Free Security Manager Job Description Templates
Free physical security manager job description templates for corporate, hotel, retail, and warehouse roles, with FLSA and pay guidance. DOCX download.
Security Manager Job Description Templates
6 free templates for physical security across corporate, hotel, retail, warehouse, and site settings, with the FLSA and salary guidance generic templates skip. Download as DOCX.
A security manager leads the program and the team that protects an organization's people, property, and assets: developing policies, supervising officers and guards, overseeing surveillance and access control, and coordinating emergency response. The title covers everything from a salaried corporate manager to a working supervisor who runs a shift and patrols alongside the team, and the level you hire for changes the duties, the pay, and whether the role earns overtime.
At FirstHR, we build hiring and onboarding tools for smaller employers, including the property-management firms, hotels, retailers, and venues that hire a working security manager or supervisor and handle it themselves. These six templates cover physical security across settings: corporate, supervisor, hotel, retail, warehouse, and site or venue. Each is ready to use, with the FLSA and salary guidance generic templates leave out. For the fundamentals behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description is a useful companion.
What a Security Manager Does
A security manager runs an organization's physical security: developing and implementing security policies, recruiting, training, scheduling, and supervising officers and guards, overseeing surveillance, CCTV, and access control, coordinating emergency and incident response, conducting investigations, managing the budget, and liaising with law enforcement. In smaller organizations the role is often a working supervisor who also performs guard and patrol duties.
The closest federal occupation is first-line supervisors of security workers, which covers the supervisory and management side of physical security. The exact shape of the role depends heavily on the setting, which is why this page gives you several typed versions rather than one generic template, plus the physical-versus-cyber clarification and the compliance content competitors skip.
Physical Security, Not Cybersecurity
Before you write the posting, be clear which security manager you mean, because two very different roles share the title. The templates here are for physical security: protecting people, property, and physical assets through guards, surveillance, access control, and emergency response.
The salary, qualifications, and duties differ so much between the two that mixing them in one posting confuses applicants and wastes everyone's time. This page, and the templates below, are for the physical security role.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by setting and level. The core structure is the same across all six, but each emphasizes the duties, classification, and language that fit a specific kind of physical security role. Use this guide to choose.
6 Free Security Manager Job Description Templates
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: company and job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, classification and pay, and how to apply, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Template 1: Security Manager (Corporate / Standard)
The baseline: develop policies, supervise officers and guards, oversee surveillance and access control, and coordinate emergency response. Use it for a standard corporate or facility role.
Template 2: Security Supervisor / Shift Lead
A working supervisor who leads a shift and also patrols. The accessible level and often non-exempt, the clearest fit for a smaller team's first security lead.
Template 3: Hotel Security Manager
Balances security with the guest experience: discreet incident handling, guest-area patrols, and coordination with the front desk and management.
Template 4: Retail / Loss-Prevention Security Manager
Protects merchandise and reduces shrink: surveillance, theft and fraud investigation, lawful detention practices, and loss-prevention training.
Template 5: Warehouse / Distribution-Center Security Manager
Secures a high-volume facility: gate and dock access control, visitor and vehicle screening, and inventory-loss investigation.
Template 6: Construction-Site / Event-Venue Security Manager
For fast-moving or project-based settings: site or venue access control, equipment protection, and crowd or perimeter management.
Security Manager Duties and Responsibilities
Security manager duties cluster into four areas: program and policy, team, operations and monitoring, and coordination and compliance. A strong job description picks the specific responsibilities from each area that match the setting rather than listing every possible task.
For a working supervisor, the team and operations duties dominate; for a corporate manager, program, budget, and compliance carry more weight. To scope the role to your setting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
What to Include in the Job Description
Every strong security manager job description includes the same core sections, but two moves matter most: clarifying physical versus cyber, and writing specific duties instead of vague ones.
| Weak bullet | Strong bullet |
|---|---|
| Handle security | Develop and implement physical security policies and procedures |
| Manage the team | Recruit, train, schedule, and supervise officers and guards |
| Watch cameras | Oversee surveillance, CCTV, alarms, and access control |
| Deal with incidents | Coordinate emergency response and maintain incident reports |
| Security experience | Experience as a security manager, supervisor, or senior officer |
Specific duties attract qualified candidates and set clear expectations. Keep the language neutral and inclusive too, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics, and the SHRM job description tools cover the standard sections of a job description.
