Hello all,
I am currently living in the Netherlands together with my wife and our 3 years old daughter but Switzerland has always been like a good settle down destination for us.
My profile:
EU citizen with over 15 years of experience in Information Security both technical and managerial. Currently working as head of security for a Dutch company. BA in Computer Science, Master in Cyber Security in addition to CISSP, CISM, CEH, OSCP security certificates. I dont speak German or French but I do speak Italian, English, Finnish, some Russian and a bit of Spanish.
I have few questions for those of you in the security field already living in the Switzerland:
- Are my credentials enough to land a ISM, CISO, CIO position there or I need something else to top the list?
- What would be the salary range for a Security Manager position? I know it depends on the organization but a rough estimate would be helpful.
- How important is speaking German or French? For example I currently dont speak Dutch but that has not been a problem at all.
- In case I have to switch jobs, how easy it is to find a good security position in Switzerland? For example in NL there are plenty of vacancies all the time.
Thank you for your time and stay safe!
Hi there, not so much to contribute, but maybe some Tips.
I leave now in Düsseldorf DE and my Wife is in the process of acquiring a Job in CH and so I am also looking for one, as a Software Tester / QA Manager .
It seems to me that all over DACH your qualification is highly in demand and at such it is Candidate Markets and the possibility of getting along with English is much higher than others.
Here in DE I work half English half German, important to note that it all depends on the field the Company is at and the Customers - if they are Dach based they usually require to be handled with German - very different from you are probably used from NL.
There is no shortage of jobs but English speaking ones are concentrated in Zurich and, to a lesser extent, Geneva.
The NGOs in Geneva might appreciate your language skills. Banks in Zurich are hiring constantly it seems.
Deloitte and Kudelski are growing a lot and hiring consultants. That is not my thing personally but might be a nice way to establish a network. There are smaller consultancies too but I'd expect local language skills would be more of an issue. Swatch group have been hiring in Biel/Bienne.
Salary could be anywhere from 150k-200k and more for a senior role in a big company / bank / Google. At the lower end of that range will be CISO jobs that are more "one-man-infosec-team" jobs.
Thank you for your comment.
Go to jobs.ch , indeed.ch, stack overflow and linkedin and simply look around for open positions that could match your skills, this should give you an idea.
I have been living for the past 10 years in Switzerland, having CISM and ISACA on my CV. Does not seem to have been noticed by the employers but this is my case. There should be a market for your skills but I believe not so extended here.
To land a C-grade job in Switerland some headhunter needs to find you, otherwise it is pretty impossible for a foreigner. These job are mostly for the locals.
And they expect you to mostly speak local Swiss dialect.
That's slightly incorrect. In most medium to large companies, the upper management consist of at least 80% foreigners. You don't need German, not to speak of dialect.
Hello,
I actually would like to know the same. I have very similiar experience and credentials. I wonder also what the salary range for a CISO position would be in Zurich. I was thinking more like 200k. Will that be too crazy to ask?