How to hire a negotiator

How to hire a negotiator, step by step

Here's a step-by-step negotiator hiring guide:

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

What does a negotiator do?

Post a negotiator job for free, promote it for a fee

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your negotiator 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 negotiator 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

   Hiring the perfect negotiator 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.

   The following list breaks down different types of negotiators and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Negotiator	Description	Hourly rate
   Negotiator		$16-54
   Business Development Internship	A business development intern is responsible for supporting the organization's goals and objectives in providing the best services to clients and ensuring a smooth flow of operations with maximum productivity and efficiency. Business development interns observe the operational processes of the department and perform duties under the supervision of a direct manager or tenured staff... Show more	$12-20
   Business Internship	In a business internship, the responsibilities will vary by the directives given by the supervising staff. However, one of the primary duties as an intern is to perform support-related tasks for the department or office where they are assigned... Show more	$12-21

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Financial Statements
   • PowerPoint
   • Nielsen
   • Loan Modifications
   • Foreclosure
   • Strategic Sourcing
   • Post Analysis
   • Lieu
   • Loss Mitigation Options
   • Strong Negotiation
   • Credit Reports
   • Isda
   • Outbound Calls
   • Financial Analysis

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage the sales per FHLMC guidelines to ensure the integrity of each sale.
   • Identify and select Medicaid manage care providers for contracting opportunities.
   • Manage expectations of DCMA / DCAA regulators and when necessary defend evaluated/negotiated positions.
   • Provide assistance with escrow questions pertaining to taxes and insurance.
   • Prepare and submit reports as required by the IDIQ contracts.
   • Initiate initial mortgage insurance claims on cases that are covered by PMI.

   More negotiator duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, negotiators' average salary in wyoming is 64% less than in new york.
   • Seniority. Entry-level negotiators 69% less than senior-level negotiators.
   • Certifications. A negotiator 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 a negotiator's salary.

   Average negotiator salary

   $63,632yearly

   $30.59 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level negotiator salary

   $35,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 12, 2025

   Average negotiator salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$119,723	$58
   2	Connecticut	$111,470	$54
   3	New Jersey	$111,064	$53
   4	Massachusetts	$103,739	$50
   5	Pennsylvania	$95,941	$46
   6	West Virginia	$93,686	$45
   7	North Carolina	$91,079	$44
   8	California	$88,829	$43
   9	Texas	$79,249	$38
   10	Illinois	$76,894	$37
   11	Georgia	$73,264	$35
   12	Washington	$67,991	$33
   13	Florida	$67,136	$32
   14	Alabama	$62,123	$30
   15	Arizona	$59,590	$29
   16	Minnesota	$48,284	$23
   17	Iowa	$46,089	$22
   18	Colorado	$45,506	$22

   Average negotiator salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Bloomberg	$151,320	$72.75	3
   2	BP America Inc	$143,142	$68.82
   3	Google	$119,284	$57.35	36
   4	Morgan Stanley	$115,737	$55.64	5
   5	Nomura Securities	$97,945	$47.09
   6	Omnicom Media Group	$96,680	$46.48	1
   7	B & P Enterprises	$96,655	$46.47
   8	Occidental Petroleum	$95,707	$46.01
   9	HCSC	$93,477	$44.94
   10	City of Seattle	$92,432	$44.44
   11	City of Louisville	$89,709	$43.13
   12	GroupM	$85,943	$41.32
   13	West Virginia University	$84,850	$40.79
   14	Wpp Us Holdings Inc	$83,757	$40.27	3
   15	Zenith	$82,786	$39.80
   16	BayCare Health System	$81,075	$38.98	1
   17	Blue Cross & Blue Shield	$78,542	$37.76
   18	ConocoPhillips	$78,538	$37.76	2
   19	Purple Land Management	$77,851	$37.43
   20	ForwardPMX	$76,423	$36.74

4. Writing a negotiator job description

   A negotiator 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 negotiator job description:

   Negotiator job description example

   Minimum qualifications:
   
   + 5 years of experience in network asset negotiations and planning, including expertise in dark fiber, bandwidth services, layer 3 interconnect, and data centers.
   
   + Experience in performing data-driven network availability and resiliency analysis.
   
   Preferred qualifications:
   
   + Ability to connect with industry executives to develop strategic relationships/initiatives.
   
   + Ability to negotiate complex contracts with vendors, partners, and suppliers.
   
   + Strong financial skills including network present value calculations, deal structuring, and return on investment analysis.
   
   + Ability to travel 25% of the time.
   
   Google's infrastructure needs go far beyond server computers. As Google's products and services scale the globe, the Strategic Negotiation team works behind the scenes to secure infrastructure for Google's future -- everything from underwater cables to physical data center space. As a Strategic Negotiator, you combine your deep market knowledge of a given sector with tech industry savvy to negotiate cost-effective solutions to support Google's infrastructure growth. You'll work with specific project teams on negotiating deals, managing vendor and partner relationships and presenting deal recommendations to our Tech leadership. Your successful negotiations have the potential to save Google millions of dollars in operating costs and impact every part of the business.
   
   Behind everything our users see online is the architecture built by the Technical Infrastructure team to keep it running. From developing and maintaining our data centers to building the next generation of Google platforms, we make Google's product portfolio possible. We're proud to be our engineers' engineers and love voiding warranties by taking things apart so we can rebuild them. We keep our networks up and running, ensuring our users have the best and fastest experience possible.
   
   Additional Information:
   
   (Colorado only*) Minimum full-time salary range between $147,000 - $158,000 + bonus + equity + benefits.
   
   *Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085 (8-5-20) of the minimum salary compensation for this role when being hired into our offices in Colorado.
   
   + Develop long-term relationships with key commercial partners including telecommunications companies, network carriers, and colocation operators for the purpose of managing the strategies of asset acquisition, edge-network penetration, and Google Cloud partnerships.
   
   + Negotiate and implement commercial frameworks that allow predictable and efficient delivery of assets, to meet Google's portfolio of products and services.
   
   + Identify, evaluate, and acquire metro and long haul dark fiber assets. Design and build a new infrastructure solution through joint projects or independently.
   
   + Coordinate with global planning terms to develop strategic roadmaps that guide long-term asset acquisition strategies.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right negotiator 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 negotiators they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit negotiators 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 negotiator job on Zippia to find and recruit negotiator candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting negotiators 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. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   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 negotiator

   Once you've found the negotiator 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.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is 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 negotiator?