Security Jobs in Washington, DC

Observed metro pay from BLS is solid but wide-ranging by subrole. The Washington protective-service occupational family showed a $34.49 mean hourly wage in May 2025; annual pay ranged from $44,300 at the 25th percentile to $118,560 at the 90th percentile, with a $64,710 median and $71,740 mean. Recent posted pay is directionally similar in the middle: listed salaries center on about $63k to $85k, while hourly-paid postings center on about $20 to $23 / hour.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 126 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $41,600 at the 25th percentile, $47,216 at the median and $57,169 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 178 openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

This is a balanced but workable market, not an easy one. Protective-service occupations accounted for 3.1% of Washington-area employment and about 95,920 local jobs in 2025, so the field has real scale here. But the broader metro backdrop softened in August 2026, with unemployment at 3.8%, employment down -1.6529% year-over-year, and total nonfarm payrolls down -1.9610% year-over-year. Recent agency signals are mixed: Montgomery County Police said it was more than 200 officers short, Fairfax County Police said it had reached 100% staffing, and Fairfax restored 11 crossing-guard positions at 10 high schools.

Best positioned: Candidates who can work on-site, move quickly on licensing, and show access-control, emergency-response, CPR/first-aid, and report-writing skill have the best odds right now.

Main caution: Do not assume sponsorship or easy transferability; among postings that explicitly state a policy, about 0% mention visa sponsorship, and many roles still carry licensing or screening gates.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 178 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. AUS: 47 open roles
2. Admiral Security: 40 open roles
3. Ironwatch Security: 4 open roles
4. Uhs: 4 open roles
5. Acts Retirement-Life Communities, Inc.: 3 open roles
6. Planned Companies: 3 open roles
7. Chenega Security International: 2 open roles
8. Compass Group: 2 open roles
9. Compass Group: 2 open roles
10. Crothall Healthcare: 2 open roles

Where the openings are

• Washington: 28
• McLean: 11
• Baltimore: 10
• Bethesda: 8
• Arlington County: 7
• Falls Church: 7
• Sterling: 7
• Arlington: 7

Work arrangement

on-site 174 (99%), hybrid 1 (1%)

Where the demand is

Opportunity is spread across many employers rather than dominated by one buyer. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 250 postings across more than 100 companies, and the employer mix was fragmented. The biggest visible volume sat with contract-security firms, with Admiral Security posting more than 40 roles and AUS more than 30. That lines up with the industry mix, where security and investigations accounts for about 30% of postings, followed by software development and government administration at about 15% each, plus retail and military and protective services at about 10% each. The public-sector picture is real but uneven. Montgomery County Police said it was more than 200 officers short in early October, suggesting active need, but Fairfax County Police said it had reached 100% staffing in late September after earlier shortages, which tells you not every agency is equally hungry. Fairfax also restored 11 crossing-guard positions at 10 high schools and said it would rehire, recruit, train replacements, and use contractors if needed. In D.C., MPD staffing was reported at 3,144 sworn members in March 2026, after 162 hires and 257 departures in fiscal 2025 and 56 hires versus 88 departures in the first four months of fiscal 2026, so some agencies still face attrition pressure even when hiring pipelines stay selective.

• Contract security and investigations (high): This is the clearest volume lane, supported by about 30% of postings in security and investigations and repeated hiring from Admiral Security and AUS.
• County and municipal public safety (moderate): Sworn and local-government demand is uneven: Montgomery reported being more than 200 officers short, while Fairfax reported 100% staffing and still reopened 11 crossing-guard slots.
• Corporate, retail, and campus or site safety (moderate): Software development, government administration, and retail together accounted for about 40% of postings, which favors candidates strong in access control, report writing, and customer-facing incident response.

Where to focus: If you need the fastest path to income, aim first at contract security and site-safety employers; if your goal is long-term pay, enter a sworn or investigative pipeline in parallel.

Roles worth searching next

• Emergency management coordinator: It uses many of the same incident-response and documentation habits that show up in local public-safety postings.
• Facilities operations coordinator: Access control, on-site presence, vendor oversight, and incident logging transfer well from security-heavy roles.
• Environmental health and safety coordinator: Emergency response, first aid, documentation, and compliance habits overlap strongly with safety-oriented public-safety work.
• Fraud or compliance investigator: Report writing, evidence handling discipline, and investigative mindset can transfer from law-enforcement-adjacent experience.

What postings ask for

• VA DCJS license (table_stakes | immediate): It was one of the most commonly named credentials locally, appearing in about 10% of postings that listed certifications. Who: Anyone targeting private security, patrol, or contracted site-security work in Virginia.
• Access control (table_stakes | immediate): It was the most common hard skill in the sample, showing up in about 35% of postings. Who: Entry-level applicants and career switchers who want the broadest set of openings.
• Emergency response (differentiator | immediate): It appeared in about 30% of postings and pairs directly with the region's heavily on-site role mix. Who: Candidates targeting school, campus, patrol, or building-safety work.
• CPR and first aid (table_stakes | immediate): Both showed up in the local signal set, with CPR and first aid listed among common certifications and requested skills. Who: Entry-level candidates, switchers, and anyone applying to community-facing or site-safety roles.
• Incident reporting and report writing (differentiator | immediate): Incident reporting and report writing each appeared in about 20% of postings, making documentation skill a real screening advantage. Who: Mid-career candidates, aspiring investigators, and anyone seeking promotion beyond basic post coverage.
• Microsoft Office (differentiator | near-term): About 20% of visible postings still asked for Microsoft Office, which matters for logs, reports, scheduling, and communication. Who: Candidates moving toward lead, dispatch-support, administrative, or corporate-site roles.

Questions about this market

What do Protective Services & Public Safety roles pay in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Observed metro pay from BLS is solid but wide-ranging by subrole. The Washington protective-service occupational family showed a $34.49 mean hourly wage in May 2025; annual pay ranged from $44,300 at the 25th percentile to $118,560 at the 90th percentile, with a $64,710 median and $71,740 mean. Recent posted pay is directionally similar in the middle: listed salaries center on about $63k to $85k, while hourly-paid postings center on about $20 to $23 / hour. This is decent absolute pay, but it is not premium for this metro: Washington's mean hourly wage across all occupations was $44.20 in May 2025, above the protective-service group's $34.49.

Where is demand for Protective Services & Public Safety roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV concentrated?

Opportunity is spread across many employers rather than dominated by one buyer. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 250 postings across more than 100 companies, and the employer mix was fragmented. The biggest visible volume sat with contract-security firms, with Admiral Security posting more than 40 roles and AUS more than 30. That lines up with the industry mix, where security and investigations accounts for about 30% of postings, followed by software development and government administration at about 15% each, plus retail and military and protective services at about 10% each. The public-sector picture is real but uneven. Montgomery County Police said it was more than 200 officers short in early October, suggesting active need, but Fairfax County Police said it had reached 100% staffing in late September after earlier shortages, which tells you not every agency is equally hungry. Fairfax also restored 11 crossing-guard positions at 10 high schools and said it would rehire, recruit, train replacements, and use contractors if needed. In D.C., MPD staffing was reported at 3,144 sworn members in March 2026, after 162 hires and 257 departures in fiscal 2025 and 56 hires versus 88 departures in the first four months of fiscal 2026, so some agencies still face attrition pressure even when hiring pipelines stay selective.

Which employers are hiring the most Protective Services & Public Safety talent in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Recent postings show the most activity from Admiral Security (40 postings), AUS (30 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Protective Services & Public Safety roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 0% are remote and 5% hybrid, with 95% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

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.

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