2013 ClearanceJobs

COMPENSATION SURVEY
THE GREAT REBALANCE
A comprehensive earnings survey of security-cleared professionals, with 16,300
respondents from October 2012 to January 2013 provided by ClearanceJobs.
2013 Compensation Survey
Table of Contents
1
Key Findings
2
Compensation by Employer
3
Military Compensation by Branch
4
Top Reasons for Compensation Increase/Decrease
5/6
Cybersecurity and Six-Figure Roles
7
Capital Region Compensation
8
Compensation by Government Agency
9
Compensation by State
10
Clearance Level Compensation
1 2013 Compensation Survey
Key Findings
Washingtons push for slimmer government, combined with ongoing
Congressional budget uncertainty and military rebalancing has
negatively impacted take-home pay for security-cleared professionals.
In 2012, compensation for security-cleared professionals on average
dropped three percent year/year to $88,447, including a one percent
decline in average salaries to $75,208.
These results, compiled from more than 16,300 professionals
with active federal security-clearance, give employers, government leaders and the
professionals themselves a comprehensive view of the new economic realities facing
the defense, intelligence, and aerospace workforce. The top culprits for the decline in
compensation include:
Military compensation, likely due to fewer troops in war zones which lowers
combat and danger pays contribution to total compensation;
Security-cleared professionals who were new to their employer in 2012, as
compared to that cohort a year ago;
U.S.-based security-cleared professionals working outside the D.C. metro-area,
particularly those based in Florida and California; and
Those professionals who work for or contract with the Departments of Homeland
Security or Justice.
While employers now have an edge over pay for security-cleared candidates, the report
found notable exceptions including cleared cybersecurity professionals, software
developers and project or program managers. There is a consistency amongst six-gure
payouts technology and engineering where the opportunities for career advancement
and nancial rewards are vast.
Evan Lesser
Managing Director and Founder
ClearanceJobs.com
2 2013 Compensation Survey
The Great Rebalance
Troop withdrawals from the Middle East and lower starting pay for security-cleared talent
who are new to their employer are the top - but not the only - reasons compensation for
security-cleared professionals dropped three percent year/year to $88,447 in 2012 from
$90,865 in 2011.
The reductions in total compensation were
felt across the security-cleared spectrum,
from government employees, government
contractors, military personnel, consultants
to private business owners. And, it wasnt
just total compensation that declined -
average salaries dropped too. In 2012,
average salaries fell one percent year/year
to $75,208. That marks the rst time both
average compensation and salaries fell in
the same year.
To understand whats contributing to the
trend, the results indicate rebalancing by
the military and by the defense industry
has begun to weigh down take-home
pay. Military personnel saw their total
compensation drop more than ve percent
to $64,601, likely due to fewer troops in
harms way which lowers the contribution
of high danger and combat pay to total
compensation.
Currently, there are about 68,000 U.S.
troops in Afghanistan, following peak troop
levels in 2011 of more than 100,000.
$83,930
-1.4%
-0.7%
$99,796
-5.4%
$64,601
-2.2%
$117,703
GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEE
GOVERNMENT
CONTRACTOR
INDEPENDENT
CONSULTANT
MILITARY
Compensation by Employer
3 2013 Compensation Survey
In President Obamas recent State of the Union address, he announced that over the
next year another 34,000 American troops will come home from the Afghan theatre.
A breakdown of earnings by military branch shows Americas soldiers in the National
Guard and Army saw the sharpest drops in total compensation of 12 percent and seven
percent year/year, respectively. Thats because a signicant amount, about 40 percent,
of a military members compensation package comes from sources other than base pay,
and the circumstances to earn combat pay dissipated in 2012.
Security-cleared professionals who were new hires to their employers saw average
compensation drop eight percent to $82,124 - the surest sign the defense industry is
adjusting to new economic realities. In that group, base salaries fell seven percent to
$71,021, as compared to cleared professionals in the same situation a year ago.
