How to hire an investigations director

How to hire an investigations director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step investigations director hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The investigations director hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   An investigations director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, investigations directors from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of investigations director salaries for various roles:

   Type of Investigations Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Investigations Director	Producers and directors create motion pictures, television shows, live theater, commercials, and other performing arts productions. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain or inform an audience.	$29-64
   Program Supervisor	A program supervisor is a professional who coordinates and monitors the scheduling and technical performance of company programs. Program supervisors aid in negotiating contracts and are responsible for any contractual changes... Show more	$17-25
   Director Of After School Program	A director of after school programs oversees and directs childcare centers in communities. They take the lead in setting goals and guidelines, conducting research and analyses to identify the students' interests and needs, developing programs that provide recreational activities and academic support, supervising the recruitment and training of employees, and monitoring the daily operations to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently... Show more	$14-38

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Oversight
   • Law Enforcement Agencies
   • Ethics
   • Litigation
   • Fraud Investigations
   • SIU
   • Incident Response
   • Direct Reports
   • Medicare
   • Medicaid
   • Anti-Fraud
   • Internal Investigations
   • Loss Prevention
   • Risk Assessments

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage and maintain building security CCTV security cameras and issuing of access cards.
   • Manage SIU's arrears settlement program, negotiating offers, drafting justifications and executing agreements.
   • Manage a data analytics team spanning five locations as part of an FCPA investigation of an oil and gas services company.
   • Manage a proprietary POS transaction exception reporting and auditing process.
   • Task with the oversight of day-to-day operational flow of the 3rd party SIU investigations.
   • Spearhead global investigations of fraud and ethics violations in business units throughout the company.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your investigations director job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An investigations director can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, investigations directors' average salary in wisconsin is 52% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level investigations directors 54% less than senior-level investigations directors.
   • Certifications. An investigations director with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an investigations director's salary.

   Average investigations director salary

   $91,261yearly

   $43.88 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level investigations director salary

   $61,000 yearly salary

   Updated February 1, 2026

4. Writing an investigations director job description

   A job description for an investigations director 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 an investigations director job description:

   Investigations director job description example

   Ascend Learning is a national leader in data driven, online educational solutions for learners, educators and employers in high-growth, licensure-driven professions spanning healthcare, fitness and wellness, skilled trades, insurance, and financial services. We are passionate about accelerating learning while impacting job readiness, employment success and employee retention with the belief that our work changes lives.
   
   Our culture is intentionally results-driven and selfless with a relentless focus on our customers. We believe in trust, transparency, freedom, and responsibility with a commitment to meritocracy, inclusion, and diversity of thought. Continual investment in our over 1400 employees is also a core principle realized through ongoing professional development and providing opportunities to grow, develop and lead. Ascend Learning is headquartered in Burlington, MA with additional office locations and remote workers in cities across the U.S. and in the U.K.
   
   The Director of Exam Security & Incident Investigations is a new, strategic leadership position within our Innovative Learning Sciences organization at Ascend Learning. This role will drive the strategic direction around test security and remote proctoring for Ascend Learning. The role will advise on the design of technology-driven assessments, and work with leaders in R&D, T&O and Legal divisions to ensure strong exam security analytics and will respond to customer inquiries in these areas with a sense of urgency. The successful candidate will have a background in test security, integrity investigations, cyber security, or law enforcement.
   Responsibilities:
   
   * Lead Ascend's test security and proctoring teams and provide a single point of accountability for test security deliverables.
   * Define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions in key areas:
   * Partnering with the research and development, legal and sales teams to address client inquiries with a sense of urgency.
   * Test security investigations and remediation.
   * Maintaining a comprehensive, contemporary test security and content compliance program.
   * Skill development and behavioral change (e.g., scaling processes & policy updates (internally and providing client recommendations)).
   
   * Be a strategic partner on systems and content planning, accreditation services, and addressing clients' needs.
   * Collaborates with other teams withing research and development department and works directly with the product and technology teams to align test security strategy or direction with the overall goals of the organization. Develops policies, practices, and procedures that have a significant impact on the organization.
   * Advise and assist in the design of technology-driven assessment systems for automated reporting exam security analytics for internal teams and continuous improvement.
   
   Education & Experience
   
   * A minimum of ten years work experience, prefer a minimum of 5 years conducting studies within and outside the organization to ensure compliance and resolution for intellectual property theft, cyber security violations, or test content theft or misuse.
   * Minimum of a bachelor's degree in IT security, law-enforcement, or related profession.
   * Working knowledge/familiarity with content protection, information security, electronic evidence, network forensics, account authentication, identity verification, incident response, intrusion detection, fraud detection, behavioral biometrics, and account takeover protection.
   * Effectively present and communicate information in one-on-one and group situations to employees, to clients of the organization, and to executive leadership of the organization.
   * Experience working in a fast-paced environment and comfortable working in an iterative, user-driven design process (agile-like framework).
   * Experience with academic or professional ethics committee in allied health, nursing or medical educational program or high stakes testing programs will be a plus.
   * Qualified candidates must demonstrate and display all of Ascend's core values: passionate, selfless, courageous, inclusive, embracing change, and accountable.
   
   Location:
   
   Remote. This position will be part of a team based out of Kansas City. Travel is expected to be 10%.
   
   This position requires that the employee be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless an exemption has been granted by Ascend Learning for a religious, health-related or other legally mandated reason, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law. Ascend will accept all COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved or authorized for Emergency Use Authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or COVID-19 vaccines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
   
   Individuals are considered "fully vaccinated" (1) two weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series (such as Pfizer or Moderna vaccines); or (2) two weeks after a single-dose vaccine (such as Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine). Ascend Learning's current policy also requires that individuals visiting our offices be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
   
   In line with our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our employees, if we choose to interview you and you are fully vaccinated, we may invite you to interview in our office. If you are not fully vaccinated and we choose to interview you, we will arrange for a virtual interview.
   
   Ascend Learning, LLC is proud to be an equal opportunity employer (M/F/Vets/Disabled). No agency or search firm submissions will be accepted. Applications for U.S. based positions with Ascend Learning, LLC must be legally authorized to work in the United States and verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.
   
   #LI-MW1

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find investigations directors for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

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

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting investigations directors 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.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you 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 investigations director

   Once you have selected a candidate for the investigations director position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   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.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new investigations director. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

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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