How to hire an operations research analyst

How to hire an operations research analyst, step by step

Here's a step-by-step operations research 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 operations research analyst job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new operations research analyst
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an operations research analyst do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring an operations research 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

   Hiring the perfect operations research analyst 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 operations research analyst salaries for various roles:

   Type of Operations Research Analyst	Description	Hourly rate
   Operations Research Analyst	Operations research analysts use advanced mathematical and analytical methods to help organizations investigate complex issues, identify and solve problems, and make better decisions.	$23-54
   Statistician	A statistician is a professional who gathers data and uses mathematical techniques to analyze and interpret data and draw conclusions. Statisticians are required to develop survey questionnaires or reporting forms so that they can collect the data they needed... Show more	$28-57
   Data Scientist	A Data Scientist analyzes information from multiple sources in order to gain maximum insight that can give the company a competitive advantage. They work in different domains, including manufacturing, healthcare, education, and finance.	$36-71

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Operations Research
   • DOD
   • Python
   • Statistical Analysis
   • C++
   • Data Analysis
   • Data Collection
   • Visualization
   • MATLAB
   • Statistical Methods
   • Math
   • Emerging Technologies
   • Mathematical Models
   • SQL

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage strategic development initiatives in the branch banking area, using COBOL, TSO, and SAS.
   • Manage timely (business/technology) requirements gathering, project documentation, approvals from governance, QA testing and post-production validation.
   • Redesign the software architecture and develop the system with Java, CPLEX and SQL.
   • Establish price to win in compliance with DoD small business concerns.
   • Use of statistical software and SQL to analyze very large databases.
   • Prepare clear and concise PowerPoint project updates and presentations for high level executives.

   More operations research analyst duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, operations research analysts' average salary in arkansas is 53% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level operations research analysts 58% less than senior-level operations research analysts.
   • Certifications. An operations research analyst 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 operations research analyst's salary.

   Average operations research analyst salary

   $74,424yearly

   $35.78 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level operations research analyst salary

   $48,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 23, 2025

   Average operations research analyst salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$99,687	$48
   2	New Jersey	$93,578	$45
   3	California	$92,441	$44
   4	Virginia	$87,659	$42
   5	Washington	$87,565	$42
   6	Illinois	$86,293	$41
   7	New York	$86,034	$41
   8	Delaware	$82,838	$40
   9	North Carolina	$82,522	$40
   10	Massachusetts	$79,018	$38
   11	Pennsylvania	$75,794	$36
   12	Ohio	$75,334	$36
   13	Texas	$70,560	$34
   14	Arizona	$67,730	$33
   15	Oklahoma	$67,074	$32
   16	Nevada	$61,636	$30
   17	Indiana	$59,158	$28
   18	Georgia	$54,808	$26
   19	Tennessee	$52,417	$25
   20	Florida	$51,567	$25

   Average operations research analyst salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	The Citadel	$164,421	$79.05	15
   2	McKinsey & Company Inc	$141,584	$68.07	79
   3	Bain & Company	$137,052	$65.89	3
   4	A.T. Kearney	$134,240	$64.54
   5	Pacific Investment Management Company LLC	$134,124	$64.48	12
   6	Meta	$131,605	$63.27	798
   7	BP America Inc	$129,246	$62.14	6
   8	NVIDIA	$128,835	$61.94	38
   9	Goldman Sachs	$126,374	$60.76	7
   10	D. E. Shaw group	$125,568	$60.37
   11	Genentech	$124,855	$60.03	25
   12	Ernst & Young	$123,711	$59.48	355
   13	Google	$123,711	$59.48	247
   14	Better	$123,645	$59.44
   15	Alvarez & Marsal	$123,521	$59.39	64
   16	Boehringer Ingelheim	$123,345	$59.30	9
   17	PayPal	$123,012	$59.14	9
   18	Apple	$122,856	$59.07	84
   19	AstraZeneca	$122,538	$58.91	9
   20	Novartis	$121,897	$58.60	4

4. Writing an operations research analyst job description

   An operations research 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. Below, you can find an example of an operations research analyst job description:

   Operations research analyst job description example

   This application is for a 6-month student role from January - June 2023. The resume review begins in October 2022.
   
   R&D Governance (within the Strategy, Portfolio, Operations, and Communications [SPOC] department) has oversight and responsibility for leading stage gate portfolio governance committees, as well as leading analyses to (1) draw insights to address R&D senior management business questions, (2), inform pipeline portfolio planning and (3) support R&D strategic decision making. The team is responsible for driving crisp, high-quality decision-making within the governance model by ensuring decision-makers are provided with rigorous, fact-based quantitative and qualitative analysis. The team is responsible for effectively communicating governance committee and portfolio decisions to leaders across the organization (both inside and outside of R&D) as well as the R&D Project Teams.
   As a co-op, you may participate in some or all of the following tasks:
   
   The day-to-day operations of the R&D Governance forums, working closely with the Senior Manager of R&D Governance. This position will play a key role in support of the Technical Review Committee (TRC), including:Event management support for the Technical Review Committee (forum cadence, every other week), including the planning of meeting agendas, facilitating pre-meeting processes, preparation of decision memos, communication and distribution of decision memos, and tracking/follow-up on action items.
   
   Collecting, analyzing, maintaining, and presenting the data generated in these meetings.
   
   Developing and maintaining materials coming out from various continuous improvement initiatives that will serve as a communication and expectation tool for our stakeholders, e.g., FAQ list for TRC, Playbook, process flow diagrams, etc.
   
   Assist in maintaining and managing publicly available educational and training materials about the R&D Governance model, including contributions to the Portfolio Governance Archival and communication site.
   
   Solicits and implements stakeholder feedback to identify opportunities to leverage the site to provide increased value to R&D Project Teams, PDC Teams, EA Community, and other key business stakeholders both inside and outside of R&D (e.g., key external stakeholders include Finance, EEPC, WM Pipeline Management, PO&T Portfolio Management).
   
   This position will also support the development and execution of R&D governance surveys and data collection along with success criteria data and metric tracking.
   
   Contribute to Intra- and Inter-departmental initiatives to increase efficiency, find new ways of working, increase visibility for resources available across the organization and foster a culture of information and talent-sharing across R&D.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

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

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting operations research 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.

   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.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with an operations research analyst applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and 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 operations research analyst

   Once you've found the operations research 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.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new operations research analyst 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 an operations research analyst?