FLSA: Is a Security Manager Exempt or Non-Exempt?
Security classification depends on the level and the actual duties, and it lands on both sides of the overtime line, which most templates ignore. Getting it right matters because misclassifying an hourly working supervisor as exempt creates wage-and-hour risk.
The practical rule: treat a salaried department manager as exempt but confirm against the duties test, and treat an hourly working supervisor or guard as non-exempt unless you have confirmed otherwise. For the underlying rules, the exempt versus non-exempt guide and the Fair Labor Standards Act overview explain how the tests work, and the Department of Labor FLSA page is the primary source.
Requirements and Licensing
Security manager requirements scale with the level, and licensing often applies. For a working supervisor, the foundation is security officer or guard experience, reliability, and strong judgment under pressure. For a corporate manager, the role adds leadership, policy, budget, and investigation experience, with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice or security management commonly preferred.
Many states require security personnel to hold a state security or guard license or registration, and armed roles carry additional requirements, so confirm your state's rules with the relevant regulatory agency. Professional certifications such as the Certified Protection Professional or Physical Security Professional are commonly preferred for management roles and signal expertise, though they are usually not legally required. State the license requirement clearly in the posting based on the role's duties, since it determines who is eligible to apply.
Security Manager Pay
Security manager pay varies widely because the title spans hourly working supervisors to corporate managers, so anchor your range to the specific level and setting. Government data sets the baseline.
In practice, hourly security supervisors commonly run in the $40,000s to $50,000s, while salaried corporate security managers reach into the $70,000s to $90,000s and higher in large organizations. Cyber and information security managers are a separate occupation that pays far more. Set your range to the specific level and setting, anchored to government data and your local market, and publish it where required.
Hiring for a Smaller Team
A large hotel, mall, or distribution center hires a security manager through an established team. A property-management firm, a boutique hotel, a multi-site retailer, a construction operation, or an event venue faces a different reality: the hire is usually a working supervisor who leads a small team and also stands posts. Getting the level and the classification right matters more here than the wording. The same hourly, frontline reality applies to the rest of the team, which is why hiring a security officer shares the same challenge, and a related management hire like a facilities manager often overlaps with security responsibilities.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same document becomes the basis for the offer and a structured onboarding, which matters in security because the new manager will run a team of officers who each need consistent, documented onboarding of their own.
Confirm the offer in writing, collect the new hire paperwork, verify any required license, and get signatures on post orders and security policies, then run a first-weeks plan covering your systems, procedures, and team. Once your offer is ready, the offer letter template handles the next step, and an onboarding template gives the new hire a structured start. FirstHR connects the offer, paperwork, e-signatures on post orders and policies, and onboarding workflow in one place, plus document management for licenses and certifications, so a smaller employer can manage the full process directly. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a guard-scheduling or surveillance tool, and it does not run payroll, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a security manager do?
A physical security manager leads the program and the team that protects an organization's people, property, and assets. Core duties include developing and implementing security policies, recruiting, training, scheduling, and supervising security officers and guards, overseeing surveillance, CCTV, alarms, and access control, coordinating emergency and incident response, conducting investigations and maintaining incident reports, managing the security budget, and liaising with local law enforcement. The exact mix depends on the setting: a hotel security manager balances security with the guest experience, a retail or loss-prevention manager focuses on shrink and theft, and a warehouse manager focuses on access control and inventory loss. In a smaller organization, the role is often a working supervisor who leads a shift and also performs guard and patrol duties rather than purely managing.
Is this about physical security or cybersecurity?
