Even as economic headwinds buffet the broader job market, cybersecurity remains a rare outlier—experiencing sustained, and in many regions, accelerating demand. According to newly released data from CyberSeek™, more than half a million cybersecurity-related job listings—514,359 to be exact—were posted over the past 12 months across the U.S., representing a 12% increase compared to the prior period. This rebound follows a dip in hiring and underscores the sector’s role as a strategic pillar for both public and private institutions grappling with rising digital threats, increasing regulatory expectations, and fast-evolving technologies, including artificial intelligence.
The timing of this data release—aligned with the 2025 NICE Conference & Expo in Denver—emphasizes the growing consensus: the nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure cannot be sustained without simultaneously scaling and innovating its workforce pipeline. Under this year’s theme, “Climbing Higher: Educating & Sustaining a Resilient Cybersecurity Workforce”, the conference places data-driven strategy and inclusive talent development at the core of national cybersecurity resilience.
Rodney Petersen, director of NICE, noted the importance of entry-level accessibility and long-term skill building, pointing out that job listings provide tangible evidence of employer needs. This point resonates especially as 10% of the new postings specifically mention AI as a required skill—further cementing AI as a dual force in cybersecurity: both a tool and a threat. Notably, that percentage only captures explicit mentions, meaning AI-related competencies may be underrepresented in the raw data, but still implicitly expected.
For the first time, CyberSeek now also offers a global baseline for the cybersecurity workforce, estimated at 4.97 million professionals. This figure is contextualized by a range—from 4.4 million to 5.5 million—reflecting variation in the definition of cybersecurity roles and differing global methodologies. It includes both specialists and IT workers with major cybersecurity responsibilities. This broader perspective is particularly useful as cybersecurity ceases to be a siloed function and instead becomes embedded across all aspects of IT and business operations.
The breakdown of job postings by role category is particularly revealing. Oversight and Governance roles (355,590 postings) edge out Implementation and Operation (335,993), with Design and Development (331,644) close behind. Protection and Defense (238,516) and Investigation (19,525) round out the list, suggesting that strategic and technical planning roles are in highest demand. These numbers map directly to the NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity and illustrate how expansive the ecosystem has become, from code to compliance.
Still, supply is not keeping pace. CyberSeek calculates a supply-demand ratio of just 74%, meaning that for every 100 jobs posted, only 74 qualified individuals are currently available in the market. Recruiting cycles have lengthened by 21% on average, suggesting increased difficulty not only in sourcing talent but perhaps also in navigating the shifting definition of what that talent must now encompass—including fluency in operational technology and AI security protocols (SecAI and SecOT).
This shortage is not uniform across the U.S., however. States like Virginia (53,855 postings), California (44,344), Texas (42,559), Maryland (27,050), and Florida (23,792) account for 55% of all cybersecurity-related job listings. These hubs, often adjacent to major government agencies, military installations, or innovation clusters, highlight both geographic concentration and the ongoing challenge of distributional equity in workforce development.
Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s chief research officer, reinforced the importance of multi-layered cybersecurity strategies, particularly as emerging technologies push security requirements into uncharted territory. With a surge of interest in AI-related skills, traditional cybersecurity job descriptions are rapidly evolving—highlighting the urgency for education systems and professional training programs to adapt in real time.
CyberSeek’s refreshed platform aims to address these gaps by offering granular, actionable data to employers, educators, policymakers, and jobseekers. As the only tool of its kind that integrates real-time labor market analytics with cybersecurity workforce taxonomies, it plays a critical role in aligning national workforce goals with real-world hiring activity.
As the threat landscape becomes more dynamic and the tools to defend against it more complex, one constant remains: organizations can no longer afford to be reactive. Building and sustaining a resilient cybersecurity workforce is now a frontline imperative—one measured not just in job postings, but in how swiftly the next generation of professionals can be trained, recruited, and retained.
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