Cyber Security & Data Privacy Salaries – Germany

Salary trends

Recent regulatory changes are driving notable salary increases across Germany’s cyber security and data privacy recruitment markets. In particular, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) are fuelling demand for skilled cyber professionals, pushing up pay and accelerating hiring across key sectors.

“There is a considerable amount of regulatory change occurring across the EU, and the BSI is working hard to safeguard Germany’s critical infrastructure and systems from a technical standpoint, while also creating robust policies and guidance more generally,” says Kieran Green, Principal Consultant at Barclay Simpson.

“The good news for candidates is that it’s leading to upward pressure on salaries as the market for in-demand skills becomes more competitive.”

DORA, which came into force in January 2025, has mandated stricter controls around ICT, risk, third-party oversight and incident response at financial services organisations. In an already competitive market, the new regulation has intensified the war for talent, especially professionals who are fluent in German and have experience within the financial services sector.

89% of German firms say regulations are noticeably impacting cyber spending

Source: PwC

To comply with the regulation, businesses are no longer just hiring to backfill. They are building out entire functions to build internal capabilities and avoid regulatory exposure. As a result, we have seen demand spike for cyber risk and operational resilience skills, with certain roles seeing compensation packages jump by 20–30% year on year.

The CRA, meanwhile, is forcing production and manufacturing companies across Germany to reassess their approach to digital product development and operational security.

As the regulation pushes for greater accountability in the product lifecycle – from design to disposal – there’s been a marked increase in demand for embedded security engineers, product risk managers and cyber compliance leads. Talent shortages in these areas have therefore driven salaries upward, particularly for professionals experienced in IoT security, firmware risk and hardware protection.

In response, many organisations are establishing new roles and cross-functional teams focused specifically on regulatory readiness and incident response planning. Where previously cyber security was siloed in IT, it is now increasingly being integrated directly into engineering, R&D and quality control functions. This evolution is reshaping hiring strategies, with forward-thinking firms turning to specialist recruiters to access hard-to-find candidates.

Candidate motivators

Remuneration continues to be the main motivation for candidates seeking new cyber security jobs or data privacy jobs in Germany, with 39% of professionals saying it is their primary incentive.

However, a meaningful proportion of cyber and data privacy professionals also prioritise other factors, including career development (18%), remote working (16%) or a better work-life balance (16%).

Indeed, flexible work arrangements remain an important remuneration benefit for many candidates. Nearly a third (32%) chose remote working as the job perk they value the most, with only an annual bonus (37%) ranking higher.