This page covers physical security: protecting people, property, and physical assets through guards, surveillance, access control, and emergency response. That is what the search term security manager job description overwhelmingly refers to, and what these templates are built for. Cybersecurity or information security management is a completely different role, focused on protecting data, networks, and systems, with different duties, different qualifications, and much higher pay. If you are hiring someone to run your information security program, an information security manager or IT security manager job description is the right document, not these physical-security templates. The two roles share a word but almost nothing else, so it is worth being clear which one you mean before you post.
Is a security manager exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
It depends on the level and the actual duties. A salaried security manager whose primary duty is managing a recognized security department, who regularly directs two or more full-time employees and has genuine hiring authority, and who is paid above the federal salary threshold, is typically exempt from overtime under the executive exemption. A security supervisor or shift lead who spends most of their time on patrol and guard duties rather than managing is generally non-exempt and owed overtime for hours over 40 in a week, despite a supervisor title. Security officers and guards are almost always non-exempt and hourly. The Department of Labor is clear that exemption turns on the real primary duties and salary, not the job title. Confirm the classification for the specific role you are filling. This is general information, not legal advice.
What should a security manager job description include?
A strong security manager job description states the setting up front, corporate, hotel, retail, warehouse, or site, and clarifies that the role is physical security rather than cybersecurity. Include a short company summary, a job summary, and responsibilities grouped into program and policy, team, operations and monitoring, and coordination and compliance. Add required and preferred qualifications, the reporting line, the FLSA classification, and a realistic pay range. The most valuable additions that generic templates skip are the physical-versus-cyber clarification, an honest FLSA exempt-versus-non-exempt note (manager usually exempt, working supervisor and guards usually not), inline salary benchmarking, and any state security or guard licensing and certifications such as CPP or PSP. Close with an equal opportunity statement and clear apply instructions. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a security manager make?
Pay varies widely because the title spans hourly working supervisors to corporate managers. The closest federal occupation, first-line supervisors of security workers, reported a mean wage of about $59,900 a year, with the median in the mid $50,000s, based on the most recent national data. Industry job-posting sources place the average for a security manager closer to $80,000, reflecting more senior corporate roles. In practice, hourly security supervisors often run in the $40,000s to $50,000s, while salaried corporate security managers reach into the $70,000s to $90,000s and higher in large organizations. Cyber and information security managers are a different occupation entirely and pay far more. For a posting, anchor your range to the specific level and setting, using government data plus your local market. This is general information, not legal advice.
What is the difference between a security manager and a security supervisor?
A security manager owns the security program: policies, budget, the whole team, and coordination with law enforcement, and is typically salaried and exempt. A security supervisor or shift lead runs a single shift, directs officers on the floor, and usually performs guard and patrol duties themselves, often paid hourly and non-exempt. The manager role is more strategic and administrative, while the supervisor role is hands-on and operational. In a large organization both levels exist, with supervisors reporting to a manager. In a smaller organization, the working supervisor is frequently the only security leadership, and there is no separate manager. For a job posting, the distinction matters because it sets the pay, the overtime classification, and the kind of candidate you are looking for.
Does a security manager need a license or certification?
Often yes, and it depends on the state and the duties. Many states require security personnel, including managers who perform security duties, to hold a state security or guard license or registration, and armed roles carry additional requirements. Because licensing rules and the specific license types vary by state, confirm your state's requirements with the relevant regulatory agency. Beyond state licensing, professional certifications such as the Certified Protection Professional or Physical Security Professional are commonly preferred for management roles and signal expertise, though they are usually not legally required. For the job description, state clearly which license is required versus preferred, based on the role's duties and your state's rules, so candidates know what they need before applying. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do small businesses need a dedicated security manager?
Not always, and the honest answer depends on size and risk. Many small businesses use contract security guards or a single working security supervisor rather than a dedicated manager. A dedicated security manager makes sense when an organization has a security team large enough to need consistent leadership, a facility or guest environment with real security risk, or compliance obligations that require a responsible owner on site. Property-management firms, boutique hotels, multi-site retailers, construction operations, and event venues often sit at exactly the size where a working security manager or supervisor becomes the right hire. Below that, the role is usually filled by a shift supervisor or a contracted service. The security supervisor template here is written for that first-leadership-hire moment. This is general information, not legal advice.