In 2025, cybersecurity teams are facing a tough paradox. As cyber threats grow in frequency, scope, and sophistication, the workforce meant to contain them simply isn’t keeping up.
The cybersecurity talent shortage in 2025 has reached crisis levels, with more than 3.5 million roles expected to remain unfilled globally throughout the year. It’s not just a staffing problem anymore, it’s a strategic and operational risk for organisations everywhere.
And yet, the industry is booming. The global cybersecurity market is expected to grow from $267 billion to more than $435 billion by the end of the decade. That gap, between industry growth and workforce readiness, is becoming harder to bridge.
For security vendors, MSSPs, and internal enterprise teams alike, the stakes are high. A persistent talent shortfall affects everything from incident response times to compliance capacity. Each unfilled role can translate directly into heightened exposure. The key question, then, is no longer if teams should hire cybersecurity professionals abroad — but how to do it in a way that builds trust, enables resilience, and keeps you compliant.
A transformed cybersecurity workforce
The way organisations build and run security teams has changed — not just in where people work, but how teams are structured and deployed. The cybersecurity workforce trends we’re seeing in 2025 reflect much broader shifts in how companies think about risk, coverage, and capability.
Distributed teams as the new baseline
The pandemic forced a rethinking of how security teams operate. Now, it’s settled into a new normal. More than half of cybersecurity professionals work in hybrid or remote setups.
Remote cybersecurity jobs are no longer experimental, they’re part of standard team design.
That said, the shift isn’t universal. Roles that involve sensitive data, regulated tooling, or direct access to physical infrastructure still need to be on-site. What we’re seeing instead is a layered architecture: SOC analysts and infrastructure engineers in physical locations, with threat researchers, incident responders and architects distributed remotely — often across time zones.
This model brings flexibility, but it also increases coordination overhead. Communication protocols, access controls, and security policies all need to scale across jurisdictions. So do employment frameworks and compliance infrastructure.
Technical specialisation is driving global hiring
The market has moved on from generalist security roles. Demand has shifted toward deep specialisation — and that specialisation is rarely concentrated in one place. Roles seeing rapid growth include:
- Cloud security engineers
- OT-security specialists
- Application security developers with DevSecOps experience
- AI and machine learning security experts
- Supply chain risk and software integrity analysts
As companies look to build this depth, international cybersecurity recruitment has become less about cost and more about access. The capabilities needed to stay secure in 2025 just don’t live in one country and often not even in one continent. That’s why more organisations are actively working out how to find cybersecurity talent globally, not just locally.
Hiring speed is now a business-critical KPI
Threat actors don’t wait for headcount to catch up. As dwell times shrink and breach costs rise, recruitment timelines are becoming part of the risk equation. Leadership teams are tracking time-to-hire for key security roles alongside more traditional metrics like patching cycles and compliance audits.
Companies that can hire cybersecurity professionals abroad quickly and compliantly gain a clear operational edge, particularly when it comes to establishing coverage in critical geographies, handling incident spikes, or closing known capability gaps.
The top 5 countries for cybersecurity talent
Omnipresent’s data shows that global hiring isn’t evenly distributed. Certain countries are emerging as hotspots for security hiring, not just because of salary levels, but because they offer the right blend of capability, regulatory alignment, and hiring feasibility.
Here are five of the most strategically active markets in 2025 that our analysis has identified.
United Kingdom
With over 42 percent of global demand, the UK remains the leading destination for global cybersecurity hiring. Its combination of strong academic pipelines, a mature regulatory framework, and timezone compatibility with both the US and APAC makes it a go-to base for high-trust roles.
Security vendors and enterprise teams alike are hiring cloud engineers, SOC analysts, and leadership-level security strategists here. The UK also remains a preferred location for setting up threat intelligence hubs and regional security operations centres.
Germany
Germany accounts for just over 11 percent of cybersecurity hiring in our data. It stands out for its deep specialisation in OT-security, critical infrastructure defence, and industrial system protection.
The sector is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 8.2% through 2032, with the market expected to reach approximately €9.85 billion by 2029.
Its security professionals bring strong compliance literacy, particularly in regulated industries like manufacturing and automotive. While hiring cycles can be slower due to more complex labour law, companies looking to build high-assurance capabilities in Europe still see Germany as essential.
Italy
Italy is now a serious contender for companies building cost-balanced teams in Europe. Matching Germany in hiring volume in our analysis (11.5 percent), it offers lower salary expectations, growing technical talent from regional universities, and alignment with EU regulatory frameworks like NIS2 and DORA.
Many companies are using Italy as a base for analyst-level roles and regional compliance monitoring — particularly when they want to build within the EU without the higher overhead of northern markets.
Cyprus
Cyprus represents just under 8 percent of cybersecurity hiring, but it punches above its weight in flexibility and regional relevance. With government funding flowing into digital transformation and a well-educated, multilingual workforce, Cyprus is emerging as a smart destination for fintech-aligned security teams and regional SOC extensions.
It’s also attractive for companies needing a stable EU base without the cost and complexity of larger jurisdictions — particularly those looking to build cybersecurity teams remotely without sacrificing oversight or regulatory control.
Albania
At just under 4 percent of hiring activity, Albania is still an emerging player — but one that’s drawing interest from companies looking for junior security talent to support around-the-clock coverage.
With strong English adoption, low salary benchmarks, and new cybersecurity education programmes coming online, Albania is being used strategically as part of a tiered model.
Entry-level analysts and SOC support staff are often hired here, while senior oversight sits in markets like the UK or Germany.
What complicates global cybersecurity hiring
Hiring across borders introduces risk — particularly in cybersecurity, where trust, IP protection and legal clarity are foundational. These are the most common friction points we see:
Jurisdictional complexity
Data residency, export controls, and security clearance rules vary significantly between countries. Without clear frameworks, companies risk falling out of compliance just by hiring someone in the wrong place — or asking them to access the wrong dataset.
Intellectual property & tooling access
Security teams work with sensitive detection logic, proprietary algorithms, and client vulnerability data. Ensuring enforceable IP agreements and tightly scoped access becomes much harder across jurisdictions — especially without local legal infrastructure.
Labour law & onboarding delays
Employment rules around benefits, classification, and notice periods differ from country to country. Onboarding a new team member in Germany looks very different than onboarding someone in Cyprus or Albania. Without the right support, these delays can hold up entire security projects.
Verification & background checks
For high-trust roles, background verification is non-negotiable. But validating credentials, certifications, and references across five or six jurisdictions takes time and local expertise. Security clearance portability is also limited, adding another layer of complexity.
