Conduct security assessments for organizations, and design security systems and processes. May specialize in areas such as physical security, personnel security, and information security. May work in fields such as health care, banking, gaming, security engineering, or manufacturing.
U.S. Workers
1,128,200
Median Salary
$81,270
10-Year Growth
+3.0%
Annual Openings
108,200
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
24 of 24 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Recommend improvements in security systems or procedures.
AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI systems can analyze system configs, logs, threat data, and best practices to generate actionable recommendations for improving security systems and procedures at scale.
Perform risk analyses so that appropriate countermeasures can be developed.
AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI can perform quantitative and qualitative risk analyses from data and threat intelligence to propose appropriate countermeasures, though human validation is advisable for high-stakes decisions.
Provide system design and integration recommendations.
AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI can generate system designs and integration plans, create specification documents and wiring/architecture diagrams, and recommend interoperable components for human engineers to implement.
Assess the nature and level of threats so that the scope of the problem can be determined.
AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI can ingest threat intelligence, historical incident data, and contextual signals to assess threat nature and level and define the problem scope for response planning.
Design security policies, programs, or practices to ensure adequate security relating to asset protection, alarm response, access card use, and other security needs.
AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI can draft comprehensive security policies, programs, and operational practices tailored to asset protection and access control based on regulations and organizational context.
Determine the value loss impact and criticality of assets.
AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI can analyze inventories, business impact criteria, and loss scenarios to calculate value-at-risk and asset criticality, producing prioritization outputs for decision makers.
Outline system security criteria for pre-bid meetings with clients and companies to ensure comprehensiveness and appropriateness for implementation.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can synthesize requirements, standards, and risk profiles to produce comprehensive, implementable security criteria for pre-bid meetings that stakeholders can use directly.
Review design drawings or technical documents for completeness, correctness, or appropriateness.
AI: Fully automatable - AI systems can systematically review drawings and technical documents for completeness and common errors against standards, reliably flagging omissions and inconsistencies for use without manual rework in many cases.
Budget and schedule security design work.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can produce detailed budgets and schedules from scope, historical data, and constraints and optimize plans automatically, providing outputs suitable for direct use in many project environments.
Prepare documentation for case reports or court proceedings.
AI: Fully automatable - LLMs and document-automation tools can draft, format, and populate case reports and court documents from facts and evidence, enabling full preparation of such documentation.
Monitor tapes or digital recordings to identify the source of losses.
AI: Fully automatable - Computer vision and audio-analysis systems can continuously review video and audio recordings to detect events, identify persons/actions, and correlate incidents to pinpoint sources of losses.
Engineer, install, maintain, or repair security systems, programmable logic controls, or other security-related electronic systems.
AI: Partial - By 2025 AI can provide diagnostics, step-by-step procedures, and troubleshooting for security electronics but cannot physically perform installations, maintenance, or repairs without robotics and human technicians.
Conduct security audits to identify potential vulnerabilities related to physical security, staff safety, or asset protection.
AI: Partial - By 2025 AI can automate audit checklists, analyze records and camera/ sensor data to surface vulnerabilities, but physical inspection and contextual judgment around staff safety often require humans on site.
Design, implement, or establish requirements for security systems, video surveillance, motion detection, or closed-circuit television systems to ensure proper installation and operation.
AI: Partial - By 2025 AI can design and specify requirements for video surveillance and detection systems and validate configurations virtually, but cannot perform the physical installation and on-site calibration itself.
Respond to emergency situations on an on-call basis.
AI: Partial - By 2025 AI can assist emergency response—triaging alerts, recommending actions, and coordinating notifications—but cannot replace human responders for on-the-ground, real-world emergency actions.
Prepare, maintain, or update security procedures, security system drawings, or related documentation.
AI: Partial - AI can generate and update security procedures and draft system diagrams or documentation quickly, but outputs typically require human validation, site-specific adjustment, and integration with operational systems.
Develop or review specifications for design or construction of security systems.
AI: Partial - AI can draft and review technical specifications against standards and best practices, but final specifications for design/construction require domain-expert judgement and legal/contractual sign-off.
Develop conceptual designs of security systems.
AI: Partial - AI can produce conceptual security system layouts and high-level designs from requirements, but these concepts often need human engineering input to verify feasibility and adapt to site constraints.
Monitor the work of contractors in the design, construction, and startup phases of security systems.
AI: Partial - AI can assist monitoring via remote data analysis, reporting, and schedule tracking, but on-site contractor oversight, coordination, and judgement-intensive decisions remain human-led.
Train personnel in security procedures or use of security equipment.
AI: Partial - AI can create training materials, simulations, and deliver remote instruction, yet hands-on equipment training and behavioral coaching typically require human trainers and assessment.
Inspect security design features, installations, or programs to ensure compliance with applicable standards or regulations.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze photos, video, and records to identify compliance issues, but physical inspections, contextual judgement, and regulatory enforcement actions still need human inspectors.
Interview witnesses or suspects to identify persons responsible for security breaches or to establish losses, pursue prosecutions, or obtain restitution.
AI: Partial - AI can conduct structured intake interviews, transcribe and analyze answers to identify leads, but cannot fully replace the legal, ethical, and nuanced judgment required for interviewing witnesses or suspects.
Test security measures for final acceptance and implement or provide procedures for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the measures.
AI: Partial - AI can design and run many test scenarios, analyze results, and produce monitoring procedures, but physical acceptance testing and final operational validation usually require human oversight and intervention.
Inspect fire, intruder detection, or other security systems.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze logs, sensor telemetry, and camera feeds to detect faults and anomalies remotely, but cannot perform the physical hands-on inspection or maintenance that some inspections require.