Hiring for cyber security teams remains a challenge in 2026. The actual nature of that challenge, however, has changed significantly.
Many organisations are continuing to recruit analysts and operational staff. What they struggle to find are people who can design secure architectures, lead governance programs and manage emerging risks, all while incorporating AI-related challenges, and the latest regulatory compliance. This leads not only to slower hiring, but also structural gaps that negatively impact their security capabilities.
In this article, we’ll examine exactly where and how cyber security teams are falling short, which roles organisations are struggling to hire for and how to solve the problem in a tangible, sustainable manner.
Where Cyber Security is Falling Short
The current cyber security skills gap isn’t simply about headcount. Most organisations already have security teams in place, the challenge is that those teams are struggling to deliver consistent outcomes.
These shortcomings are increasingly concentrated in higher-level areas that require strategic thinking and structured frameworks. Specifically, they fall into three main domains: architecture, governance, and AI risk and assurance.
Architecture
Security architecture capabilities today are often underdeveloped. Companies might technically use security tools and can even do so effectively. What they lack, however, are professionals who can design cohesive, organisation-wide models that are aligned with identified risks and priorities.
As the use of cloud computing, system integration, and AI tools increases, the need for structured architectural thinking only becomes more crucial. Without experienced and knowledgeable architects, cyber security becomes reactive and fragmented, rather than proactive and cohesive.
Governance
Governance gaps are becoming equally significant. Most pressingly, those gaps are appearing between security activities and board-level risk reporting and strategic oversight.
Regulatory expectations continue to increase, but internal policy alignment and risk appetite definition still remain inconsistent. In turn, this creates dangerous exposure, not because controls are completely absent, but because clarity and accountability simply aren’t sufficient.
AI Risk and Assurance
The rapid adoption of AI is introducing a whole new layer of complexity into cyber security. Frequently, organisations are implementing these tools and the relevant decision-making systems, faster than they can build governance around them.
Few security teams currently possess the requisite expertise in AI risk assessment and compliance alignment. As regulatory scrutiny intensifies, the potential consequences for this lack of AI governance capability only become more worrying.
The Roles Organisations are Struggling to Recruit
Those issues we’ve listed above translate directly into hiring challenges. Businesses aren’t simply short of cyber security professionals – they’re lacking experienced specialists, who can operate at a strategic level, and are able to integrate modern security solutions across the entire organisation.
The roles they’re most struggling to recruit in 2026 include:
- Security Architects
Professionals who can design enterprise-wide security architectures. These must be aligned to business risk, cloud strategy and regulatory requirements, not just isolated measures.
- Governance and Risk Leaders
People capable of defining risk appetite, developing policy frameworks around it and communicating cyber security risks clearly to stakeholders.
- AI Risk and Assurance Specialists
Practitioners who understand current AI governance models, audit requirements and industry standards. Overall, they must bridge the technical and compliance sides of the business.
- Cloud Security Strategists
Experts who can secure cloud-based environments at scale, aligning their design decisions with long-term business objectives.
- Security Program and Transformation Leads
Individuals who combine technical understanding with structured delivery, ensuring security initiatives are implemented consistently across the organisation.
How Companies Can Bridge the Gap
The hiring market for the type of cyber security professionals we’ve mentioned here is competitive, to say the least. The supply of senior architects, governance leaders and AI assurance specialists is limited, the demand is high and recruitment is therefore expensive. Even after a successful hire, integration will take time.
That’s why it’s arguably a smarter approach to build your capabilities internally. This can save you time, money, effort, and since the people in question already work for you, removes the friction of needing to on-board and integrate new workers.
If you do settle on this approach, we’d recommend aligning your cyber security teams around recognised frameworks and progressions routes, rather than simply relying on ad hoc training or isolated certifications.
Architecture capability, for example, can be strengthened through structured frameworks like SABSA. Governance and leadership skills can be developed through certifications like CISSP and CISM. AI risk and assurance capabilities can be built through the likes of AAIA.
Group and enterprise-level training, meanwhile, provides consistency across your team. It’s also a sound long-term approach, since it reduces the reliance on individual hires, instead developing your organisational capabilities and alignment.
By investing in structured, role-specific certification pathways, organisations shift from reactive hiring to more deliberate development. This strengthens resilience, compliance and most importantly, long-term security performance.
Turning Skills Gaps into Strong, Strategic Security
Hiring new cyber security talent is unlikely to become easier in the near future. As roles become more specialised and regulatory expectations increase, organisations that rely solely on external hiring will remain exposed to both rising costs and skills gaps.
Strategic development will almost certainly prove a more effective approach. By identifying their security skills gaps now and investing in structured training pathways to close them, organisations can strengthen their architecture, governance and AI assurance capabilities from within.
In today’s competitive and rapidly-evolving risk landscape, building internal expertise will prove the optimal solution for most businesses. It’s a practical, measurable way to increase resilience, improve oversight and alignment, and support sustained security performance and at ALC Training, we can help you along at every step of the way.