Security Architect salary
What security architects and consultants are offered right now, taken from the salary ranges employers print in their own open postings rather than from self-reported surveys. The headline band is for every level together; the tables below separate first jobs from senior seats, remote from on-site, and one employer from another.
Typical means the span from the 25th percentile of range midpoints to the 90th percentile of range tops, every figure taken as a full-time year (an hourly rate times 2,080 hours). A group below needs enough distinct ranges for a figure of its own; where it has fewer, the table says so instead of guessing. The methodology explains how postings are read.
By seniority
Pay at each rung, from intern to manager
Titles are grouped by the level they name. A title with no level word is usually a mid-level seat.
| Level | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in the title | 27 | $175k–$363k/yr | $211k/yr |
| Senior, staff or principal | 23 | $174k–$278k/yr | $198k/yr |
Workplace
Remote against on-site and hybrid
| Workplace | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote | 24 | $175k–$339k/yr | $204k/yr |
| On-site or hybrid | 26 | $175k–$337k/yr | $212k/yr |
Kind of employer
Who pays more: vendors, banks, cloud companies or labs
| Employer kind | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI labs | 6 | $262k–$423k/yr | $334k/yr |
| Cloud, data and infrastructure | 20 | $168k–$310k/yr | $212k/yr |
| Security software companies | 16 | $189k–$315k/yr | $208k/yr |
| Security consultancies and managed services | 2 | too few ranges | |
| Finance, payments and crypto | 2 | too few ranges | |
| Defense, aerospace and hardware | 2 | too few ranges | |
| Software and internet companies | 2 | too few ranges |
Employers
Best-paying employers for security architects and consultants
Only employers with enough stated ranges in this specialty for a figure of their own, highest middle first.
| Employer | With a salary | Typical | Middle |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | 4 | $243k–$415k/yr | $281k/yr |
| Palo Alto Networks | 5 | $208k–$333k/yr | $208k/yr |
| Zscaler | 6 | $181k–$281k/yr | $207k/yr |
Open now
The highest salaries stated in open postings
- Forward Deployed Security Engineer · Washington, DC$266,000-$445,000 per year
- Applied AI Architect, Cyber Specialist · San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$300,000-$400,000 per year
- Applied AI Security Architect - Healthcare & Life Sciences · New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$315,000-$380,000 per year
- Principal Security Field Engineer · Remote - California$270,300-$371,700 per year
- Applied AI Architect, Cyber · San Francisco$295,000-$345,000 per year
- Distinguished Forward Deployed Engineer, AI Security · Charlotte, United States of America; Office - USA - CA - Headquarters$248,700.00 - $341,250.00/yr
- Field Security Advisor · Remote, United States$174,960-$324,960 per year
- Sr Domain Consultant (AI Security) · Dallas, Texas; Denver, United States of America; Kansas City, Missouri; Nashville, United States of America; Minneapolis, United States of America; Santa Clara, United States of America; Charlotte, United States of America; Boston, United States of America; Seattle, United States of America; Atlanta, United States of America; New York City, United States of America$232,800.00 - $320,100.00/yr
- Architect, Software Development (Layer 7 Security & Proxy) · Santa Clara, California, USA$217,000-$310,000 per year
- Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), Cyber - NYC · New York City$185,000-$300,000 per year
Every security architecture and consulting role with a salary, highest first.
Questions
Security Architect pay, answered from the postings
What salary do security architects and consultants earn in 2026?
Open postings for security architects and consultants state a typical $175k–$343k/yr, with the middle at $208k/yr. That rests on 47 distinct salary ranges from 26 employers, read 11 Nov 2026. All figures are full-time yearly salaries in US dollars: an hourly, weekly or monthly rate in a posting is multiplied by 2,080, 52 or 12 (40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year).
Do remote security architecture and consulting roles pay less?
On today's postings remote roles state a middle of $204k/yr and on-site or hybrid roles $212k/yr, so on-site and hybrid seats pay more in the middle of the range. Both figures come from 50 open roles that state a salary.
Where do security architects and consultants get the highest offers?
Of the employers with enough stated ranges to compare, OpenAI has the highest middle, $281k/yr, followed by Palo Alto Networks ($208k/yr). The table on this page ranks every employer with a figure of its own.
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