - it is the structural reality of your negotiating position. Research open security roles at your target company and its competitors before any conversation. Going in knowing they have multiple unfilled security positions is leverage. Certifications are negotiating chips. If you hold OSCP, CISSP, or cloud security certifications, quantify the market premium they command. Use CareerCheck's security engineer salary tool to pull live market data before any negotiation. On-call and incident response deserve compensation. Remote security roles often include on-call rotations and 24/7 incident response obligations. These are not free - negotiate an on-call stipend ($5K-$15K/year is common) or incident response bonuses tied to actual activations. Equity is more negotiable than base. At startups and growth-stage companies, base salary may be constrained by comp bands. Security engineers with high leverage often make better gains by negotiating equity refresh grants, acceleration clauses, or signing bonuses than by pushing base salary above band. Not sure what your profile is worth? Take the CareerCheck career quiz for a personalized salary estimate based on your experience, certifications, and target market.---
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Remote security engineering in 2026 is one of the clearest paths to a six-figure, location-independent career in tech. The talent shortage is structural, the work is genuinely async-compatible, and employers know they cannot restrict their hiring geographically without leaving roles unfilled for months.
If you are a security engineer evaluating remote opportunities, the data is on your side: negotiate accordingly.
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