How To Become An Acquisition Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is an acquisition specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Companies acquire and procure goods and services, such as office equipment, IT and design services, phone contracts, insurance, and large machines. The best goods and services are not always the cheapest, and such specialists must use a variety of tests to determine what to buy. An acquisition specialist helps companies find the best goods, services, real estate, or employees for a company. The job titles for these positions vary based on their duties.

The duties and responsibilities that they perform include evaluating potential purchases, negotiating the contract terms and/or purchase price, developing strategies for future acquisitions, producing and maintaining reports, and managing records. The essential skills required to succeed at this position include communication, organization, detail oriented, analytical, and mathematical skills. Educational qualifications for the position include a bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, or other related fields. Preference will be given to master's degree holders. Moreover, prior work experience in a related field is also desirable.

The average hourly pay for the position is $26.44, which amounts to $54,992 annually.

ScoreAcquisition SpecialistUS Average

Salary

5.1

Avg. Salary $65,906

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.9

Growth Rate 9%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%

Asian 7.59%

Black or African American 9.25%

Hispanic or Latino 12.64%

Unknown 4.42%

White 65.32%

Gender

female 48.06%

male 51.94%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress Level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.9

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.1

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become an acquisition specialist

Explore acquisition specialist education requirements

Most common acquisition specialist degrees

Bachelor's

62.8 %

Associate

14.7 %

Master's

10.9 %

Start to develop specific acquisition specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Program Management	8.46%
Market Research	7.49%
DOD	7.00%
Logistics	4.88%
PowerPoint	4.85%

Complete relevant acquisition specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New acquisition specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an acquisition specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real acquisition specialist resumes.

Research acquisition specialist duties and responsibilities

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Program manager responsible for managing the successful launch of new vehicle products at OEM customer sites.
Manage multiple customer relationships and sales-cycle using CRM Salesforce.com.

Prepare your acquisition specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your acquisition specialist resume.

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