Money in a job isn’t everything, but you can be sure that it’s what people are interested in knowing. How much then, does a chief security officer, or director of risk and resilience, earn? we asked in the May 2024 print edition of Professional Security Magazine, as part of our five-page feature on corporate security, opening an occasional series of articles – resuming what we did pre-covid – about private security jobs by sectors such as universities, logistics and retail.
One man with such numbers to hand is Peter French, pictured, a stalwart of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals – organiser of the Company’s spring ball in London, which is a major fund-raiser for the Company’s good causes – and MD of the recruitment consultancy SSR Personnel. The CSO of a UK-based corporate may have a salary of between £250,000 and £400k, and maybe even more in financial services; a lot better, he relates, than the CSO in say, manufacturing. And in a financial services firm, not only in the security function, it’s not unusual for an EMEA head to get a bonus for the year in the region of £45,000 to £50k; or zero, if the year has been really bad for business.
Incentives
The big numbers, Peter adds, are made when the CSO’s role is among those corporate executives who are part of the long-term incentive plan; a pot of money, put another way, whereby the company shows it’s serious about keeping the CSO (or other chief). Over five years, those incentive payments might amount to £1m. “You go to the US, it’s a whole different ball game,” Peter says, and you may also get an ‘excellent package’ from a US-based corporation if you’re the international CSO for countries outside North America (and maybe including South America). “We currently negotiating a chief security officer, not in this country, in a tax-free environment, a minimum of £380,000 [a year salary]. It’s big numbers.”
More in May’s Professional Security Magazine.
About Peter French
He’s a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals; and still a Court Assistant. He’s also put in volunteer stints with the US-based security managers’ association ASIS.
