Hyderabad: India’s cybersecurity job market is undergoing a sharp repricing as companies accelerate investments in AI-led operations, cloud infrastructure and customer data protection, pushing pay premiums for skilled cyber professionals close to those seen in artificial intelligence roles, say talent management firms.Demand is no longer concentrated in technology companies. TeamLease Digital CEO Neeti Sharma said cybersecurity roles across industries are expanding rapidly, with strong demand from IT services, GCCs, banks, manufacturing and FMCG companies as they all expand cyber teams as digital operations become more exposed to attacks and regulatory scrutiny.TeamLease Digital estimates that demand for cybersecurity specialists grew 15-20% between 2025 and 2026 and 18-19% quarter-on-quarter, with even freshers with cybersecurity skills benefiting from the surge and bagging 10-20% premiums in campus placements.The TeamLease Digital Skills & Salary Primer FY2026-27 shows that such is the demand that mid-level cybersecurity engineers are expected to command wage premiums of 20-22%, while senior and leadership roles may see 15-18% premiums.The strongest salary gains are emerging in specialised roles linked to cloud, AI risk, DevSecOps, zero-trust architecture, application security and operational technology security.According to TeamLease Digital, a senior-level cloud security architect (over 20 years’ experience) in a GCC can earn close to ₹1 crore, while job switches can bring an 18-20% increase. It pegged median fixed pay for a cloud security architect in a GCC at ₹98.6 lakh for professionals with over 15 years of experience and around ₹95.8 lakh for an operational technology security architect in manufacturing.TeamLease Digital said India’s cybersecurity workforce is estimated at 4-5 lakh, while employers are trying to fill nearly 40,000 open positions, with mid-to-senior talent remaining short by 25-30%. The gap is especially acute in application security, data security and data loss prevention, and cloud and infrastructure security, Sharma explained.However, Kamal Karanth, co-founder of staffing firm Xpheno, offered a more cautious view on hiring volumes. Karanth said their data shows a little over 7,000 listed cybersecurity openings, broadly stable over the past two years.He said IT services firms account for 49% of active openings, followed by consulting, BFSI, HR services and network security firms. Salaries have risen about 20% year-on-year, but specialised requirements have pulled joining ratios down to 65% from 75-80% earlier.
