Cybersecurity used to be easy to put into an organizational box. IT handled security. Everyone else handled their job. That line is disappearing.
As systems, equipment, data, products, and operations become increasingly connected, security responsibilities are moving into jobs that historically would never have been labeled “cybersecurity.”
Cybersecurity is now one of the major forces reshaping skill requirements across the labor market, alongside AI and sustainability.
Security Is Becoming Everyone’s Business
The U.S. cybersecurity workforce has expanded every year since 2013, with approximately 1.25 million people now working in cybersecurity roles. Even so, the available workforce is estimated to be large enough to fill only 83% of cybersecurity jobs.
The bigger workforce story is that cybersecurity skills are no longer limited to cybersecurity occupations.
Look at Engineering
Between 2021 and 2024, demand for the specific “Cyber Security” skill in Chemical / Process Engineer postings increased 124%.
The engineer is not suddenly becoming the cybersecurity department. Instead, the systems surrounding the engineer’s work are becoming more connected, data-driven, automated, and security-sensitive. That changes the capability mix employers need.
And Engineering Isn’t Alone
The trend extends well beyond engineering. Demand for the Cyber Security skill grew 214% for Scrum Masters and 256% for UI/UX Developers, with rising requirements also appearing across data, compliance, laboratory, and biomedical equipment roles.
The common thread is connectivity. More connected systems create more places where security matters.
Don’t Turn Every Role Into a Cybersecurity Job
The answer is not to paste “cybersecurity experience required” onto every job posting. Employers need specificity: secure systems, data privacy, access controls, regulatory requirements, secure development, industrial cybersecurity, or simply enough awareness to recognize when an issue needs escalation.
Security Awareness Is Becoming a Core Competency
For technical organizations, modern engineering environments increasingly involve connected equipment, automated systems, data flows, cloud platforms, digital infrastructure, and operational technologies. The workforce strategy has to evolve with the environment.
The TTG Take
The hardest roles to recruit are often not the ones with the longest list of skills. They are the ones requiring the right combination of skills.
As cybersecurity spreads across functions, employers need to become more precise about those combinations. Otherwise, they risk searching for an unrealistic unicorn or overlooking someone who has the core technical expertise and can develop the remaining capability.
Technical hiring is becoming less about matching titles and more about matching skill combinations.
If your technical roles are becoming harder to define and even harder to fill, TTG can help you find the people behind the skills.
