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ANZSCO 4422Skill level 4Law and government

Security officer

Protect people, premises and assets across retail, transport, events and corporate sites.

Registration: State security licence required

Salary

Cited figures from Job Outlook and QILT. ExamExplained does not publish predictive earnings or projections.

FigureAUDSource
Full-time weekly earnings$1200Job Outlook (2025-06-01)

How far does this stretch in each city?

What a security officer actually does

Security officers work shifts at a defined site or a mobile patrol route. Static guards at a shopping centre, hospital, university, corporate tower or government building rotate between foot patrol, CCTV monitoring at the control room, access control at a manned entry point, and incident response. Crowd-controllers at venues and licensed premises run door checks, ID verification, queue management, and intervene in altercations. Cash-in-transit and mobile-patrol officers travel between sites in marked vehicles to open or close premises, check alarms and respond to faults. Most shifts include heavy report-writing: occurrence reports, incident reports for the client, and statements for police where relevant. Hours are usually 38-45 a week across a rolling roster of days, nights and weekends, with overtime around major events. Most of the job is steady patrol and observation punctuated by short, intense incidents.

Typical tasks

  • Conduct patrols and CCTV monitoring.
  • Respond to incidents and prepare reports.
  • Liaise with police and emergency services.

Skills you'll use

  • Conducting foot patrols and access control
  • Monitoring CCTV and reading suspicious behaviour
  • De-escalating verbal and physical conflict
  • Writing accurate occurrence and incident reports
  • Using radios and security control-room systems
  • Basic first aid and emergency response
  • Crowd control and queue management at licensed premises and events
  • Working a rotating roster including nights and public holidays

How to become one

  1. 1Finish Year 10 at minimum and hold a clean national criminal-history check
  2. 2Be at least 18 years old (some crowd-control work requires 18+ at licensed premises)
  3. 3Complete a Certificate II in Security Operations (or Certificate III for crowd control and cash-in-transit), delivered by an RTO accredited in your state
  4. 4Apply for a state security licence (NSW SLED, Victoria LRD, Queensland OFT, WA Police, SA CBS, TAS Police, NT Police, ACT Access Canberra); the licence class must match the work you intend to do (unarmed guard, crowd controller, cash-in-transit, monitoring centre etc.)
  5. 5Hold first aid and (where applicable) responsible service of alcohol; some employers require a defensive tactics or low-voltage rescue ticket
  6. 6Apply to security firms, in-house corporate security teams or local government for entry-level roster work

Where you can work

  • Shopping centres, retail precincts and big-box retailers
  • Hospitals, universities and government buildings
  • Corporate towers and CBD office buildings
  • Licensed venues, festivals, stadiums and major events
  • Airport, port, rail and public transport networks
  • Cash-in-transit and armoured-vehicle operators
  • Mining, energy and remote-site protective services

Career progression

Typical stages and salary bands. Salary figures are sourced from Job Outlook, QILT or industry bodies; brackets are 25th-75th percentile not absolute floors or ceilings.

  1. Entry-level security officer
    0-2 years
    Typical roles: Unarmed security guard, Crowd controller, Retail loss-prevention officer
    Salary band: $55,000 - $70,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  2. Experienced and specialist officer
    2-7 years
    Typical roles: Senior security officer, Control-room operator, Cash-in-transit officer
    Salary band: $70,000 - $90,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  3. Site supervisor or coordinator
    7-12 years
    Typical roles: Site supervisor, Operations coordinator, Account manager
    Salary band: $85,000 - $115,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  4. Security manager
    12+ years
    Typical roles: Security manager, Risk and resilience manager, Corporate security director

Is this for you?

You might love this if

  • You can stay observant and patient during long quiet stretches
  • You handle confrontation without losing your temper
  • You take detailed notes and care about being correct on the record
  • You handle rotating day and night shifts without burning out
  • You're physically fit enough to stand and walk for a full shift
  • You're comfortable being the public face of a venue or site

This might not suit you if

  • You want a 9 to 5 desk job with no weekend or night work
  • You can't stand long stretches of routine patrol between incidents
  • You're uncomfortable with the prospect of physical confrontation
  • You want a job where you set the strategy rather than enforce client rules

Three ways in

Uni, TAFE and trade routes for security officer. Not every career has all three; we only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.

University

Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.

No direct undergraduate pathway. Consider postgraduate study after a related bachelor degree.

TAFE / VET

Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.

Apprenticeship trade

Earn while you learn through an Australian Apprenticeship.

Not an apprenticeship trade.

Sources

ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Job Outlook directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.