Security Awareness Specialist
A Security Awareness Specialist designs and delivers programs that help employees recognize and resist cyber threats, running phishing simulations, building role-specific training, and measuring how workforce behavior changes over time.
Also known as: Security Awareness and Training Specialist, Cybersecurity Awareness Specialist, Information Security Awareness Specialist, Security Awareness Program Manager, Security Awareness Manager, Security Education and Awareness Specialist
What Is a Security Awareness Specialist?
The core of this work is behavior change: making an entire workforce, not just the security team, part of the organization's defense. Security Awareness Specialists design and deliver awareness programs that teach employees to recognize phishing, social engineering, and unsafe practices, and to know what to do when something looks wrong. The audience is everyone from new hires to executives, which means the work is as much about communication as it is about security.
Program design and measurement sit at the center of the role. Specialists build training content suited to different functions, since the risks an engineer faces differ from those in finance or HR, and they run phishing simulation campaigns to give employees safe practice against realistic lures. They track engagement, simulation results, and reported suspicious messages, and they present those results to leadership so the program can be judged on behavior change rather than course completions alone.
The role is deeply cross-functional. Specialists partner with HR on onboarding and policy training, with communications teams on campaigns and messaging, and with incident response and threat intelligence teams so that training reflects the techniques attackers are actually using. Within the security organization, this is the role that translates technical risk into language and habits the whole company can act on.
What a Security Awareness Specialist Does
Common tasks and responsibilities for this role. Emphasis varies by organization, and how the work is actually distributed tells you more than the title on the job description.
- Design and deliver security awareness programs across the organization
- Plan and run phishing simulation campaigns and analyze the results
- Develop role-specific training content for functions with distinct risk profiles, such as finance, engineering, and executive teams
- Measure program engagement and behavior change, and report results to leadership
- Partner with HR and communications teams on onboarding, policy training, and internal campaigns
- Translate security policies and technical guidance into clear, actionable direction for employees
- Coordinate with incident response and threat intelligence teams so training reflects current attack techniques
- Maintain awareness materials, such as newsletters, intranet content, and event campaigns, throughout the year
Common Technologies and Environments
Common platforms
Program tools
Certifications Often Held by Security Awareness Specialists
Certifications commonly associated with this role. None are universally required, and in the hiring conversations CyberSN sees, hands-on experience with the responsibilities above carries at least as much weight.
Where This Role Fits in a Career
Career paths in cybersecurity follow responsibilities, not titles. The experience built in this role transfers to adjacent roles that share overlapping tasks and capabilities.
Common Questions About the Security Awareness Specialist Role
What does a Security Awareness Specialist do day to day?
Days mix program delivery and program design: scheduling and running phishing simulation campaigns, reviewing results and reported suspicious messages, building or updating training content for specific functions, and coordinating campaigns with HR and communications teams. Regular reporting to leadership on engagement and behavior change is part of the rhythm, as is checking in with incident response and threat intelligence colleagues so training stays aligned with the techniques attackers are using.
How does this role differ from a Cybersecurity Professor / Instructor?
Both roles teach, but to different audiences with different goals. A Cybersecurity Professor / Instructor educates students and professionals who are building cybersecurity careers, through academic institutions or commercial training programs, often with research and curriculum design responsibilities. A Security Awareness Specialist works inside an organization to change the everyday behavior of employees across every function, few of whom are security practitioners. The instructor develops future practitioners; the awareness specialist makes the existing workforce harder to compromise.
What experience leads into security awareness work?
People arrive from two directions. Some come from security operations or analyst roles and bring technical credibility, then develop the communication and program management side. Others come from corporate training, internal communications, or HR and build up their security knowledge. Either path works because the role sits between the security team and the rest of the business; what matters is the ability to explain risk clearly and to run a program that people actually engage with.
How is the success of an awareness program measured?
Mature programs look past completion rates to behavior: how employees respond to phishing simulations over time, how readily they report suspicious messages, and whether risky practices decline after targeted training. Specialists also track engagement with campaigns and gather employee feedback, then present the results to leadership in terms of risk reduction rather than training attendance.
Is this a technical role?
It is a hybrid. A Security Awareness Specialist needs enough technical understanding of phishing, social engineering, and common attack techniques to build credible, accurate training, but the craft of the role is communication, education, and behavior change. Strong writing, presentation experience, and the ability to partner across departments carry as much weight as technical depth.
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