Permanent recruitment
Long-term hires who raise the bar for your security team, with support from brief through offer, clearance and onboarding.
RECRUITMENT Cyber security
Cyber security recruitment for teams that can't afford a miss.
Critical AI is a specialist cyber security recruitment agency in Australia. We find defenders, testers, GRC specialists and security leaders, then vet them with AI interviews and practitioner-led technical screens. AI assists. A person makes every recommendation.
- Cleared & uncleared
- Permanent, contract & executive
- Australia-wide
Practitioner-vetted candidatesFLUENT IN
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01 Roles we place
Every seat in the security stack.
Explore the cyber security roles we recruit for. Each family is screened by people who have done the work.
02 Engagements
However you need to hire.
Contract & day-rate
Pen testers, IRAP assessors, incident responders and project specialists, often within days.
Executive search
Confidential, research-led searches for CISOs, deputy CISOs and heads of security and AI security.
Team builds
Stand up a SOC, red team, GRC function or AI assurance team from zero, with a hiring plan to match.
Cleared talent
Baseline, NV1, NV2 and PV candidates for Defence and Government, with clearance checks up front.
AI-assessed shortlists
Every shortlisted candidate comes with a Critical Hive interview report: skills scores, evidence and integrity checks.
03 Where we recruit
Australia-wide, with local depth.
ACT
Canberra
Cleared cyber roles for Defence, Federal Government and their suppliers.
Cyber recruitment Canberra NSWSydney
Financial services, SaaS, telcos and critical infrastructure security teams.
Cyber recruitment Sydney VICMelbourne
Health, education, energy, retail and enterprise security programs.
Cyber recruitment MelbourneAlso recruiting for Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and fully remote roles.
04 FAQ
Cyber security recruitment, answered.
Looking for AI security talent instead? See AI security recruitment.
What cyber security roles do you recruit for?
Every seat in the security stack: SOC analysts (L1 to L3), detection engineers, threat hunters, incident responders and DFIR, penetration testers and red teamers, GRC analysts, IRAP assessors, cloud and application security engineers, security architects, IAM engineers, OT/ICS security and leadership roles up to CISO.
Do you recruit for roles that need a security clearance?
Yes. We regularly work on roles that need Baseline, NV1, NV2 or PV clearance for Defence, Federal Government and their suppliers. We check clearance status and eligibility early, so you don't lose weeks on candidates who can't be cleared.
How do you vet cyber security candidates?
Every candidate goes through a structured AI interview on webcam against your role's skills, followed by a technical screen with a practitioner who has done the job. If a candidate progresses, a person checks photo ID. Critical Hive does not collect identity documents.
Do you offer permanent, contract and executive search?
Yes: permanent hires, day-rate contractors for projects, audits and incident surges, confidential executive search for CISOs and heads of security, and complete team builds such as standing up a SOC or red team.
Which locations do you cover?
We recruit Australia-wide, with deep networks in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, and for remote and hybrid roles nationally.
How is a security-only recruiter different from a generalist IT agency?
We only recruit security people, and our technical screens are run by practitioners. That means we can tell a strong detection engineer from someone who has memorised the right keywords, and our shortlists are shorter and stronger as a result.
WE USE THIS TOO
We screen these roles with our own AI interview platform.
Every shortlist on this page passes through Critical Hive first: an AI interview, evidence-based scoring, integrity checks. Run it on your own roles — 8 interviews free.