How to hire a software analyst

How to hire a software analyst, step by step

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

What does a software analyst do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the software analyst you need to hire. Certain software 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 software 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 software analyst that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of software analysts.

   Type of Software Analyst	Description	Hourly rate
   Software Analyst	Computer systems analysts study an organization’s current computer systems and procedures and design information systems solutions to help the organization operate more efficiently and effectively. They bring business and information technology (IT) together by understanding the needs and limitations of both.	$29-47
   Applications Analyst	An applications analyst is a professional hired by a company to administer, monitor, and maintain all its software infrastructure and applications. Applications analysts must ensure the integrity and safety of all data and applications so that the company business can run smoothly and succeed... Show more	$27-52
   Software Design Engineer	A software design engineer or SDE is part of a software development enterprise. Software design engineers determine the problems or issues and figure out how to establish programs to ease and automate the situations... Show more	$35-62

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Java
   • C++
   • Software Development
   • Troubleshoot
   • Test Data
   • Scrum
   • SQL Server
   • Test Cases
   • Business Process
   • Web Services
   • Jira
   • Data Analysis
   • Linux
   • HTML

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead detailed level requirement (DLR), CCL and UI sync up.
   • Contribute to implementing microservices used to manage entities and maintain a synchronize state between supplier and distributor.
   • Provide testing support to meet DITSCAP, DII COE, JTA-A, and DoD standards.
   • Implement the controller using J2EE (Servlets).
   • Design and develop the infrastructure for the API product line.
   • Net API development to replace VB6 code and simplify customer facing interfaces.

   More software analyst duties

3. Make a budget

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

   Average software analyst salary

   $78,400yearly

   $37.69 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level software analyst salary

   $61,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average software analyst salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$98,242	$47
   2	Washington	$90,406	$43
   3	New York	$89,440	$43
   4	District of Columbia	$87,849	$42
   5	Maryland	$84,675	$41
   6	New Jersey	$83,493	$40
   7	Pennsylvania	$81,636	$39
   8	Massachusetts	$81,032	$39
   9	Virginia	$80,254	$39
   10	Minnesota	$79,871	$38
   11	Oklahoma	$79,491	$38
   12	Texas	$76,171	$37
   13	Illinois	$75,979	$37
   14	Connecticut	$75,755	$36
   15	South Dakota	$74,464	$36
   16	Ohio	$73,441	$35
   17	Iowa	$72,409	$35
   18	Georgia	$71,018	$34
   19	Florida	$68,657	$33
   20	Nebraska	$66,374	$32

   Average software analyst salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	ConocoPhillips	$118,172	$56.81
   2	Cantaloupe	$111,587	$53.65
   3	Signature Bank	$109,893	$52.83
   4	Rockstar Games	$108,469	$52.15	6
   5	Grainger	$108,102	$51.97	4
   6	Citi	$107,821	$51.84	90
   7	William Blair	$107,268	$51.57	1
   8	Ascend Analytics	$103,836	$49.92
   9	Booz Allen Hamilton	$103,140	$49.59	223
   10	TSYS	$101,258	$48.68	5
   11	The Dow Chemical Company	$100,436	$48.29
   12	Everyday Health	$99,618	$47.89	1
   13	FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies	$99,154	$47.67	2
   14	NTT Europe Ltd	$99,040	$47.62	62
   15	The Wonderful Company	$98,686	$47.45	1
   16	General Electric	$98,274	$47.25	256
   17	Mercury Insurance	$98,256	$47.24	14
   18	Amdocs	$97,620	$46.93	5
   19	Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$95,718	$46.02	2
   20	Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan	$93,769	$45.08	3

4. Writing a software analyst job description

   A software 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 a software analyst job description:

   Software analyst job description example

   Software Analyst
   
   Location: Oklahoma City, OK
   
   Duration: Full Time
   
   Salary: $Market with Benefits
   
   Requirements
   
   Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
   
   Develop custom queries by examining databases in Toad or MySQL Workbench to extract data using Structured Query Language that fulfills the needs of customer requirements and follows established business rules
   
   Support the creation of ACH files (routing information) and ensure the correct totals are transmitted to the banks every day. Solve critical payroll stopping issues through the development of data updates using MySQL and PHP
   
   Assist Production staff with printing client payroll checks every day and troubleshoot all issues quickly so that all checks can be shipped on time to all clients
   
   Develop custom internal software applications using PHP Storm and MS Visual Studio that increase the productivity of the Application Support team and provide useful information to all business units
   
   Create and run custom reports through custom, in-house tools like our Alert Center to support business needs
   
   Tackle challenging technical problems/data issues by taking tickets within our KACE Incident System, working through the problems with the submitter, analyzing data through TOAD or MySQL Workbench, creating a custom solution to fit the user's need and working with Quality Assurance to get it tested
   
   Analyze system data in Toad or MySQL Workbench in order to build profiles requested by internal business units, maintain the high quality standards of clients data and generate reports/analytics as needed
   
   Monitor and control 24/7/365 processes through Control-M automation software and analyze generated logs to troubleshoot potential problems with developers
   
   Support all software applications after deployment to customers and business units
   
   Document resolutions to technical problems clearly that expand the team's working knowledge and shortens future resolution times
   
   Business process mapping and blueprinting system architecture to expanding the working knowledge of the Application Support team. Requires knowledge of Business Process Modeling Notation (BMNP) and Visio.
   
   Assist Development and Quality Assurance with testing new and enhanced software modules by providing useful feedback on functionality and data output.
   
   Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
   
   Familiarity with programming languages, like C++, PHP, HTML, .NET and Java
   
   Exposure to database and query design tools, like MYSQL, Oracle, or Toad
   
   Experience as a Systems Analyst or Application Support Specialist (desired)
   
   Knowledge of payroll business software applications (desired)
   
   Excellent analytical skills
   
   A good problem-solving attitude and a desire to take on challenges
   
   Ability to multitask and meet deadlines.
   
   Benefits
   
   Note: If interested please send your updated resume and include your salary requirement along with your contact details with a suitable time when we can reach you. If you know of anyone in your sphere of contacts, who would be a perfect match for this job then, we would appreciate if you can forward this posting to them with a copy to us.
   
   We look forward to hearing from you at the earliest!

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find software analysts for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any software analysts they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level software analysts with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

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

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting software 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.

   If your interviews with software analyst applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you 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 software analyst

   Once you've found the software 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.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new software analyst. 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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