Equally as telling, those newly starting security-cleared professionals arent as satised
with their new jobs. In 2012, one in ve respondents (21%) reported being very
satised, as compared to one quarter (25%) a year ago.
The constant drumbeat of sequestration, budget wrangling, scal cliff and worker
furloughs doesnt inspire a lot of condence in workers, said Evan Lesser, Managing
Military Compensation by Branch
(yr/yr change)
$69,259
Air Force
-3%
2012
Army
$64,616
-7%
Navy
$68,531
Unchanged
-1%
Marines
$63,995
-12%
Natl. Guard
$53,280
4 2013 Compensation Survey
Director, ClearanceJobs.com. Its very hard to be security-
cleared and optimistic about your career and the industries
circumstances.
Even with compensation declining, the news isnt all
bad. Nearly half (46%) of respondents received at least
some kind of an individual pay increase, even though it
might have been modest. According to that group, fatter
paychecks were meted out based on personal performance
(36%) followed by mandated pay increases, changing
employers and internal promotion or rank increase.
About one-in-three (30%) security-cleared professionals saw no change in total
compensation, as compared to 23 percent reporting the same for their base salary. But,
for the group who saw no change, mandated salary freezes topped the list of reasons.
Of the security-cleared professionals whose individual compensation shrank year/year,
changing employers ranked rst, followed by decreases in danger pay/bonus. A tiny
0.2 percent related their reduction in pay to a lower security-clearance level or to losing
clearance. As in many industries across America, furloughs were also a part of the
decline in pay, with two percent reporting unpaid time off from work hit them in the
wallet.
Personal
Performance
Mandated
pay increase
Internal
Promotion
Reasons for Compensation Increase
36%
23%
15%
10%
6%
4%
4%
3%
Company
Performance
Changed
Employer
Changed
Positions
Deployed
Other
Other
Changed
positions
within employer
Furlough
Changed
employer
25%
45%
6%
2%
9%
Company
or entity
performance
Reasons for Compensation Decrease
Decrease in
danger
pay/bonus
12%
Its very hard
to be security-cleared
and optimistic
about your career
and the industries
circumstances.
Evan Lesser
Managing Director
ClearanceJobs.com
5 2013 Compensation Survey
Cyber$ecurity and $ix-Figure Roles
The opportunity for career advancement and nancial rewards are evident in the growing
eld of cybersecurity. More than one-fth of respondents (22%) conrmed they work
on cybersecurity initiatives, including defensive or offensive measures. For that group,
the average compensation totaled $101,198 in 2012 consisting of average salaries of
$88,092 and $13,106 in additional earnings.
Those gures are likely the compensation baseline with the Pentagon moving toward a
major expansion of its cybersecurity force, as reported in the New York Times. Cyber
Commands ve-fold workforce increase, from 900 current employees to 4,900
cybersecurity experts, will strain an already limited talent pool. In fact, despite strong
job satisfaction amongst cybersecurity professionals (64%), respondents are interested
in testing the job market, with 36 percent of respondents noting its very likely theyll
switch employers in the next twelve months. More so, history shows cybersecurity
professionals who switch employers can usually expect a pay increase at the same time.
Private sector companies have been investing in security as threats to their data and
networks only increase every year, with some even enlisting cyber SWAT teams to
provide offensive and defensive protection.
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$ix-Figure Payday
6 2013 Compensation Survey
Its that interconnectivity between government
and industry that President Obamas long awaited
Executive Order, Improving Critical Infrastructure
Cybersecurity, hopes to strengthen by information
sharing and establishing a framework of best
practices.
When you look at the big earners, they all
have one thing in common: technology and
engineering backgrounds. Software programmers
compensation rose nearly six percent to $107,471
on average. Software or systems engineers earn on
average $108,064, but a bigger percentage of that
pay comes from incentive compensation, when
compared to their programming counterparts.
Likewise, program or project managers for
technology ($114,917), engineering ($124,534), or other projects ($105,476),
continue to be amongst the best paid security-cleared professionals.
