2025 North America Security Organization Compensation, Responsibilities, and Structure Survey Results
Executive Summary
Methodology
Key Findings and Takeaways
Topline
Comprehensive Analysis of CISOs
a. Compensation, Benefits, and Protections
b. Team Dynamics and Diversity
c. Reporting Structure
d. Security Program Budget Justification
e. Functions Managed by CISOs
f. Board Exposure and Participation
g. CISO Tenure, Career Progression, and Succession Planning
5. Director Level Overview
Research is seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.”
- Albert Szent-Györgyi
Executive Summary
Presented by Hitch Partners, the 2025 North America Security Organization Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving landscape within security leadership. Now in its eighth annual edition, this report delivers critical insights into compensation trends, reporting structures, and the expanding responsibilities of security executives in 2024.
This year’s findings offer a detailed look at both Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and Director-level security leaders. While CISOs continue to shape security strategy and communicate risk at the executive level, Directors—who operate just below the CISO—are playing an increasingly pivotal role in driving execution, managing critical security programs, and ensuring operational excellence.
As threats to critical infrastructure and applications intensify, the demand for seasoned security leadership remains high. Both CISOs and Directors are commanding competitive compensation as organizations prioritize security at the highest levels.
At Hitch Partners, we specialize in executive search and advocacy, equipping security leaders with the insights they need to navigate this dynamic field. We welcome your feedback and invite you to share topics you’d like us to explore in future reports.
1. Methodology
The findings in this report are derived from survey responses collected from 500+ North American (U.S. and Canada) based Information Security leaders across a diverse range of industries, organizations, agencies, and associations. providing a comprehensive snapshot of security leadership trends as of 2024.
For the purpose of this analysis, we define the “CISO” as the individual primarily accountable for the strategy, orchestration, execution, and deployment of their organization’s information security program. This role encompasses titles such as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Chief Security Officer (CSO), Head of Security, Vice President of Security, and Vice President of Information Security. Throughout this report, these roles are collectively referred to as “CISO.”
Additionally, we analyze the roles of security leaders at the Director-level, defined as individuals responsible for managing critical areas within the security program but who report to the senior security leader. These roles, referred to as “Director-Level,” are integral to the execution and operationalization of the organization’s security strategy.
The data presented in this report is based on voluntary responses collected via an online survey. While robust, this dataset represents a sample of the information security leadership community within North America and does not encompass the entire population.
2. Key Findings and Takeaways
Compensation Trends
Equity as a Key Driver: Estimated equity values are driving significant increases in year-over-year (YoY) compensation for CISOs, particularly in larger public companies.
Cash Compensation Growth: Public company CISOs saw a +6.1% YoY increase in cash compensation compared to only +1.7% in privately held companies, reflecting a constriction in the private market but resilience in the public capital market.
Company Size Correlation: Compensation is directly correlated with company size, with larger organizations offering significantly higher cash compensation and equity packages.
Industry and Gender Pay Disparities
Industry Influence: Industries with larger, publicly traded companies and higher stakes (e.g., finance, tech) lead in cash compensation, highlighting the impact of organizational scale and industry importance.
Gender Pay Gap:
In privately held companies, female CISOs earn 83% of what male CISOs earn, closely mirroring the broader U.S. workforce trend reported by the Pew Research Center (82%).
In publicly traded companies, the gender pay gap is notably smaller, with female CISOs earning 92.5% of their male CISO counterparts’ salaries.
Benefits and Protections
Public vs. Private Benefits:
CISOs in publicly traded companies typically receive better compensation-related benefits, such as equity, insurance, and signing bonuses.
More than half of private company CISOs lack protections like Directors & Officers (D&O) insurance or indemnification policies.
Insurance Coverage:
Public companies are more likely to offer D&O insurance and other protections but tend to lack comprehensive indemnification policies.
Private company CISOs report a lower likelihood of insurance coverage, leaving many unprotected in their roles.
Leadership and Reporting Structures
Function Ownership: Over 50% of CISOs manage at least 10 functions, with ownership patterns consistent across sectors. However, private company CISOs often have broader responsibilities compared to their public counterparts.
Reporting Relationships: As company size increases, the likelihood of the CISO reporting directly to the CEO declines—from 35% in companies with fewer than 250 employees to just 2% in those with over 5,000 employees. Conversely, as companies grow and mature, CISOs are more likely to report to the CIO, rising from 2% in sub-250 employee firms to 43% in organizations with over 5,000 employees.
Other Observations
Justifications for Budget: Compliance, business impact, and return on investment (ROI) are the most frequently cited justifications for CISO budgets, regardless of company structure.
Signing Bonuses: The likelihood of receiving a signing bonus positively correlates with company size, with public companies offering them more frequently.
Takeaways for Stakeholders
Reported average tenure: Respondents reported an average tenure of 39 months in their current roles.
