How to hire a decision support analyst

How to hire a decision support analyst, step by step

Here's a step-by-step decision support analyst hiring guide:

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

What does a decision support analyst do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your decision support analyst job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a decision support analyst for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a decision support analyst to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a decision support analyst that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of decision support analyst salaries for various roles:

   Type of Decision Support Analyst	Description	Hourly rate
   Decision Support Analyst	Computer support specialists provide help and advice to people and organizations using computer software or equipment. Some, called computer network support specialists, support information technology (IT) employees within their organization... Show more	$27-53
   Analyst	Analysts are employees or individual contributors with a vast experience in a particular field that help the organization address challenges. They help the organization improve processes, policies, and other operations protocol by studying the current processes in place and determining the effectiveness of those processes... Show more	$25-47
   Support	A support employee is responsible for assisting the business operations and responding to customers' inquiries and concerns regarding its goods and services. Support logs all customers' interaction and escalates potential complaints to the appropriate department... Show more	$11-25

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Data Analysis
   • SAS
   • Tableau
   • Financial Analysis
   • Cognos
   • PowerPoint
   • Statistical Analysis
   • Strong Analytical
   • Visualization
   • Decision Support System
   • Service Line
   • BI
   • Financial Data
   • Health System

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead development of MicroStrategy base reporting system that clearly highlight previously unclear revenue from different customer segments.
   • Resolve and troubleshoot system problems.
   • Assist in design and implementation of overall ERP system.
   • Provide primary help desk support to the SAS user community on all aspects of SAS programming, processing, and data.
   • Used BluVista terminal emulation software to access store order numbers to change status and to troubleshoot lock status's on orders.
   • Prepare and distribute bi-weekly payroll and statistical reports.

   More decision support analyst duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the decision support analyst job description is a good way to get more applicants. A decision support analyst 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 decision support analyst in Colorado may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level decision support analyst. Additionally, a decision support analyst with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average decision support analyst salary

   $81,227yearly

   $39.05 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level decision support analyst salary

   $58,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average decision support analyst salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$109,615	$53
   2	New Jersey	$100,893	$49
   3	New York	$100,684	$48
   4	District of Columbia	$98,193	$47
   5	Massachusetts	$95,802	$46
   6	Nevada	$95,721	$46
   7	New Hampshire	$93,500	$45
   8	Pennsylvania	$92,639	$45
   9	New Mexico	$91,375	$44
   10	Ohio	$89,331	$43
   11	Illinois	$85,088	$41
   12	Virginia	$83,709	$40
   13	Rhode Island	$83,173	$40
   14	Michigan	$81,513	$39
   15	Washington	$80,187	$39
   16	Florida	$78,927	$38
   17	Texas	$77,093	$37
   18	Arizona	$76,982	$37
   19	Indiana	$76,963	$37
   20	Montana	$76,771	$37

   Average decision support analyst salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$134,157	$64.50	41
   2	Google	$128,977	$62.01	4
   3	Apple	$126,088	$60.62	4
   4	Bed Bath & Beyond	$114,978	$55.28
   5	Chevron	$104,124	$50.06	1
   6	Citi	$97,534	$46.89	28
   7	Pfizer	$94,560	$45.46
   8	University Hospitals	$93,812	$45.10	1
   9	Sutter Health	$92,965	$44.69	31
   10	Air Products	$91,217	$43.85
   11	Cedars-Sinai	$90,399	$43.46	9
   12	SAIC	$90,367	$43.45	47
   13	Electronic Arts	$89,986	$43.26
   14	Dayton Children's Hospital	$89,115	$42.84	3
   15	Horry Telephone Cooperative	$89,087	$42.83	1
   16	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	$88,470	$42.53
   17	Eisenhower Medical Center	$88,207	$42.41
   18	University of Maryland Medical System	$87,856	$42.24
   19	Highmark	$87,374	$42.01	122
   20	ANSER	$87,302	$41.97	1

4. Writing a decision support analyst job description

   A decision support analyst job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a decision support analyst job description:

   Decision support analyst job description example

   About University Medical Center New Orleans
   
   University Medical Center New Orleans is the academic medical center of LCMC Health and the ultimate expression of a nearly 300-year legacy of serving the people of New Orleans and South Louisiana. With our academic partners, including Louisiana State University and Tulane University Schools of Medicine, we are training the next generation of healthcare professionals and leading research to find tomorrow's cures and treatments. From expert primary care and the widest variety of specialty care to cutting edge emergency care and the region's only Level 1 Trauma Center, UMC offers the area the widest breadth of healthcare services.
   
   Click here to view our state-of-the-art facility.
   
   We are looking for medical professionals who are just as passionate as we are about providing the best medical care in the safest environment. We are an equal opportunity employer that values diversity in the workplace. Whether you're a seasoned healthcare professional or just starting out, a career at UMC places you at the center of a dynamic community of providers, learners and staff with a singular focus on patient-centric care. We offer a state-of-the-art facility with breakthrough technology, and professionals committed to helping our community become healthier.
   
   About the position
   
   The Decision Support Analyst will assist leadership in collecting, analyzing, and projecting key operational, financial, and statistical information that can be continually measured against quantifiable, budgeted targets. This employee's main role will be to build data extracts and develop functional dashboards to meet the needs of all stakeholders. Additionally, the employee will aid in the preparation of annual budgets, pro formas, and service line P thus, providing and ensuring operational support necessary for the efficient and cost-effective management of hospital operations. Supports administrative functions such as business development, finance, budgeting, operations and data management.
   
   Requirements
   
   Bachelors Degree from an accredited college or university in Accounting, Finance, Business, or Data Analytics plus 1 year of experience with data manipulation and analysis.
   
   Must be able to perform data mining and analysis with minimal direction.
   
   UMC is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find decision support analysts 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 decision support analysts they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level decision support analysts 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 decision support analyst job on Zippia to find and attract quality decision support analyst candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting decision support analysts requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   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.

   If your interviews with decision support analyst applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 decision support analyst

   Once you've found the decision support analyst candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new decision support analyst. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

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 decision support analyst?