Regulatory Pressures Driving Demand for OT Compliance Experts

If you've been paying attention to the regulatory landscape in OT security, you already know: the era of voluntary best practices is over.

Between the updated NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the EU's NIS2 directive now in full enforcement, and the SEC's expanding disclosure requirements, organizations running critical infrastructure are facing a compliance burden they've never seen before. And they're scrambling to hire people who can navigate it.

Here's the problem. OT compliance isn't IT compliance with a different label. You can't hand this to your existing GRC team and expect results. The person who understands SOX and PCI-DSS doesn't automatically understand IEC 62443 or NERC CIP. These are different worlds with different languages, different risk models, and very different consequences when things go wrong.

We're seeing this play out in real time. Companies that never had a dedicated OT compliance function are suddenly building entire teams. The demand for professionals who understand both the regulatory frameworks and the operational realities of industrial environments has exploded — and the talent pool hasn't kept up.

The candidates who get it — who can read a regulatory requirement and translate it into something an OT engineer can actually implement — are getting multiple offers. They're not sitting on job boards. They're being pursued.

If your organization is feeling the pressure, you're not alone. But waiting for the right person to find you isn't a strategy. The companies winning this race are the ones treating OT compliance hiring with the same urgency as the regulations themselves.