How to hire an investigative analyst

How to hire an investigative analyst, step by step

Here's a step-by-step investigative analyst hiring guide:

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

What does an investigative analyst do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring an investigative analyst, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or 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 an investigative 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 an investigative analyst that fits the bill.

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

   Type of Investigative Analyst	Description	Hourly rate
   Investigative Analyst	Police officers protect lives and property. Detectives and criminal investigators, who are sometimes called agents or special agents, gather facts and collect evidence of possible crimes.	$49-74
   Credit Officer	A credit officer is responsible for evaluating financial documents and account statements to determine the eligibility of an applicant for a loan option. Credit officers communicate with the applicant to discuss the loan process, explain the terms of service, and provide them alternative options that would fit their payment ability and loan needs... Show more	$40-94
   Credit Administrator	A credit administrator oversees the credit operations in a company, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. They typically conduct research and analysis, handle credit portfolios, perform credit risk assessments, monitor credit accounts, validate requirements, evaluate applications, and develop strategies to optimize operations... Show more	$15-50

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Criminal Justice
   • External Stakeholders
   • Anti-Money Laundering
   • Identify Trends
   • Management System
   • Law Enforcement Agencies
   • SAR
   • Strong Analytical
   • Secrecy
   • Bank Secrecy Act
   • PowerPoint
   • FinCEN
   • Financial Institutions
   • OFAC

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage a team responsible for an audit and complete overhaul of a lab after finding several critical HIPAA violations.
   • Manage reporting, investigating identity thefts, identifying account take over and AML, conducting compliance audits and account closures as needed
   • Manage the Medicaid provider exclusion and reinstatement monitoring and reporting activities to meet customer expectations and government requirements.
   • Provide QA oversight of corrective and preventive actions by reviewing and entering data into the CAPA system.
   • Increase focus on data privacy and breaches, HIPAA compliance, third-party due diligence and export controls.
   • Review ACH, wires and activity on accounts for suspicious activity.

   More investigative analyst duties

3. Make a budget

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

   Average investigative analyst salary

   $125,975yearly

   $60.56 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level investigative analyst salary

   $102,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 18, 2025

   Average investigative analyst salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$141,578	$68
   2	Maryland	$139,511	$67
   3	Alaska	$133,136	$64
   4	Washington	$129,769	$62
   5	California	$128,106	$62
   6	Nevada	$124,237	$60
   7	Connecticut	$123,341	$59
   8	Massachusetts	$122,542	$59
   9	Illinois	$122,220	$59
   10	New Mexico	$121,151	$58
   11	Michigan	$121,076	$58
   12	Texas	$118,219	$57
   13	North Dakota	$117,248	$56
   14	Minnesota	$117,030	$56
   15	Rhode Island	$116,919	$56
   16	Virginia	$116,516	$56
   17	Colorado	$115,260	$55
   18	Iowa	$115,036	$55
   19	New Jersey	$114,708	$55
   20	Missouri	$113,949	$55

   Average investigative analyst salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$133,548	$64.21	19
   2	CME Group	$127,434	$61.27	1
   3	MUFG EMEA	$126,620	$60.88
   4	City of Philadelphia	$125,907	$60.53	4
   5	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	$125,294	$60.24
   6	The New York Foundling	$124,732	$59.97	1
   7	Exact Sciences	$124,361	$59.79
   8	Deutsche Bank	$123,806	$59.52	2
   9	PayPal	$123,802	$59.52
   10	Guidehouse	$122,984	$59.13	5
   11	BNP Paribas	$121,846	$58.58
   12	eBay	$120,863	$58.11	1
   13	Microsoft	$119,026	$57.22
   14	Deloitte	$117,546	$56.51	347
   15	Northern Trust	$117,346	$56.42	1
   16	Goldman Sachs	$116,993	$56.25
   17	Rockstar Games	$115,752	$55.65
   18	Standard Chartered	$114,982	$55.28	3
   19	General Dynamics	$114,190	$54.90	37
   20	ZeroFox	$112,797	$54.23

4. Writing an investigative analyst job description

   An investigative 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 an investigative analyst job description:

   Investigative analyst job description example

   • Audit insider threat activities.
   • Recommend strategies for assessing inappropriate use of the Department's networks; research and recommend tools for monitoring employee computer use and assessing user behavior.
   • Provide support to DS criminal investigators.
   • Perform in-depth log analysis to determine trend, patterns, and suspicious activity.
   • Monitor, maintain, and operate the telecommunications firewall system; investigate abnormal phone activities.
   • Interface and coordinate with other U.S. Government, Intelligence Community, and Law Enforcement organizations performing insider threat auditing.

   #LI-LF2

   Qualifications

   Basic Qualifications - To be considered for this position, you must minimally meet the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed below:

   • Bachelor's Degree and a minimum of 5 years' experience required. An additional 4 years of experience may be substituted in lieu of degree.
   • Active Top Secret security clearance is required.
   • Possess CCNA, CEH, Cloud+, CySA+, GCIH, or similar certification.
   • Experience with digital evidence acquisition, user activity monitoring, and technical investigative analysis.
   • Experience performing insider threat analysis.

   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: $79,600
   Colorado Salary Maximum: $193,100
   
   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 the right investigative analyst for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with investigative analysts they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit investigative analysts who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your investigative analyst job on Zippia to find and recruit investigative analyst 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 investigative analysts, 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.

   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 investigative analyst

   Once you've found the investigative 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 equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new investigative 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 an investigative analyst?