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OT Cyber Search · Vacancy Cost Report

What an Empty OT Security Seat Costs

An open seat is not free while it waits. Enter your own billable rate or delay cost, and compare what a faster fill avoids with a 25% placement fee.

Cost of Vacancy Calculator

Every number below comes from the inputs you set. Start from your own billable rate or delay cost.

Business Model
1
110
$150/hr
110350

Starting value is an assumption; replace it with yours. Modeled at 45 billable hours per seat per week.

14 wks
424
8 wks
320

Intake to start date. Offers, notice periods, and onboarding add time.

18%
040

Your assumption. Set it to 0% to count unbilled revenue only.

Weekly Unbilled Revenue Bleed

$6,750

1 seat x $150/hr x 45

Total Vacancy Cost over 14 Weeks

$111,510

Including the 18% team load you set

Estimated Cost Avoided

$47,790

6 weeks sooner than waiting

Standard 25% Placement Fee

$32,295

On $129,180 assumed first-year comp per seat

Cost Avoided vs. Fee (illustrative)

1.5x

On your inputs, the cost avoided exceeds the fee by $15,495.

Schedule Scoping SessionCall (757) 720-7173

Illustrative calculation from the numbers you enter, not a guarantee of savings or results. Cost avoided counts only the weeks the seat would stay open beyond the search time you set. Fees are 15 to 30% of first-year compensation, with engagement fees starting at $3,500. 100% of engagement fees are credited in full toward your final placement invoice, backed by a written replacement guarantee per your engagement agreement.

OT and ICS Cybersecurity: 2026 Market Report

Regulators, insurers and boards expect operational technology to be secured with the same rigor as IT, but people who understand both a PLC and a packet capture are rare. Utilities, pipelines and manufacturers are recruiting from the same short list.

NERC CIP-015 is coming

FERC approved CIP-015-1, which requires internal network security monitoring inside electronic security perimeters, in June 2025, with compliance phasing in from 2028. Utilities need engineers who can design and run passive monitoring, not just buy it.

Mandatory and voluntary frameworks overlap

NERC CIP is mandatory for the bulk electric system, and TSA security directives apply to designated critical pipelines. ISA/IEC 62443 is a voluntary standard that customers and insurers increasingly expect in manufacturing.

OT experience cannot be crash-trained

Strong OT security engineers usually started as controls or substation engineers. That path takes years, and IT security hires without plant floor experience often struggle in the role.

The broader field is growing fast

BLS projects employment of information security analysts to grow much faster than average over the next decade, and OT specialists are a small slice of that field.

Methodology. Drivers summarize the published sources below. Pay figures on the pay index are cited individually. Nothing here is a survey by Engaged Headhunters.

Sources

  1. Covington Inside Privacy, FERC finalizes INSM requirements (CIP-015-1)
  2. NERC, CIP-005-7 Cyber Security: Electronic Security Perimeter(s)
  3. TSA, Security Directive Pipeline-2021-02 series
  4. ISA, ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Certificate Program
  5. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Information Security Analysts
  6. NERC, GridEx

Frequently asked questions

What does an open OT security seat cost?

If you backfill an open seat with contractors at an assumed $150 an hour for 45 hours a week, that is $6,750 a week per seat before any overtime load on the team. Your rate will differ, so the calculator uses the numbers you enter.

Why are OT cybersecurity professionals hard to hire?

OT security needs both industrial controls experience and security skills, and few people have both. NERC CIP-015 monitoring requirements, pipeline security directives and customer expectations around IEC 62443 are adding demand faster than that workforce grows.

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