The NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity, commonly referred to as the NICE Framework, is a nationally focused resource to help employers develop their cybersecurity workforce. It establishes a common lexicon that describes cybersecurity work and workers regardless of where or for whom the work is performed. The NICE Framework applies across public, private, and academic sectors.
The NICE Framework includes the following components:
- Work Role Categories: A high-level grouping of common cybersecurity functions
- Work Roles: A grouping of work for which someone is responsible or accountable. Please note, Work Roles are not synonymous to job titles or occupations.
- TKS Statements: A set of discrete building blocks that describe the work to be done (in the form of Tasks) and what is required to perform that work (through Knowledge and Skills).
- Competency Areas: Clusters of related Knowledge and Skill statements that correlate with one’s capability to perform Tasks in a particular domain.
The NICE program of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) released NICE Framework Components v2.0.0 in March 2025 with updates to Work Role Categories, Work Roles, and Competency Areas, and administrative updates to Task, Knowledge, and Skill (TKS) statements. The updated NICE Framework Components also include the removal of two Work Role Categories (Cyberspace Effects and Cyberspace Intelligence), and the Work Roles contained in them. Note that these can be now found within the DoD Cyber Workforce Framework (DCWF).
To explore the updated version of the NICE Framework, click on the Work Role Categories below or use the links at the top of this page to search within the NICE Framework components. To learn more, visit the NICE Framework Resource Center and review the NICE Framework Overview PDF.
Work Role Categories
Work Roles
- Communications Security (COMSEC) Management
Responsible for managing the Communications Security (COMSEC) resources of an organization.
- Cybersecurity Policy and Planning
Responsible for developing and maintaining cybersecurity plans, strategy, and policy to support and align with organizational cybersecurity initiatives and regulatory compliance.
- Cybersecurity Workforce Management
Responsible for developing cybersecurity workforce plans, assessments, strategies, and guidance, including cybersecurity-related staff training, education, and hiring processes. Makes adjustments in response to or in anticipation of changes to cybersecurity-related policy, technology, and staffing needs and requirements. Authors mandated workforce planning strategies to maintain compliance with legislation, regulation, and policy.
- Cybersecurity Curriculum Development
Responsible for developing, planning, coordinating, and evaluating cybersecurity awareness, training, or education content, methods, and techniques based on instructional needs and requirements.
- Cybersecurity Instruction
Responsible for developing and conducting cybersecurity awareness, training, or education.
- Cybersecurity Legal Advice
Responsible for providing cybersecurity legal advice and recommendations, including monitoring related legislation and regulations.
- Executive Cybersecurity Leadership
Responsible for establishing vision and direction for an organization's cybersecurity operations and resources and their impact on digital and physical spaces. Possesses authority to make and execute decisions that impact an organization broadly, including policy approval and stakeholder engagement.
- Privacy Compliance
Responsible for developing and overseeing an organization’s privacy compliance program and staff, including establishing and managing privacy-related governance, policy, and incident response needs.
- Product Support Management
Responsible for planning, estimating costs, budgeting, developing, implementing, and managing product support strategies in order to field and maintain the readiness and operational capability of systems and components.
- Program Management
Responsible for leading, coordinating, and the overall success of a defined program. Includes communicating about the program and ensuring alignment with agency or organizational priorities.
- Secure Project Management
Responsible for overseeing and directly managing technology projects. Ensures cybersecurity is built into projects to protect the organization’s critical infrastructure and assets, reduce risk, and meet organizational goals. Tracks and communicates project status and demonstrates project value to the organization.
- Security Control Assessment
Responsible for conducting independent comprehensive assessments of management, operational, and technical security controls and control enhancements employed within or inherited by a system to determine their overall effectiveness.
- Systems Authorization
Responsible for operating an information system at an acceptable level of risk to organizational operations, organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, and the nation.
- Systems Security Management
Responsible for managing the cybersecurity of a program, organization, system, or enclave.
- Technology Portfolio Management
Responsible for managing a portfolio of technology investments that align with the overall needs of mission and enterprise priorities.
- Technology Program Auditing
Responsible for conducting evaluations of technology programs or their individual components to determine compliance with published standards.
Work Roles
- Cybersecurity Architecture
Responsible for ensuring that security requirements are adequately addressed in all aspects of enterprise architecture, including reference models, segment and solution architectures, and the resulting systems that protect and support organizational mission and business processes.
