Security Jobs in San Jose, CA

Government wage data says the metro protective-service group paid a mean of $37.13 per hour in May 2025, with a 2025 annual median of $52,780, a 75th percentile of $100,600, and a 90th percentile of $165,090. Fresher posting data tells a different story for the typical opening: hourly-paid postings center on about $20 to $23 / hour, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $19 to $26 / hour.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 48 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $49,260 at the 25th percentile, $55,328 at the median and $64,922 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 10, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 51 openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

This is a balanced market rather than an easy one. San Jose's unemployment rate was 4.3% in August 2026, below California's 5.1%, and metro nonfarm employment was up 1.5917% year over year, so the local economy is still holding up. But the field itself is tighter than the overall economy: Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows California protective-services employment down 1.5% year over year and active postings down 17.4% in September 2026, which means openings are concentrated where employers or agencies still have staffing gaps. The best odds are in on-site, credentialed roles, not in broad remote searching, because about 95% or more of recent postings were on-site and the sample skewed heavily entry-level.

Best positioned: A local candidate who can work on-site and already has a guard card or license, CPR or First Aid, a valid driver's license, or academy or lateral public-safety experience has the best odds right now.

Main caution: Do not mistake public-sector headline pay for the whole market: recent hourly postings center on about $20 to $23 / hour, while the top wage figures reflect a mixed occupational group with much better-paid specialized and supervisory roles.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 51 openings in this market. 2 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. AUS: 27 open roles
2. Hallcon Corporation: 6 open roles
3. American Residential Services LLC.: 1 open role
4. BMC23 SECURITY LLC: 1 open role
5. County of Santa Clara: 1 open role
6. Durham School Services: 1 open role
7. Hobart Food Equipment and Service: 1 open role
8. Illinois Tool Works Inc.: 1 open role
9. Loop Neighborhood: 1 open role
10. Los Gatos Ca: 1 open role

Where the openings are

• San Jose: 22
• Fremont: 6
• San Carlos: 5
• Redwood City: 3
• Palo Alto: 2
• Pleasanton: 2
• Milpitas: 2
• Santa Clara: 2

Work arrangement

on-site 46 (98%), remote 1 (2%)

Where the demand is

Fresh local posting evidence shows more than 50 postings across more than 20 companies over the last 90 days, but the sample is fragmented rather than dominated by one employer. The biggest posting concentrations sit in retail and software development, each at about 30% of the sample, with smaller shares in government administration, security and safety, and security and investigations. The named employers that appear most consistently are AUS with more than 20 postings and Costco Wholesale Corp. with around 10, which points to campus, retail, patrol, access-control, and loss-prevention work more than remote desk-based roles. The higher-barrier opportunity pool is in local agencies that are still backfilling vacancies or expanding service. San Jose cited 114 vacant police officer positions in April 2026, Palo Alto had 12 vacant sworn-officer positions out of 141 budgeted roles as of June, and San Jose's fire department was operating with about an 8% vacancy rate. The Santa Clara County academy pipeline is active across multiple agencies, and five graduates in the latest class moved from custody work to patrol, which makes support and custody roles a real feeder path instead of a dead end.

• Private security, loss prevention, and campus access control (high): This is the broadest local opportunity cluster, driven by retail and software-development employers and by skills such as access control, surveillance, incident reporting, and customer service.
• Sworn law enforcement and sheriff pipeline roles (moderate): Demand is concentrated in agencies with open staffing gaps, academy inflow, and occasional lateral incentives rather than in constant high-volume hiring.
• Fire and emergency-response public roles (moderate): These roles can pay very well, but openings are fewer, processes are slower, and departments appear to be filling shortages selectively while absorbing heavy overtime.
• Support roles that can feed sworn tracks (moderate): Custody, transport, community-service, and similar support jobs can matter more than they seem because local evidence shows movement from custody work into patrol.

Where to focus: Run a two-lane search: use private security or support roles for faster entry, while separately pursuing slower but better-paid public-sector paths if you can clear the hiring process.