Competitive Compensation Packages: Organizations aiming to attract and retain top CISO talent should focus on competitive equity packages, robust protections, and fostering diverse teams. For private companies, addressing gaps in compensation and benefits can enhance their competitiveness in securing high-caliber leaders.
3. Topline Insights
4. Comprehensive Analysis of CISOs
4a. Compensation, Benefits and Protection
Equity as a Key Driver: Estimated equity values are driving significant increases in year-over-year (YoY) compensation for CISOs, particularly in larger public companies. 2024 was a great year for the market (S&P +23%), specifically for the information technology sector (+36%).
Cash Compensation Growth: Public company CISOs saw a +6.1% YoY increase in cash compensation compared to only +1.7% in privately held companies, reflecting a constriction in the private market but resilience in the public capital market.
Industry Influence: Industries with larger, publicly traded companies and higher stakes (e.g., finance, tech) lead in cash compensation, highlighting the impact of organizational scale and industry importance.
Note: The above charts highlight CASH COMPENSATION and do not include the estimated equity portion of the CISO’s compensation package.
Among CISOs, women in publicly traded companies earn 92% of their male counterparts’ compensation, while in privately held companies, they earn 83%—a figure that aligns with broader workforce trends as reported by PEW Research.
Compensation Benefits
The prevalence of signing bonuses and enhanced compensation benefits increases with company size, especially in publicly traded firms
Protections
Public vs. Private Benefits:
The compensation gap between public and private company CISOs extends beyond salary, with public CISOs more likely to receive equity, signing bonuses, and stronger legal protections such as D&O insurance.
More than half of private company CISOs lack protections like Directors & Officers (D&O) insurance or indemnification policies.
Insurance Coverage:
Public companies are more likely to offer D&O insurance and other protections but tend to lack comprehensive indemnification policies.
Private company CISOs report a lower likelihood of insurance coverage, leaving many unprotected in their roles.
4b. Team Dynamics and Diversity
Impact of Team Diversity: Teams with higher diversity levels experience significantly reduced pay disparities. Notably, disparities decrease from 18.8% in teams with less than 10% diversity to just 2.1% in teams where diversity exceeds 50%.
4c. Reporting Structure
Reporting Relationships:
For CISOs within publicly traded companies, reporting to the CIO is down significantly as more public companies move to the cloud and specialized expertise becomes more imperative.
Reporting to the CEO decreases as company size increases, while reporting to the CIO increases as company size increases. This shift reflects structural complexities in larger organizations.
As a company becomes larger, the likelihood of the CISO reporting the CEO dissipates significantly. Similarly, as a company matures the likelihood of the CISO reporting to the CIO grows exponentially.
4d. Security Program Budget Justification
Justifications for Budget: Regardless of company structure, CISOs consistently align their budget requests with three key factors: compliance obligations, business impact, and return on investment (ROI). This underscores cybersecurity’s role not only as a regulatory necessity but as a critical enabler of business continuity, risk mitigation, and long-term value creation.
4e. Functions Managed by a CISO
Function Ownership: Over 50% of CISOs reported managing at least 10 functions, with ownership patterns consistent across sectors. However, private company CISOs often have broader responsibilities compared to their public counterparts.
4f. Board Exposure and Participation
More than half of Public company CISOs (62%) report to the Board on a quarterly basis, this is a YoY increase of 14%, while 56% of private company CISOs report to the Board at least twice a year (+5% YoY). This trend continues to rise as the CISO and cybersecurity risks are highlighted.
Board participation for CISOs is lower than then their C-suite counterparts, however a significant percentage of CISOs desire for a Board role to be part of their future professional aspirations, we expect this number to grow.
CISOs are more frequently engaged as advisors than appointed to formal board positions, reflecting the growing demand for their expertise without full governance responsibilities. Most CISOs serving in advisory roles—whether in public or private companies—receive compensation in the form of cash, equity, or both, underscoring the value placed on their strategic guidance.
4g. CISO Current Tenure and Succession Planning
Average current tenure of a CISO respondent to our survey was 39 months, this a YoY increase of 11% (up from 35 months). The tenure of a CISO at small companies (less than 250 employees) is significantly less than their counterparts. This speaks to the high-stress nature of building a security team and implementing security controls across a growing organization.
As security teams mature, succession planning for the CISO role becomes essential to maintaining continuity and resilience.
Regardless of the stresses, a majority of CISOs envision their next role being a role of career advancement into leading a larger scale Security organization and/or participating more in the business strategy.
5. Director Level Overview
On behalf of our entire Hitch Partners team, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your time and valuable insights. We understand that you are incredibly busy, and we deeply appreciate you taking the time to participate in our annual survey. We remain laser-focused on serving the CISO community and are committed to providing you with the most relevant and impactful information possible. Thank you again for your continued support!
