Growing market
The field of Identity and Access Management (IAM) has experienced steady growth since its inception. Today, however, we are witnessing a clear acceleration: organizations are rapidly adopting IAM technologies and assigning ever-larger budgets not only for IAM projects, but also for their long-term operation and continuous improvement.
According to recent forecasts from Gartner, the global IAM market is expected to grow from $15.61 billion in 2021 to $31.99 billion by 2027. This momentum reflects a major shift in how organizations view identity: no longer as a narrow technical topic, but as a strategic pillar of security, compliance, and user experience. The industry has already gone through profound changes and is set to evolve even further in the coming years, driven by cloud adoption, Zero Trust architectures, and the rise of AI and automation.
For anyone looking to build a career in a high-potential field that will shape how businesses secure their operations and improve digital experiences, IAM still offers plenty of room to grow, specialize, and make an impact.
Shortage of talent
Like the rest of cybersecurity, IAM is facing a significant talent shortage. Several factors explain this gap.
First, there are simply not enough graduates with IAM skills to meet market demand. While universities and training institutions are beginning to offer more specialized IAM programs, they still lag behind what organizations need on the ground.
Second, many learning paths — including online courses, whether free or paid — tend to focus heavily on the technical side: protocols, tools, and configurations. Yet a large part of IAM is actually functional and business-oriented: defining access policies, shaping processes, understanding regulatory requirements, and aligning identity governance with business objectives. This imbalance means many professionals have only a partial view of IAM, and organizations often struggle to find people who truly understand both the technical and business dimensions.
The result is a persistent mismatch between supply and demand: companies are actively searching for IAM talent, but the pool of well-rounded candidates remains limited.
Career opportunities
This negative balance between available profiles and open positions gives IAM candidates a strong bargaining position with recruiters. Whether you are a recent graduate or someone looking to transition into cybersecurity, IAM offers a landscape where opportunities significantly outnumber candidates.
For those who want to work as independent consultants or freelancers, IAM also ticks many boxes:
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High demand for expertise
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Possibilities for remote work
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Flexible engagements (projects, missions, part-time support)
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Attractive compensation levels
Because the talent pool is scarce, salaries tend to move upwards, and negotiation power often lies with the candidate rather than the employer. As professionals gain experience across multiple IAM projects or platforms, they can quickly position themselves as senior specialists, architects, or program leads — roles that are both highly valued and well paid.
In short, IAM offers solid job security, strong upward mobility, and the freedom to choose between permanent roles, consulting, or independent work.
A unique cybersecurity field open to all
IAM is a relatively broad area of cybersecurity that can appeal to a wide variety of profiles and backgrounds. Any IAM initiative or organization requires:
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Technical profiles to install, configure, integrate, and maintain solutions (IAM platforms, directories, authentication services, etc.).
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Functional and business profiles to define access policies, design IAM processes (onboarding, role management, certification campaigns), and shape data and role models aligned with business needs.
Because of this diversity, IAM is genuinely open to many types of professionals: developers, system engineers, business analysts, UX specialists, project managers, data analysts, and more. It is also common to see professionals evolve from one type of role to another over the course of their IAM career — for example, a technical engineer moving toward architecture or governance, or a business analyst transitioning into product ownership or program management.
This makes IAM a unique domain within cybersecurity:
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highly specialized,
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business-critical,
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but still accessible to people with different strengths — whether they lean more towards technology, process, user experience, or data.
For anyone curious, willing to learn, and ready to work at the crossroads of security, business, and user experience, IAM offers an environment where you can grow, reinvent yourself, and build a long-term career.