Entry-level security engineer jobs

Most security engineering hiring is mid-level and up, so the entry points are worth knowing by name. Google’s Security Engineer II asks for one year of security assessment and one year of coding and posts $123,000–$174,000, with a Security Engineering Intern program each summer; Apple posts ICT2-level Product Security Engineer reqs with no years-of-experience bar inside a $122,700–$214,300 band; Microsoft has an IC2 Security Engineer – Red Team req (posted October 2, 2026); and Meta has run University Grad security reqs in prior cycles. The AI labs, Netflix, Datadog, Cloudflare, Coinbase and CrowdStrike hire experienced engineers only, and Amazon’s lowest rung asks for two years.

4 of 12 ranked programs match · Last verified October 10, 2026 · See the full Security Engineer List →

Google security engineers assess designs, harden infrastructure and access-control enforcement points, hunt for vulnerabilities, and build detection and response tooling alongside software engineers. Current reqs lean toward cloud and product security, identity and access (including AI-agent access), and AI-era threats such as agentic security and LLM workflows. The org is large and highly specialized, with a posted-pay ladder from Security Engineer II through Staff and a strong offensive and research arm.

Base salary

$147k–$210k

Locations

Mountain View · NYC · Kirkland · Reston · Austin

Work setup

Hybrid (about 3 days a week in office); one req, Senior Security Engineer, Frontline Intrusion Operations, is tagged remote-eligible for CA, NV, OR and WA

Experience

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. Minimums by level: Security Engineer II asks one year of security assessment plus one year of coding; III two years of each; Senior five; Staff eight. An entry-level path exists through the internship and Security Engineer II.

Worth knowing: Google closed its roughly $32 billion all-cash acquisition of Wiz on March 11, 2026; Wiz keeps its brand inside Google Cloud and continues to cover AWS, Azure and Oracle Cloud — the largest security acquisition in the industry’s history.

The US careers search returned 92 security results on Oct 10, 2026, including 15 Security Engineer-titled reqs from II to Staff — cloud and product security (Cloud CISO), access security, Android anti-malware, security research, silicon and network-device security, Frontline Intrusion Operations (red team), DeepMind serving-layer security — plus a Staff SWE Detection and Response Platform req and Mandiant/GTIG consulting reqs

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Salary band, hiring status & score breakdown — see the full Google Security page →

Apple security engineers work inside SEAR and adjacent teams to secure silicon, firmware, OS kernels, frameworks, services and Apple Pay, with a strong offensive-research and low-level (C, C++, kernel, SoC) bias. Most reqs are on-site in Cupertino and Seattle, and recent postings explicitly ask for fluency with AI and agentic tooling. It is the most hardware- and platform-centric security org on this list, with very few remote seats.

Base salary

$123k–$214k

Locations

Cupertino · Seattle · Sunnyvale · Austin · NYC

Work setup

Hybrid or on-site by team (about 3 days a week in office); one of 71 reqs — Offensive Security Researcher, Kernel and Embedded Security, NYC — is flagged home office

Experience

Product Security Engineer, SEAR is leveled ICT2–ICT3 with no years-of-experience bar (C, C++ or Objective-C, vulnerability classes, security tooling); Red Team reqs (ICT4–ICT5) ask 4+ years with 2+ in security reviews; Senior Security Engineer asks 10+. No formal new-grad program, but entry-level reqs exist.

Worth knowing: Apple’s Security Bounty now pays up to $2 million for zero-click exploit chains (over $5 million with bonuses), and Apple says SEAR runs its own offensive research on exploit chains to drive foundational defensive improvements.

The Security and Privacy team listed 71 unique US reqs on Oct 10, 2026, about 25 of them core security-engineering titles — product security, red team and offensive research, platform, SoC and OS security, cloud and identity security, compiler and supply-chain security — newest posted Oct 9, mostly Cupertino and Seattle

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Salary band, hiring status & score breakdown — see the full Apple Security page →

Security engineers here do offensive work and product security on Windows, Azure and M365 — pen testing, red teaming, code audit and mitigation design — plus SOC and detection engineering for Microsoft’s internal estate. Reqs skew to offensive security, security research and security operations rather than generalist AppSec, and 2026 postings stress AI and agentic tooling. Several cleared reqs sit in Reston and Redmond.