Other roles with six-gure average earnings: Aerospace engineering ($102,526, down
5% year/year), telecommunications engineering ($101,816, down 9% year/year), and
RF engineering ($100,746, up 5% year/year).
While recent enrollment trends look slightly better, the industry is in a different kind
of T&E gap. The number of computer-related bachelors degrees conferred annually,
which in 2004 stood at about 60,000 per U.S. Department of Education statistics, fell
to about 43,000 in 2010.
By denition, security-cleared professionals must be U.S. citizens and weve had
about a decade where young Americans either chose not to major in engineering or drop
out from this course of study midstream, noted Mr. Lesser. In the short-term its
wonderful for take-home pay, but with a scarcity of experienced security-cleared tech
talent, open positions stay open not an optimal outcome in the land of opportunity.
Evan Lesser,
Managing Director
ClearanceJobs.com
By denition, security-
cleared professionals
must be U.S. citizens and
weve had about a decade
where young Americans
either chose not to major
in engineering or drop out
from this course of study
midstream.
7 2013 Compensation Survey
It Pays to Work in the Beltway
For those working stateside, data
shows that Washington, D.C.,
Maryland and Virginia are home to
the highest average compensated
workers. Political leaders in the
region have long attempted to
concentrate the security clearance
community in the Beltway, in much
the same way as Northern California
has become home to microchip and
Internet startups.
Security-cleared professionals
working in the Capital region (D.C.,
Maryland and Virginia) earned
on average $97,952, essentially
at from the previous year. While
salaries increased one percent year/
year on average to $88,845, the
amount of other compensation fell
slightly from $9,789 in 2011 to
$9,107.
While it has always paid to be security-cleared and near the seat of government, the
compensation gulf between those in the D.C.-metro area and other parts of the U.S.
is widening. In particular, compensation of security-cleared talent in Florida and
California weighed down the overall compensation average. There are two prominent
features of both markets: aerospace defense hubs and signicant military installations.
Aerospace programs with high costs and budget overruns are most at risk for funding
cuts, and these results indicated consistent and valid concerns around contract
losses. Including returning military troops, Floridas security-cleared professionals
compensation dropped overall eight percent to $75,657 year/year. Likewise, there was
2011 2012
$
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$9,107
yr/yr -7%
Salary
$88,845
yr/yr +1%
Other
$9,789
yr/yr -15%
Beltway Breakdown
Salary
$88,049
yr/yr +6%
8 2013 Compensation Survey
1 2
Department
of State
$107,743
+2%
3
Central
Intelligence Agency
$121,396
+2%
4
NSA
Department
of Defense
$ 97,411
-1%
5
Department
of Energy
$ 96,089
-2%
6
Department
of Justice
$ 90,160
-7%
7
Department
of Homeland Security
$ 88,124
-5%
$107,145
Unchanged
9 2013 Compensation Survey
a ve percent year/year decline in security-cleared compensation in California to
$83,440.
Security-cleared professionals working for defense contractors in California and Florida
had sharp declines in average compensation, as well as in Texas and Alabama - two
more states with signicant aerospace defense programs. In Alabama, security-cleared
earnings dropped six percent year/year to $80,691 and a similar impact was felt in
Texas where security-cleared earnings declined two percent year/year to $72,142.
The aerospace industrys workforce has been shrinking. A 2012 report from Deloitte,
commissioned by the Aerospace Industry Association, found that the U.S. aerospace
and defense industry employed about one million workers directly in 2010 (the last year
available), down 52,223 jobs from 2008. While no comparable data is available for the
last two years, Challenger, Gray and Christmas reports more than 50,000 job cuts have
been announced in aerospace and defense during that timeframe.
ClearanceJobs.com identied 29 states and Washington D.C., with enough data from
professionals currently employed and possessing active federal security clearance. The
range of compensation varies greatly, from $58,839 earned on average in Kentucky,
compared to $99,292 earned in the Virginia. For a state by state, look at security-
cleared compensation, visit http://www.clearancejobs.com/les/salary.html.
