How to hire a data specialist

How to hire a data specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step data specialist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a data specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new data specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a data specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the data specialist you need to hire. Certain data specialist roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect data specialist also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of data specialist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Data Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Data Specialist		$19-55
   Data Entry Clerk	Data entry clerks are employees who work on the proper documentation of the data sets within the organization. They are responsible for copying in or typing in items from a source to the company database... Show more	$12-18
   Data Entry Processor	A data entry processor is primarily in charge of performing data entry tasks in a company or office. Their responsibilities revolve around updating databases and spreadsheets, coordinating with different departments to gather data, conducting extensive research and analysis, and keeping an eye for errors and inconsistencies... Show more	$12-18

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Data Analysis
   • Data Entry
   • Data Collection
   • Customer Service
   • Data Management
   • Visualization
   • Patients
   • Data Lake
   • Data Quality
   • Project Management
   • Analyze Data
   • ETL
   • Statistical Analysis
   • SAS

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage the FAA's classify operations program.
   • Manage and prepare pharmaceutical records for multiple FDA audits.
   • Create UNIX and LINUX shell scripts to automate data migration process.
   • Create packages in SSIS to automate importing text files into a data mart.
   • Participate in data profiling activities and lead root cause / impact analysis sessions.
   • Manage offshore developers to support DBA operations.

   More data specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the data specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A data specialist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a data specialist in Idaho may be lower than in Connecticut, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level data specialist. Additionally, a data specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average data specialist salary

   $68,326yearly

   $32.85 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level data specialist salary

   $40,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 24, 2025

   Average data specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$87,041	$42
   2	Massachusetts	$85,757	$41
   3	New York	$83,991	$40
   4	New Jersey	$83,360	$40
   5	Pennsylvania	$80,103	$39
   6	Delaware	$78,748	$38
   7	Texas	$78,640	$38
   8	Illinois	$76,977	$37
   9	Maryland	$76,271	$37
   10	Georgia	$75,002	$36
   11	Washington	$72,692	$35
   12	District of Columbia	$72,416	$35
   13	Virginia	$71,445	$34
   14	North Carolina	$69,405	$33
   15	Florida	$67,028	$32
   16	Tennessee	$66,370	$32
   17	Ohio	$65,812	$32
   18	Arizona	$65,472	$31
   19	Minnesota	$63,058	$30
   20	Iowa	$60,817	$29

   Average data specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	McKinsey & Company Inc	$155,689	$74.85	65
   2	Apple	$132,872	$63.88	55
   3	Novartis	$128,821	$61.93	13
   4	Slalom	$127,222	$61.16	270
   5	Chevron	$126,467	$60.80	2
   6	Meta	$125,253	$60.22	587
   7	Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison	$122,766	$59.02
   8	Varian Medical Systems	$121,234	$58.29
   9	FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies	$120,787	$58.07
   10	Barclays	$120,741	$58.05
   11	Google	$120,557	$57.96	265
   12	Microsoft	$120,500	$57.93	101
   13	General Motors	$120,465	$57.92	109
   14	Avid	$120,121	$57.75
   15	Bloomberg	$119,301	$57.36	45
   16	Southern California Edison	$117,541	$56.51	18
   17	Mayo Clinic	$116,089	$55.81	3
   18	Bayer	$115,996	$55.77	26
   19	Mouser Electronics	$115,752	$55.65
   20	Yahoo	$115,510	$55.53

4. Writing a data specialist job description

   A job description for a data specialist role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a data specialist job description:

   Data specialist job description example

   Responsibilities

   Every day, Peraton's 18,000 employees do the can't-be-done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Join us in supporting our country's intelligence mission as a Data Loader Specialist in Chantilly, Virginia.

   Peraton is seeking a Data Loader Specialist to join a team of passionate professionals supporting an absolutely critical mission for our customer in Chantilly, VA. As a member of this team, you will support the men and women charged with safeguarding the American people and enhancing the Nation's safety, security, and prosperity.

   As a Data Loader Specialist you will provide full life-cycle data management for multimedia data. The Data Loader will receive physical media or data from physical media, identify and address data related concerns with data points of contact, legal, policy, security and CI as necessary. The Data Loader unpacks, inspects, and decomposes data into files using COTS forensics tools for specific data types and/or source of the data. The Data Loader moves extracted files between systems by specially configured routes while monitoring access and data flows during transfers. The Data Loader also disseminates data to various landing zones and databases for analysis by end users.

   Qualifications

   Required Qualifications

   • BS degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering Science, Business Administration or Technology Field and five years of experience in relevant lifecycle data management; 10 years of experience in lifecycle data management in lieu of a degree.
   • TS/SCI with poly clearance
   • Demonstrable experience with Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems.
   • Ability to work in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
   • Effective written and oral communications skills

   Desired Qualifications

   • Experience with FTK Imager
   • Experience with FTK, Encase, or other forensics tools
   • Experience with WinHEX or other hex editors
   • Experience with Tableau TD3 Forensics Duplicators
   • Experience with Logicube OmniClone Xi

   #LI-BS1

   Peraton Overview

   Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can't be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers.

   An Equal Opportunity Employer including Disability/Veteran.

   For Colorado Residents Colorado Salary Minimum: $81,000
   Colorado Salary Maximum: $196,600
   
   The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position, and is just one component of Peraton's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition, Peraton provides a variety of benefits to employees.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find data specialists for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any data specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level data specialists with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your data specialist job on Zippia to find and recruit data specialist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit data specialists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new data specialist

   Once you've selected the best data specialist candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new data specialist first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a data specialist?