Roles worth searching next

• GSOC or security systems operator: It uses surveillance, access-control, and incident-reporting skills without requiring a full sworn path.
• Facilities or workplace operations coordinator: Campus employers value people who understand site access, visitor control, incident escalation, and customer-facing professionalism.
• Public safety telecommunicator or dispatcher: It stays close to emergency operations while shifting the work toward triage, communication, documentation, and systems use.
• Environmental health and safety coordinator: Emergency response, First Aid, documentation, and incident discipline can transfer well into safety and compliance work.

What postings ask for

• Guard card or security license (table_stakes | immediate): It is one of the most common stated requirements in local postings, so it functions as a screening credential rather than a bonus. Who: Entry-level applicants, career switchers, and anyone targeting private security first.
• CPR and First Aid (table_stakes | immediate): CPR and First Aid appear among the most common local credential requirements, especially for roles where emergency response credibility matters. Who: Entry-level security candidates and applicants aiming at schools, retail, public venues, or support roles.
• Valid driver's license (table_stakes | immediate): A valid driver's license shows up as a recurring requirement, which matters for patrol coverage, site rounds, transport, and flexible shift assignment. Who: Anyone targeting patrol-style security, sheriff support, or multi-site roles.
• Report writing and incident reporting (differentiator | immediate): Report writing and incident reporting are among the most requested local skills, and California now requires disclosure, verification, retention, and an audit trail when covered AI is used to generate police reports. Who: Mid-career applicants, agency candidates, investigators, and switchers with weak documentation experience.
• Access control and surveillance (table_stakes | immediate): These are core skills in the local posting mix and align with the employer concentration in retail and software-development settings. Who: Applicants targeting campus, retail, office, warehouse, and front-gate roles.
• Emergency response and customer service (differentiator | immediate): Emergency response is the top hard-skill signal in local postings, and customer service also appears often, which reflects the practical need for calm public-facing judgment on site. Who: Entry-level candidates who need to show they can handle both safety events and public interaction.

Questions about this market

What do Protective Services & Public Safety roles pay in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

Government wage data says the metro protective-service group paid a mean of $37.13 per hour in May 2025, with a 2025 annual median of $52,780, a 75th percentile of $100,600, and a 90th percentile of $165,090. Fresher posting data tells a different story for the typical opening: hourly-paid postings center on about $20 to $23 / hour, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $19 to $26 / hour. This is a split market. San Jose pays well at the top end of protective services, but much of the recent opening mix appears to sit in lower-paid private security and loss-prevention work rather than in sworn municipal roles.

Where is demand for Protective Services & Public Safety roles in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA concentrated?

Fresh local posting evidence shows more than 50 postings across more than 20 companies over the last 90 days, but the sample is fragmented rather than dominated by one employer. The biggest posting concentrations sit in retail and software development, each at about 30% of the sample, with smaller shares in government administration, security and safety, and security and investigations. The named employers that appear most consistently are AUS with more than 20 postings and Costco Wholesale Corp. with around 10, which points to campus, retail, patrol, access-control, and loss-prevention work more than remote desk-based roles. The higher-barrier opportunity pool is in local agencies that are still backfilling vacancies or expanding service. San Jose cited 114 vacant police officer positions in April 2026, Palo Alto had 12 vacant sworn-officer positions out of 141 budgeted roles as of June, and San Jose's fire department was operating with about an 8% vacancy rate. The Santa Clara County academy pipeline is active across multiple agencies, and five graduates in the latest class moved from custody work to patrol, which makes support and custody roles a real feeder path instead of a dead end.

Which employers are hiring the most Protective Services & Public Safety talent in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

Recent postings show the most activity from AUS (20 postings), Costco Wholesale Corp. (10 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

Browse California openings by job title

• Software Engineer: 960 open roles statewide
• General Manager: 528 open roles statewide
• Project Manager: 392 open roles statewide
• Product Manager: 379 open roles statewide
• Program Manager: 326 open roles statewide
• Technical Program Manager: 265 open roles statewide
• Senior Software Engineer: 206 open roles statewide
• Staff Software Engineer: 156 open roles statewide
• Engineering Manager: 146 open roles statewide
• Senior Manager: 129 open roles statewide
• Associate Director: 92 open roles statewide
• Senior Product Manager: 84 open roles statewide

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