- Enterprise Architecture
Responsible for developing and maintaining business, systems, and information processes to support enterprise mission needs. Develops technology rules and requirements that describe baseline and target architectures.
- Operational Technology (OT) Cybersecurity Engineering
Responsible for working within the engineering department to design and create systems, processes, and procedures that maintain the safety, reliability, controllability, and security of industrial systems in the face of intentional and incidental cyber events. Interfaces with Chief Information Security Officer, plant managers, and industrial cybersecurity technicians.
- Secure Software Development
Responsible for developing, creating, modifying, and maintaining computer applications, software, or specialized utility programs.
- Secure Systems Development
Responsible for the secure design, development, and testing of systems and the evaluation of system security throughout the systems development life cycle.
- Software Security Assessment
Responsible for analyzing the security of new or existing computer applications, software, or specialized utility programs and delivering actionable results.
- Systems Requirements Planning
Responsible for consulting with internal and external customers to evaluate and translate functional requirements and integrating security policies into technical solutions.
- Systems Testing and Evaluation
Responsible for planning, preparing, and executing system tests; evaluating test results against specifications and requirements; and reporting test results and findings.
- Technology Research and Development
Responsible for conducting software and systems engineering and software systems research to develop new capabilities with fully integrated cybersecurity. Conducts comprehensive technology research to evaluate potential vulnerabilities in cyberspace systems.
Work Roles
- Data Analysis
Responsible for analyzing data from multiple disparate sources to provide cybersecurity and privacy insight. Designs and implements custom algorithms, workflow processes, and layouts for complex, enterprise-scale data sets used for modeling, data mining, and research purposes.
- Database Administration
Responsible for administering databases and data management systems that allow for the secure storage, query, protection, and utilization of data.
- Knowledge Management
Responsible for managing and administering processes and tools to identify, document, and access an organization’s intellectual capital.
- Network Operations
Responsible for planning, implementing, and operating network services and systems, including hardware and virtual environments.
- Systems Administration
Responsible for setting up and maintaining a system or specific components of a system in adherence with organizational security policies and procedures. Includes hardware and software installation, configuration, and updates; user account management; backup and recovery management; and security control implementation.
- Systems Security Analysis
Responsible for developing and analyzing the integration, testing, operations, and maintenance of systems security. Prepares, performs, and manages the security aspects of implementing and operating a system.
- Technical Support
Responsible for providing technical support to customers who need assistance utilizing client-level hardware and software in accordance with established or approved organizational policies and processes.
Work Roles
- Defensive Cybersecurity
Responsible for analyzing data collected from various cybersecurity defense tools to mitigate risks.
- Digital Forensics
Responsible for analyzing digital evidence from computer security incidents to derive useful information in support of system and network vulnerability mitigation.
- Incident Response
Responsible for investigating, analyzing, and responding to network cybersecurity incidents.
- Infrastructure Support
Responsible for testing, implementing, deploying, maintaining, and administering infrastructure hardware and software for cybersecurity.
- Insider Threat Analysis
Responsible for identifying and assessing the capabilities and activities of cybersecurity insider threats; produces findings to help initialize and support law enforcement and counterintelligence activities and investigations.
- Threat Analysis
Responsible for collecting, processing, analyzing, and disseminating cybersecurity threat assessments. Develops cybersecurity indicators to maintain awareness of the status of the highly dynamic operating environment.
- Vulnerability Analysis
Responsible for assessing systems and networks to identify deviations from acceptable configurations, enclave policy, or local policy. Measure effectiveness of defense-in-depth architecture against known vulnerabilities.
Work Roles
- Cybercrime Investigation
Responsible for investigating cyberspace intrusion incidents and crimes. Applies tactics, techniques, and procedures for a full range of investigative tools and processes and appropriately balances the benefits of prosecution versus intelligence gathering.
- Digital Evidence Analysis
Responsible for identifying, collecting, examining, and preserving digital evidence using controlled and documented analytical and investigative techniques.
The NICE Framework data used for this tool is from the NICE Framework Components version 2.0.0.
Looking for Cyberspace Intelligence or Cyberspace Effects Work Role Categories and corresponding Work Roles? These can now be found within the DoD Cyber Workforce Framework (DCWF).