Hiring a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is a major milestone for any organization. Whether you are hiring your first CISO, replacing one who’s moved on, or upgrading to meet new challenges, this decision shapes your cybersecurity maturity and business resilience for years to come.
Where to Start with Hiring a CISO
Hiring a CISO can feel overwhelming. Make the wrong choice, and your organization risks impacts to your brand, losing money, time, and even security through preventable breaches. That is a heavy weight to carry, but it does not have to be.
The first step is to educate yourself with some research.
Top research activities before hiring a CISO
There are three areas you should conduct research as the first step to hiring a CISO . They include:
1. Ensuring you understand what a CISO is
Since security is nebulous, so often is the job description for the Chief Information Security Officer or CISO. So it is really important that you read up on this role and its many intricacies. This will ready you for the second area of research which is understanding the specific reason why you need the role.
2. So why does your organization really need a CISO?
Before you post a job or call a recruiter, get clear on “why” your organization needs the CISO role in the first place. Of course the default answer is to “prevent breaches” or to “be secure”, but there are often deeper more business focused reasons that will drive your decision making. Understanding these can save you time in guiding you forward. Here are some common why’s to help you with this process.
- We have a compliance requirement that says we must have one.
- Our organization needs strategic leadership to drive cybersecurity maturity.
- It is important to have one point of accountability for cybersecurity.
- Our board or customer base are asking tough questions about cybersecurity that we need someone to answer.
- We already had a breach and do not want another one.
- The company has evolved from startup to its next phase of maturity and we need a leader to guide this phase.
- Our last CISO just split and we need a new one.
- We are going for ISO27001, SOC2 or some other type of cybersecurity certification.
- Office politics around security ownership exist in our organization, and we want the CISO role to take charge.
The more specific you are the more you can narrow down your requirements for the type of resources you will need. Also, your answer determines the kind of CISO you will require and how you should structure the role. In line with the “why” you should also determine your objective for this role and the security program they will manage.
3. Determine your Security Program Objective
Every security program has the same ultimate goal which is protecting the organization from cyber threats. But often, there is also a more specific “driver” that aligns with the business rationale for the CISO hire. This is important to know because this will drive the type of program that your CISO will be building.
“One of the most common objectives is meeting customer security requirements. If that’s your top priority, it should guide both the focus of your program and the type of CISO you hire. In this case, you’ll want a CISO who understands sales lifecycles and can build a program that prioritizes responding to customer security requests.
The clearer you are on this objective, the faster you will find the right leader and get the results your organization needs most.
By the way, the opposite to this is creating a job description for Superman or Sheera with every skill and level of experience under the sun. Good luck finding that person, or affording them if you find them. In line with understanding the objective for the role, you should also understand the next key consideration: common hiring approaches and the types of available CISO’s for these roles.
Determine a hiring approach
There are two primary considerations in your approach for hiring a CISO. They include:
- Who will drive the hiring process and make decisions- this can be done internally, externally or using an external specialist
- The type of CISO to hire – this can be a full-time CISO, part-time, consultant or one with varying levels of experience
Now we will go over both these approaches in more detail.
Approaches for who does the hiring of your CISO
The primary considerations that goes into determining who should do the hiring of your CISO should begin with whether you have the experience to do it. Anyone can use ChatGPT to generate a CISO job description. However, building the right job description that aligns to your organizational “why” and program objective is a much more complex undertaking.
As important, do you have the right experience and skill set to know if the candidates you are talking to have these skills? Many times those hiring do not, especially if the organization does not have a mature security program today.
Next, consider your access to candidates. Just like skilled fishermen know where to cast their lines, you will want to make sure you are fishing in the right waters. The strongest CISOs usually work with top recruiters and specialized networks. So having the right connections matters.
Finally, align your hiring support with your approach. If you are considering a vCISO model, for instance, it makes sense to work with the vCISO firm providing the resource. They can help shape the job description and ensure it matches the type of leader you actually need. Here is some more details on the top approaches.
Chief Information Security Officer Hiring Approaches That Work
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy. However, here are some proven models we have seen succeed.
Hire a rising star
This path can bring fresh energy and long-term growth potential, often at a lower cost to the organization. However, it also comes with trade-offs. A less experienced CISO will need strong mentorship to succeed, and once they have gained a few years of experience, they may be quick to leave for another opportunity. Most importantly, their lack of experience can lead to costly missteps in such a critical role, creating significant risks for the organization.
Bring in senior expertise as the CISO to hire
These leaders bring deep experience and a proven track record, but they typically come with a higher price tag. It is also important to remember that experience doesn’t always equal excellence. So just because they have “done it” before doesn’t mean they have done it well.
Engage a vCISO
Get executive-level guidance on a flexible schedule and in a part time model. This can be more affordable but there are risks that you don’t get the attention you need for your organization when the resource is shared. The vCISO space is also evolving and as a result quality across providers can highly vary.