Base salary

$102k–$202k

Locations

Redmond · Reston · Atlanta · Pittsburgh · US remote

Work setup

Mixed by req — 23 of 41 list ‘3 days/week in-office’, 16 list ‘0 days/week in-office – remote’, and 2 are fully on-site cleared work; company policy sets 3 days a week for staff within 50 miles of an office (Puget Sound from February 2026)

Experience

Security Engineer II (IC3): bachelor’s in CS, math, statistics or related plus 2+ years in security, or master’s plus 1+ year, or equivalent experience. Senior (IC4): bachelor’s plus 4+ years. Principal (IC5): bachelor’s plus 6+ years. Entry level: the IC2 Red Team req asks only for a bachelor’s or equivalent experience. Some reqs require government clearances.

Worth knowing: Microsoft’s July 10, 2026 Secure Future Initiative report says its multi-agent system for assessing cloud services had over 90% of findings confirmed by security engineers, and a 2026 Windows Security req asks hires to ‘build reusable agents and tools’ to speed up security reviews.

41 US reqs in Microsoft’s ‘Security Engineering’ profession as of Oct 10, 2026 (Security Research 19, Penetration Testing 8, Security Operations Engineering 8, Security Assurance 6), plus more security-titled reqs filed under Software and Hardware Engineering; 29 list Redmond, the rest Reston VA, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Reno, Mountain View, Maryland or generic US; newest posted Oct 9, 2026

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Salary band, hiring status & score breakdown — see the full Microsoft Security page →

Meta security engineers find and fix vulnerabilities across its apps and infrastructure through security assessments, threat modeling, code review and tooling, and they are expected to write real code. Specialties span product security, offensive and red team, detection and response, vulnerability management and Applied AI security. 2026 has been a contraction year, so openings are fewer and more selective than the posted pay bands suggest.

Base salary

$154k–$217k

Locations

Menlo Park · NYC · Bellevue · DC

Work setup

Hybrid, 3 days a week in office company-wide (Instagram has required 5 days since February 2026); no remote-tagged security req verified

Experience

Core reqs ask 5+ years of security engineering (Product Security, Applied AI) and 8+ years for the general Security Engineer req, with strong coding plus threat modeling, security design review and vulnerability research. A University Grad path exists through separate UG security reqs in prior cycles.

Worth knowing: Meta’s May 20, 2026 layoffs (about 8,000 people, 10% of staff) reportedly hit its cybersecurity teams and came with cancelled plans to hire 6,000 — yet a Product Security Engineer req was posted on September 21, 2026.

A Product Security Engineer req in Menlo Park (posted Sep 21, 2026, valid through Oct 27) is confirmed open, and Security Engineer reqs for Applied AI, Investigations, Vulnerability Management, offensive and red team, and detection and response surface for Menlo Park, New York, Bellevue/Seattle and Washington DC — but hiring is tighter after the May 2026 layoffs

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Salary band, hiring status & score breakdown — see the full Meta Security page →

Common questions

Of the twelve programs here, four: Google (Security Engineer II at one year of experience, plus a BS/MS Security Engineering Intern req each summer), Apple (ICT2-level Product Security Engineer reqs with no years bar), Microsoft (an IC2 Security Engineer – Red Team req) and Meta (University Grad security reqs in earlier cycles, none verified open for 2027). Amazon’s Security Engineer I asks for 2+ years, and OpenAI, Anthropic, Netflix, Datadog, Cloudflare, Coinbase and CrowdStrike have no entry-level security path.

Posted junior bands: Google Security Engineer II $123,000–$174,000 plus a 15% bonus target and equity; Apple ICT2–ICT3 $122,700–$214,300; Microsoft IC3 $102,100–$202,200 (the IC2 Red Team req posts a lower band); Amazon Security Engineer I $136,000–$184,000 in Seattle; CrowdStrike Engineer II Software Assurance $100,000–$145,000. Meta’s University Grad security reqs have historically posted alongside its E3 software band.

Through a software engineering seat or an internship. Google’s Security Engineering Intern (BS/MS) is the most direct route and converts to Security Engineer II; Apple and Microsoft hire ICT2 and IC2 engineers who can show vulnerability research, CTF results or secure-coding work; and many security engineers at Amazon, Meta and Netflix moved over internally from software roles. Anthropic’s Fellows Program (AI Safety & Security workstream) is a four-month paid research route, not a hiring track.

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