CYBERSN’S Cybersecurity Jobs Report, analysed by CyberSN’s taxonomy of 45 cybersecurity roles, shows a mixed picture for the US job market in 2026. Between January and September 2026 there were 235,786 postings, down 26.4% from 320,210 in the same period of 2025, marking a four-year low for overall postings. Despite the decline in total listings, AI-focused roles have surged: AI Security Engineer demand has risen by 268.3% and Cyber Data Scientist demand by 203.5% compared with the previous year.
AI remains a notable portion of postings, accounting for just under 15% of all listings (15% this year versus 15.1% in the prior year), with momentum peaking at 20.0% in September 2026.
The report also highlights which functions reference AI most, including Research (32.7% of postings, up 11.7 points), Offense (23.3%, up 4.8), GRC (19.8%, up 2.1), and Plan (18.9%, up 0.6). Remote-working dynamics show top functional areas such as Sales (32.8%), GRC (31.2%), Offense (24.7%), Product Security (22.9%), Educate (22.8%), and Research (21.9%).
Notable declines include Cyber Insider Threat Analyst (down 55.6% to 1,088 postings), Cyber Risk Analyst (down 51.5% to 4,031), Penetration Tester (down 45.9% to 3,063), Cybersecurity Lead (down 41.0% to 4,688), Threat Hunter (down 40.0% to 1,013), Cybersecurity Project Manager (down 39.4% to 783), and Chief Information Security Officer (CSO/BSO/ISO) (down 38.9% to 2,832).
The report describes itself as a “what” rather than “why” analysis, noting that job titles are noisy and demand is interpreted by the CyberSN taxonomy. It also suggests leadership postings move with boards’ approaches to cyber accountability.