Reward security champions with things that cost little and matter to engineers: protected time, credit in performance and promotion discussions, paid training, visible recognition, and real influence over standards. Cash can work, but it is not required and can distort behavior if tied to counts.
Why this matters
OWASP's Security Champions Guide lists "Reward responsibility" and "Invest in your champions" among its ten principles. A champion takes on extra work. If it earns no credit, the strongest people quietly stop.
A menu
| Reward | Cost | Why it works | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protected weekly time | Opportunity cost | Shows the work is real | Must survive release pressure |
| Mention in performance and promotion packets | Manager time | Turns effort into career value | Needs manager buy in |
| Conference or course budget | Moderate | Builds skills and loyalty | Choose by skill gap, not logo |
| Early access to security tools and roadmap | Free | Signals trust | Keep confidences |
| Public thanks at all hands | Free | Visibility | Do not single out the same people forever |
| Say in standards and tooling choices | Free | Ownership | Follow through on decisions |
| Mentoring from a senior security engineer | Time | Growth | Match carefully |
| Swag | Low | Fun, small | Never a substitute for the rest |
What to avoid
- Contests ranked by number of findings. People will split findings or report trivia.
- Rewards for the fewest vulnerabilities. That hides problems.
- Public leaderboards of individuals.
- Rewarding only the loudest champion.
- Promising career credit you cannot deliver.
How to put it in motion
- Ask your sponsor to agree that champion work appears in review documents.
- Send each manager a short summary every half year: what their person did and what it achieved.
- Set a small annual training budget per champion.
- End each champions meeting with two minutes of thanks for specific work, such as "Priya's note on the file upload bug saved two teams a week".
- Give champions a vote on one program decision each quarter.
Check with the people
Ask champions what they value. Some want a stretch assignment, some want time off in lieu, some want a certification. A short anonymous form, repeated yearly, will tell you more than guessing.
Where Safeguard fits
Safeguard provides compliance and evidence automation, which can help you record champion activity for review documents.
Quick check
Are cash bonuses ever appropriate?
They can be, for a defined contribution such as completing a project. Avoid tying them to counts of findings.
What if managers will not credit the work?
Escalate to your sponsor. Without credit and protected time, the program will lose champions.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
