Cost-to-hire calculator
Estimate the real first-year cost of a cybersecurity hire - salary plus employer on-costs plus recruiting - and see what a recruitment agency fee would add versus posting the role yourself for $299.
Salaries are live market benchmarks. On-costs (~25%) and the agency fee (~20%) are adjustable industry-standard estimates - tune them to your situation.
Hire via a recruitment agency
- Base salary
- $142,500
- Employer on-costs (~25%)
- $35,625
- Agency fee (20%)
- $28,500
First-year total$206,625
Post it yourself
- Base salary
- $142,500
- Employer on-costs (~25%)
- $35,625
- Specialist board post
- $299
First-year total$178,424
Posting it yourself saves about $28,201 versus a 20% agency fee.
Typical first-year cost to hire (US)
Median benchmark salary + 25% on-costs + a 20% agency fee, by role. The last column is the flat cost of posting the role yourself.
| Role | Median salary | On-costs | Agency fee | Total (agency) | Or post it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Security Engineer | $142,500 | $35,625 | $28,500 | $206,625 | $299 |
| Senior Security Engineer | $185,000 | $46,250 | $37,000 | $268,250 | $299 |
| GRC Analyst | $101,500 | $25,375 | $20,300 | $147,175 | $299 |
| Cloud Security Engineer | $160,000 | $40,000 | $32,000 | $232,000 | $299 |
| SOC Analyst | $75,000 | $18,750 | $15,000 | $108,750 | $299 |
| AppSec Engineer | $152,500 | $38,125 | $30,500 | $221,125 | $299 |
| Penetration Tester | $125,000 | $31,250 | $25,000 | $181,250 | $299 |
| CISO | $275,000 | $68,750 | $55,000 | $398,750 | $299 |
Estimate only. Cross-check pay against the live Salary Report.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to hire a security engineer?
- In the US, budget around $142,500 base salary plus roughly $35,625 in employer on-costs (taxes, benefits, equipment). Filling the role through a recruitment agency typically adds a fee of $28,500 (about 20% of first-year salary), versus $299 to post it yourself on a specialist board.
- What is a typical recruitment agency fee?
- Contingency recruitment agencies usually charge 15-25% of the hire's first-year salary, due when the candidate starts. On a six-figure security salary that is tens of thousands of dollars per hire - the calculator shows it against the flat $299 cost of posting the role yourself.
- How can I reduce cost-to-hire?
- Post on a specialist board where the audience is already security-focused (a flat $299 versus a percentage agency fee), publish a salary range to attract qualified applicants faster, and run a tight structured interview loop to cut time-to-fill. The biggest single lever is usually avoiding the agency percentage.