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Cyber Operations Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Prevailance

Cyberspace/Cyberwarfare Instructor

Lompoc, CA · On-site

$48K - $64K/yr

Cyber Fundamentals (i.e. basic understanding of operating system internals, cryptographic concepts, identity management, security architecture, cyber operations) * Cyber Warfare (i.e. conduct and ...

Prevailance

Cyberspace/Cyberwarfare Instructor

Lompoc, CA · On-site

$105K - $175K/yr

Cyber Fundamentals (i.e. basic understanding of operating system internals, cryptographic concepts, identity management, security architecture, cyber operations) * Cyber Warfare (i.e. conduct and ...

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Cyber Operations information

See California salary details

$20.2K

$55.5K

$134.2K

How much do cyber operations jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 24, 2026, the average yearly pay for cyber operations in California is $55,490.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $29,600.00 and $85,400.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is cyber operations?

Cyber operations refer to the activities and processes involved in protecting, defending, and attacking information systems and networks in cyberspace. Professionals in this field work to safeguard data, monitor for threats, respond to cyber incidents, and sometimes conduct offensive operations to disrupt adversaries' digital capabilities. These operations can be performed by military, government, or private sector organizations to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of digital assets. Cyber operations require expertise in cybersecurity, digital forensics, network defense, and sometimes ethical hacking.

What are the most common challenges faced by professionals in cyber operations, and how can new team members prepare for them?

Professionals in Cyber Operations often encounter challenges such as rapidly evolving cyber threats, high-pressure incident response situations, and the need to stay current with industry tools and protocols. New team members can prepare by developing strong foundational knowledge in network security, practicing real-world scenarios in cyber ranges, and staying updated on the latest threat intelligence. Additionally, effective communication and collaboration with IT, legal, and executive teams are crucial, as cyber operations often require coordinated responses across departments.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in cyber operations, and why are they important?

To thrive in Cyber Operations, you need a strong background in cybersecurity principles, network defense, and threat analysis, often supported by a degree in computer science or information security. Familiarity with security information and event management (SIEM) tools, intrusion detection systems, and certifications like CISSP or CompTIA Security+ is highly valued. Critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication are essential soft skills for quickly responding to threats and collaborating with teams. These competencies are crucial for safeguarding organizational assets, minimizing risks, and maintaining operational continuity in an evolving cyber threat landscape.

What do cyber operations do?

Cyber operations involve planning, executing, and managing activities to defend computer networks and systems from cyber threats or to conduct offensive actions. Professionals in this field use tools like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and encryption, often requiring knowledge of cybersecurity principles and certifications such as CISSP or CEH. Their work supports organizational security, incident response, and threat mitigation efforts.

What jobs can I get with a cyber operations degree?

A cyber operations degree prepares individuals for roles such as cybersecurity analyst, security engineer, incident responder, or network security specialist. These jobs involve protecting computer systems, analyzing threats, and using tools like intrusion detection systems, often requiring certifications like CompTIA Security+ or CISSP.

What are the most commonly searched types of Cyber Operations jobs in California?

The most popular types of Cyber Operations jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Cyber Operations jobs in California?

For Cyber Operations jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Cyber Operations jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Cyber Operations jobs in California are:

Cyber Operations jobs near you
Infographic showing various Cyber Operations job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 86% Full Time, 9% Part Time, 1% Temporary, 2% Contract, and 1% Nights. Highlights an 93% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 4% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $55,490 per year, or $26.7 per hour.

Cyber Operations Strategist, Critical Harm Operations

OpenAI

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$252K - $280K/yr

Full-time

Posted 22 days ago

Job description

ABOUT THE TEAM
Critical Harm Operations sits within User Safety & Risk Operations and builds enforcement systems for Frontier Risk and Material Harm that are accurate, fast, defensible, and built to scale. The Cyber vertical turns policy into reviewer standards, calibrated judgment, quality systems, escalation paths, and automation guardrails.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are looking for a senior cybersecurity practitioner and operations strategist to raise the quality, scalability, and technical rigor of our Cyber Operations. You will combine hands-on cyber judgment with systems-level operating design: resolve the hardest dual-use questions, evolve SOPs, uplift reviewers and vendors, and build practical tools and automations.
This is a senior IC role. Success is not primarily cases closed; it is durable improvement in the operating model and the reviewers who run it.
IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL:
  • Drive the Cyber Operations operating model across domain priorities, SOPs, escalation paths, quality health, vendor capability, roadmap inputs and help inform trusted access strategies.
  • Serve as the senior cyber expert for complex or high-risk decisions across ChatGPT, API, Codex, agents, and emerging product surfaces.
  • Translate policy ambiguity, quality misses, appeals, and reviewer disagreement into clear decision rules, calibration examples, training, and tooling requirements.
  • Build durable operating systems and quality loops: golden sets, holdouts, double-labeling, adjudication, error taxonomies, reviewer calibration, and automation evaluations.
  • Raise FTE and BPO capability through onboarding, certification, coaching, recurring calibration, and vendor-performance partnership.
  • Use quality, appeals, SLA, backlog, and disagreement signals to diagnose root causes and prioritize high-leverage fixes.
  • Build hands-on solutions-SQL analyses, scripts, dashboards, LLM eval workflows, evidence enrichment, routing logic, and lightweight automations-that improve decision quality and reduce manual effort.
  • Partner with Policy, Integrity, Safety Systems, Security, Legal, Product, Engineering, and Investigations to operationalize changes and drive launch readiness.
YOU MIGHT THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU:
  • Have 8+ years of hands-on cybersecurity experience in offensive security, threat intelligence, incident response, security research, red teaming, application security, DFIR, malware analysis, or a related field.
  • Can reason deeply about attacker tradecraft, vulnerability exploitation, credential abuse, malware, persistence, evasion, exfiltration, cloud or identity abuse, and ambiguous dual-use activity.
  • Have built or improved high-stakes operations, reviewer programs, QA systems, escalation workflows, or vendor/BPO programs.
  • Can turn complex cyber and policy judgment into reviewer-usable SOPs, decision trees, training, and concise written recommendations.
  • Are comfortable using SQL, Python, Python, C/C++, JavaScript, PowerShell, and Bash, APIs, LLM tooling, or automation to solve operational problems.
  • Understand human-in-the-loop automation, evaluations, monitoring, holdouts, and fallback paths for sensitive workflows.
  • Operate independently in ambiguity, communicate clearly across technical and non-technical audiences, and bring sound judgment and discretion when handling sensitive material.
  • Experience with trust and safety, platform abuse, cyber misuse of AI systems, or LLM safety.
NICE TO HAVE
  • Experience with golden sets, classifier or prompt evaluations, and reviewer-quality programs.
  • Experience enabling global vendor reviewer operations.

About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.
For additional information, please see OpenAI's Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.
Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.
To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.
OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy
At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

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