The vast majority of survey respondents are based in the United States. But, foreign-
based respondents accounted for about 10 percent of the study.
For those crossing shores, the pay difference compared to those working stateside was
noticeable. The average total compensation for those outside the U.S. was $132,244 in
2012, nearly $3,000 less than the previous year.
Security-cleared professionals serving in Afghanistan reported the highest total
compensation, averaging $155,010, down from $158,885 the year before. Iraq
was next, with workers in-country averaging $148,634 in total compensation, down
sharply from $163,577 in 2011. Dropping closer to the six gure mark, earnings for
security-cleared professionals in Qatar averaged $97,175 and in Germany compensation
averaged $101,824.
10 2013 Compensation Survey
CIA = Compensation Increases Again
Maintaining an Intelligence Agency security clearance ensured top dollar. Respondents
working for or with the FBI, CIA or NSA in 2012 saw an average total compensation of
$113,317, a two percent decline
year/year.
Top secret equals good pay in
the security clearance world.
The average total compensation
at the Department of Defense
for someone with a top secret
clearance was $92,212 in
2012 and someone with
a top secret/SCI clearance
was $94,373. Each of those
is less than the 2011 total
compensation averages.
The average total compensation for someone with a Department of Defense condential
clearance earned just under $67,000 in 2012. And the average respondent with a
secret designation earned $77,453 in compensation, down from $80,700 the year
before.
Working for the CIA in the last year paid dividends. No government entities workers
reported earnings that topped the nations lead spy agency where professionals earned
about two percent more year/year to an average of $121,396. There was only one other
agency whose workforce and contractors saw year/year increases: The Department of
State. The nations diplomatic corps earned $107,743 on average in 2012, up two
percent year/year.
The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice have never been highly paid places
to work, relatively speaking, for security-cleared professionals. In 2012, working on
behalf of those agencies became even less lucrative. Earnings declined seven percent
year/year for contractors and employees of the Department of Justice to $90,160.
2012 Average Compensation
CONFIDENTIAL $66,945
SECRET
$77,453
TOP SECRET $92,212
TOP SECRET / SCI $94,373
Department of Defense Clearances
11 2013 Compensation Survey
Likewise, a ve percent average compensation drop to $88,124 was recorded by the
Department of Homeland Securitys staff and contractors.
Without bipartisan support in Congress, more cuts are likely as sequestration reductions
to the Pentagon and other agencies loom in 2013. The Department of Defense has
already announced a proposed one percent pay raise in the new scal year, down from
the nearly two percent pay increase in scal year 2013.
The Future Appears Clear as Mud
Though the U.S. is undergoing an economic turnaround, security-cleared professionals
foresee a gloomier year ahead.
Forty-four percent are concerned about lower salary increases, while 43 percent showed
concern for the possible loss of contract funding. And 38 percent are concerned about
canceled or fewer projects. At the same time, 34 percent expressed concern about
increased workload due to staff cuts. Just 19 percent were concerned about position
relocation.
With sequestration looming and Americas wars coming to a close, 2013 may be a year
of ux for the security clearance community. However, as the survey showed, there is
no shortage of the need for highly trained, skilled professionals in the intelligence and
information technology communities that feed our policy makers with classied material
that they require to make informed decisions.
Methodology
The 2013 Security Clearance Jobs Salary Survey was administered online by
ClearanceJobs.com between October 30, 2012 and January 21, 2013. A total of
16,315 completed questionnaires were obtained, an increase over last years sample
size total of 11,436. Security-cleared respondents were invited to participate in
the survey through notications on the ClearanceJobs.com home page and various
communications and links. Participants had to have a current, active federal security
clearance and be currently employed to be included in the results. Cypress Research
Group provided the statistical analysis for the ClearanceJobs.com Compensation Survey.