You posted a GIS analyst or geospatial analyst role and the pipeline is thin. Most applicants know the software but have never run real imagery against a real deadline. The ones who have that depth are expensive, already employed, or both. So the role sits open while your project timeline slips.

There is a talent pool most GIS and geospatial firms walk right past. The military runs one of the largest geospatial operations on the planet. It trains analysts to read imagery, build terrain products, and turn raw collection into decisions that matter. These people exist in real numbers. They just do not call themselves "GIS analysts" on day one.

This guide is written for the hiring side. If you run a midsize GIS shop, a geospatial services firm, a mapping company, or a defense-adjacent imagery team, here is how to find these veterans, read their experience, and move fast enough to land them before someone else does.

Why are veterans a strong fit for geospatial roles?

Geospatial work in the military is not a side job. It is a career field with deep training pipelines and high standards. The military feeds national, theater, and tactical operations with geospatial products every single day.

An Army Geospatial Intelligence Imagery Analyst, for example, works with aerial and overhead imagery. They analyze radar, infrared, LIDAR, and spectral imagery. They interpret full-motion video. That is the same core skill set a commercial imagery analyst uses, just pointed at a different mission.

The fit goes past software. These analysts are trained to deliver under pressure with consequences attached. They document their work. They brief decision-makers in plain language. They handle classified and sensitive data the right way. For a midsize firm, that mix is hard to find and expensive to train from scratch.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that veteran unemployment was 3.5 percent in 2025. Skilled analysts in this field do not stay on the market long. If your pipeline is thin, the cause is usually how you are searching, not whether the people exist.

Which military backgrounds map to GIS and geospatial roles?

This is where most hiring teams get stuck. The job codes look nothing like a civilian title. So a great match gets passed over because the resume says "imagery analyst" instead of "geospatial analyst." Here is how the main backgrounds line up.

Survey and engineer backgrounds belong in this pool too. Many Army and Marine engineers run survey equipment, GPS collection, and mapping tasks. They speak the language of coordinates, datums, and field accuracy. That maps cleanly to land survey, mapping, and field GIS roles.

One more reason these backgrounds matter: many of these analysts hold or have held a security clearance. Imagery and geospatial intel jobs often require Top Secret access. If your firm does any government or defense-adjacent work, an active or recent clearance is a real asset and can save you months of waiting. Treat it as a bonus, not a guarantee, since clearance status changes and depends on the role.

How do you read a geospatial veteran's resume?

The resume will be full of military terms. Your job is to translate, not to screen out. A clean civilian-sounding resume often means the veteran got good coaching. A rough one can hide a far stronger analyst. Read for the work, not the polish.

Watch for the signal words. "GEOINT" means geospatial intelligence. "Imagery exploitation" means analyzing imagery to pull out useful information. "Full-motion video analysis" is real-time video intel work. "Terrain analysis" is exactly what it sounds like. These all translate to commercial geospatial tasks.

A note on your hiring tools. An applicant tracking system racks and stacks resumes by keyword match. It does not "reject" anyone on its own. A strong veteran who wrote "imagery analyst" instead of "GIS analyst" will rank low and sink to the bottom of the list. Search both the military terms and the civilian terms, or you will miss your best matches.

Where do you find geospatial veterans?

You will not find many of these analysts by reposting the same job ad and waiting. The strong ones are often still in uniform or just out, and they move fast. You have to go where they are.

SkillBridge is worth a hard look for geospatial roles. The internship lets you watch a real analyst run real tasks before you commit. For a midsize firm that cannot afford a bad hire, that trial period is the lowest-risk way to add geospatial talent. The Department of Labor also keeps an employer guide for hiring veterans that covers the basics worth knowing.

What should a midsize firm change to win these hires?

Big defense primes already run veteran-hiring programs with full-time recruiting teams. A midsize GIS or geospatial firm does not need that. You need a few small changes that remove friction. The talent is reachable. Most firms just make it harder than it has to be.

Start with the job posting. Drop the wall of required years and pile of preferred certifications. List the actual work the person will do. A geospatial veteran reads "you will analyze imagery and build map products on deadline" and knows instantly whether they fit. They cannot decode "5+ years GIS experience preferred" against a military career that never used that phrase.

Brief your hiring manager on military understatement. Veterans tend to downplay what they did. "Helped support imagery tasking" might mean they ran the whole product line for a deployed unit. Ask follow-up questions about scope and volume. Do not take the modest version at face value.

Then look at certifications the right way. A geospatial veteran may not hold a commercial GIS certificate yet. But they have run the software in production for years. Hire on the demonstrated skill and let them pick up the paper credential after they start. The reverse, screening out a proven analyst for a missing cert, costs you the hire.

What about compliance and clearance details?

Two areas need a clear head: clearance handling and hiring rules. Neither is hard, but both reward getting the facts right.

On clearances, do not assume. A veteran who held Top Secret access on active duty may have a clearance that is current, in a grace period, or lapsed. The rules depend on the agency, the time since last access, and the role. Confirm status with the candidate and your facility security officer rather than guessing. Treat a clearance as a strong plus, not a checkbox you can promise.

If your firm does government work and you want help reading clearance terms on a resume, BMR has an employer guide on how to read a security clearance on a resume. For sourcing the cleared analysts directly, our guide on finding cleared veteran talent for defense roles covers the channels that work.

On hiring rules, the basics are simple. You can recruit veterans on purpose and you can prefer veteran experience. You cannot screen people out based on protected status. Keep your screening tied to the skills the role needs. This is general guidance, not legal advice, so loop in your own counsel for your specific situation.

Geospatial work also overlaps with adjacent fields you may be hiring for at the same time. If you run imagery, sensor, or drone-based collection, our guide on hiring veterans for drone and UAS operations is a close companion. For the broader analytic side, see hiring veterans for data and analytics roles.

What can a geospatial veteran do beyond basic GIS?

Most firms hire a GIS analyst to make maps and run spatial queries. A military-trained analyst usually does more than that. The training spans the whole intel cycle, not just the production step. That extra range is value you may not be pricing in.

These analysts are taught to start from a question and work backward to the data. They figure out what collection they need, pull it, analyze it, and brief the answer. That problem-first habit fits roles where a map is the start of the work, not the end of it. Think site selection, change detection, pattern-of-life analysis, or environmental monitoring.

They also tend to be strong with sensor data beyond plain imagery. LIDAR, radar, multispectral, and full-motion video are normal tools in this field, not exotic add-ons. If your firm is moving into 3D mapping, drone data, or remote sensing, a veteran analyst can often run those workflows with little ramp-up.

There is a cost angle here as well. Hiring a generalist GIS analyst who has only made maps means you train them on imagery and sensor work later. A veteran often arrives with that range already built. One hire covers more of your roadmap, which matters when a midsize team cannot afford a person for every niche.

How do you build a geospatial pipeline this month?

You do not need a giant program to start. You need one good search and a process that does not stall. The analysts are out there. The firms that find them first are the ones that go looking instead of waiting.

BMR gives you a direct way in. Our veteran pool grows by over 1,000 new profiles every month, and the platform has built more than 60,000 resumes. That means a steady, fresh supply of veterans with real geospatial, imagery, and intel backgrounds, searchable by the skills you actually need.

Want to reach geospatial and imagery veterans directly? Reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool and start searching for the analysts you need.