How to hire a program analyst

How to hire a program analyst, step by step

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

What does a program analyst do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the program analyst you need to hire. Certain program analyst roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   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 program 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 program analyst that fits the bill.

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

   Type of Program Analyst	Description	Hourly rate
   Program Analyst	Management analysts, often called management consultants, propose ways to improve the efficiency of an organization. They advise managers on how to make organizations more profitable through reduced costs and increased revenues.	$25-50
   Business & Data Analyst	A business and data analyst is a professional who specializes in utilizing different data-centered strategies in providing analytical services to a company or an organization. Their duties focus on conducting extensive market research and assessments, organizing studies using various techniques and approaches, gathering and analyzing data, performing risk assessments, and spearheading activities such as interviews and surveys... Show more	$26-48
   Business Operations Analyst	A business operations analyst is a professional who identifies and solves issues related to the performance of the business operations. Together with the management and engineering departments, business operations analysts must analyze and review a vast amount of data to identify business opportunities... Show more	$21-42

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Veterans
   • Program Management
   • Project Management
   • Logistics
   • DOD
   • Customer Service
   • Program Analysis
   • Data Analysis
   • Rehabilitation
   • SharePoint
   • Status Reports
   • HR
   • Data Collection
   • Financial Management

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Attain NIH seed money to coordinate activities to improve rates of screening for diabetic retinopathy.
   • Achieve an understanding of the funding policy for the NASA programs and relate it to the EVM reporting.
   • Manage staff of project controllers to perform monthly close, reconciliations, general ledger review and invoice generation.
   • Support and manage projects utilizing agile and scrum methodology.
   • Manage all technical documentation for PMI's certification program.
   • Clean up and debug code in Html, Javascript, Actionscript, and Ajax.

   More program analyst duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, program analysts' average salary in arkansas is 42% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level program analysts 51% less than senior-level program analysts.
   • Certifications. A program 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 a program analyst's salary.

   Average program analyst salary

   $75,039yearly

   $36.08 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level program analyst salary

   $52,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 14, 2025

   Average program analyst salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$97,038	$47
   2	Maryland	$93,911	$45
   3	California	$92,467	$44
   4	New York	$91,659	$44
   5	Washington	$89,519	$43
   6	New Jersey	$89,432	$43
   7	Massachusetts	$86,416	$42
   8	North Carolina	$83,588	$40
   9	Virginia	$82,025	$39
   10	Alabama	$80,493	$39
   11	Colorado	$79,163	$38
   12	Illinois	$76,612	$37
   13	Arizona	$76,305	$37
   14	South Carolina	$76,301	$37
   15	Minnesota	$75,735	$36
   16	Texas	$75,287	$36
   17	Missouri	$72,890	$35
   18	Michigan	$71,502	$34
   19	Pennsylvania	$70,136	$34
   20	Delaware	$67,001	$32

   Average program analyst salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Apple	$124,126	$59.68	75
   2	Meta	$123,417	$59.34	220
   3	Western Digital	$119,347	$57.38	3
   4	Google	$118,332	$56.89	162
   5	Genentech	$115,051	$55.31	3
   6	Infinera	$113,139	$54.39
   7	General Motors	$112,416	$54.05	17
   8	Varian Medical Systems	$111,619	$53.66
   9	Microsoft	$110,795	$53.27	115
   10	Edwards Lifesciences	$108,860	$52.34	44
   11	Mayo Clinic	$106,398	$51.15	14
   12	Extreme Networks	$103,832	$49.92	1
   13	Amgen	$103,739	$49.87	6
   14	HMSA	$103,633	$49.82	11
   15	Arc Aspicio	$102,284	$49.17
   16	Merck	$102,046	$49.06	1
   17	eBay	$101,944	$49.01	14
   18	Ford Motor	$101,280	$48.69	23
   19	Navistar	$101,101	$48.61
   20	International Trucks	$100,718	$48.42

4. Writing a program analyst job description

   A job description for a program analyst 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 a program analyst job description:

   Program analyst job description example

   Role Summary/Purpose:
   Member of HPA monitoring team responsible for monitoring activity of privileged accounts within the Synchrony environment.
   This position is remote, where you have the option to work from home. On occasion we may request for you to commute to our nearest office for in person engagement activities such as team meetings, training and culture events. To ensure the safety of our colleagues and communities, we require employees who come together in-person to be fully vaccinated. We're proud to offer you choice and flexibility
   Essential Responsibilities:
   Create and maintain advanced Splunk search Ability to convey data in a meaningful and concise manner Develop dashboards/metrics to present monitoring results to IT leadership team Work with IT stakeholders to review results of IT monitoring and identify gaps Perform root cause analysis for identified gaps and determine solutions to address gaps Track any corrective action plans generated during IT monitoring Review new/existing HPA access Investigate and respond to HPA AlertsTrack HPA violations Maintain documentation Perform certifications for HPA users
   
   Qualifications/Requirements:
   Bachelor's Degree in any discipline.Minimum 3+ years combined successful work experience as a system development programmer/analyst working across multiple IT/cross-functional teams.Ability to work independently and in a team environment Programmatic thinking Self-motivated; ability to multi-task with strong analytical skills Strong oral and written communication skills MS Office skills: Strong Excel, PowerPointFor Internal Applicants: Understand the criteria or mandatory skills required for the role, before applying.Inform your Manager or HRM before applying for any role on Workday.Ensure that your Professional Profile is updated (fields such as Education, Prior experience, Other skills) and it is mandatory to upload your updated resume (Word or PDF format) Must not be any corrective action plan (First Formal/Final Formal, PIP) Employees who have completed 18 months in the organization and 12 months in current role and level are only eligible.Level 8+ employees can apply
   
   Desired skills:
   Previous work experience in a regulated environment Experience in using Splunk
   
   Grade level: 09
   
   Job Family Group:
   Information Technology

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right program analyst for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

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

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit program analysts, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   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 program analyst

   Once you've found the program 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.

   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 program analyst?