Bundle your CISO hire with consulting
This one is generally effective when you need both a CISO and a mature security program. In this model, you pair the Chief Information Security Officer hire with program development support and potentially ongoing staffing. This can be effective to mature your overall security program in a faster manner..
Start with an assessment
In many organizations, the person hiring the CISO role may not know what is going on in the current security program, or even if they have one. If this is the case performing a security assessment is a good way to get this insight and understand your needs before hiring the role. Further, this can also help in memorializing what you do have for a security program if your previous leader left or you never had one.
Align the Job Description to Program Objective and Approach
As I mentioned before you can use AI to create a job description in moments. However if you have gotten to this point you should now see there is more that should go into this. So once you have defined your program objective and chosen your approach, the next step is crafting a job description. This step is critical because it sets clear expectations for what the CISO will actually do. A job title alone says very little; what matters is spelling out the specific work and responsibilities the role is meant to cover.
“What are their job duties? Typical functional roles for a CISO are Security Operations and Employee Management. And yet GRC, product security, OT security, are also functional roles that an employer needs to determine who owns these functions. So in short. What’s the job!”, says Deidre Diamond, founder and CEO of CyberSN.
It is equally important that the person writing the job description has experience with this type of role. Because security can feel nebulous, job descriptions often end up vague, inconsistent, or overly broad. If the role isn’t defined clearly from the start, it can lead to costly misalignment later.
Steps to Hire a CISO
Here’s a simple five-step roadmap for getting the CISO your organization truly needs:
1. Do your research
Begin by educating yourself on what a CISO is, your primary why for the program the CISO will lead, and the type of security program needed to meet that why. A little research at the start can save significant time, money, and stress later.
2. Select the right approach and CISO type
Not every organization needs or can sustain a full-time, in-house CISO. Consider whether a full-time hire, a fractional CISO, or a virtual CISO (vCISO) model best aligns with your objectives and budget. Choosing the right model ensures you do not overinvest or underinvest. Aligned with this also design the right job description for the role.
3. Stage the role internally
It doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to make sense. Too often, hiring sponsors get caught up in trying to have everything finished before bringing in a CISO. That is not necessary. What matters is that the program is logical, realistic, and positioned for growth.
Remember that the person you hire will want to leave their mark on the program, so give them space to do that. At the same time, make sure you you are logical in ensuring budget and objectives make sense. If the setup makes sense, it will be attractive to the right candidate. Especially considering that many do not take the time to design a CISO job role that does make sense.
Think of it like staging a house. You do not need every detail finalized, but you do need it prepared in a way that appeals to the right type of buyer, in this case the right type of CISO.
4. Determine the best way to fill the role
Decide whether someone on your current team can hire for the CISO role or whether you will need to bring in outside expertise. Also, determine the type of CISO approach you will use. For example full time hire or vCISO approach.
If internal, ensure that the hiring resource has done the research components identified above. If using an external resource, here are some considerations.
Recruiters generally break into a couple types. Either experienced large recruiters or great specialist ones, or vCISO providers if you are using this type of pert time model. Choosing the right type here will ensure you are reaching the right candidates and securing the best fit for your organizations.
Common CISO Hiring Questions, Answered
How do I become a CISO?
Build broad experience across risk, operations, and leadership. The best CISOs can translate fluently between the boardroom and the technical team.
When should we hire one?
Hire a CISO as soon as cybersecurity becomes essential to business continuity, growth, or compliance. Too early wastes money as generally someone you have can already cover the role. Waiting too long usually costs you in mistakes which as you grow can put you out of business.
Who should they report to?
Only matters that their authority aligns to their accountability and as a result they should report to someone that makes sense with their level of authority and accountability.
How much should we pay?
Compensation depends on role scope, industry, and region. As discussed role scope can vary heavily so be ready for a lot of variance. Be prepared to invest competitively if you want to attract and keep top talent.
Where do we find them?
Look to trusted networks, peer referrals, and specialized recruiters. Some organizations also develop future CISOs internally through mentorship and stretch assignments.
What makes a great CISO?
A combination of strategic vision, adaptability, technical fluency, and people leadership. The right CISO can build trust at every level while driving measurable security results.
Final Word: Hire for Today, Build for Tomorrow
Hiring a CISO is more than filling a role. It’s about finding a partner who can guide your organization through today’s evolving cybersecurity landscape and prepare you for tomorrow’s challenges. Most important, they need to align with the business and not hinder it.
About the author and Chief Information Security Officers
Co-author of The CISO Handbook, one of the first books to formally define the Chief Information Security Officer role. Founder and CEO of CISOSHARE, where we are building cybersecurity programs that strengthen operations and internal talent. I’ve previously served as CISO for many organizations and am passionate about turning complex security challenges into clear, scalable solutions that help mission-driven teams thrive.
