Signals Intelligence Analyst

The strongest civilian demand for a 2629 background sits in cleared analysis. Defense contractors and federal agencies hire all-source and SIGINT analysts, and the active TS/SCI is often a hard requirement that screens most applicants out before skills are even compared. That scarcity is what holds these salaries up.

Cyber Threat Intelligence and SOC analysis is the fastest-growing landing zone. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports a median wage of $124,910 for information security analysts (May 2024), with employment projected to grow 29% through 2034, much faster than average. The pattern-of-life and adversary-tracking instincts you built in SIGINT map cleanly onto tracking threat actors across network telemetry.

All-source and intelligence analysis roles with contractors and agencies pay well, though BLS does not track a standalone "Intelligence Analyst" occupation. The closest tracked analytic occupations give honest anchors: operations research analysts had a median of $91,290 and computer systems analysts $103,790 (BLS, May 2024). Data analysis is another natural move, with data scientists at a $112,590 median and 34% projected growth, because the core of the job is making decisions from incomplete data.

Be honest with yourself about geography. Most cleared analyst work clusters around the National Capital Region, San Antonio, Augusta (Fort Eisenhower), Hawaii, and Colorado Springs. If you are not near a cleared-work hub, expect to relocate or compete for a smaller pool of remote-eligible postings. Marines from adjacent fields such as 0651 Cyber Network Operator chase the same employers, and the cross-service equivalents at Army 35N Signals Intelligence Analyst and Navy CTR Cryptologic Technician Collection show how the same resume reads to a contractor recruiter. For a sense of where a cleared background carries the most weight, our guide to high-paying jobs for veterans with a security clearance is a useful read.

Federal service is the most direct path for a 2629, because the same agencies you supported in uniform hire the same analytic skill set as civilians. The anchor is the GS-0132 Intelligence series, which covers all-source, SIGINT, and target-development work across the Defense Intelligence Agency, NSA, the service intelligence commands, and the combatant commands. With staff NCO-level reporting experience and an active TS/SCI, a 2629 commonly qualifies at GS-9 to GS-12, with GS-12 reachable where you can document independent analytic production.

Beyond the 0132, several series reward the same background. GS-0343 Management and Program Analyst fits the requirements, tasking, and process-analysis side of an intelligence shop. GS-0080 Security Administration values your clearance-handling and information-protection experience. GS-2210 Information Technology Management and GS-0391 Telecommunications suit Marines whose SIGINT work leaned technical, into systems, networks, and the radio-frequency spectrum. GS-0150 Geography connects for those who worked geospatial or geolocation problems, and GS-1801 General Inspection, Investigation, Enforcement opens federal investigative roles that prize analytic rigor.

Veterans preference applies to most of these announcements, adding 5 or 10 points to your rated score, and the SSBI you already hold is a real cost an agency avoids by hiring you. Read each USAJobs announcement against the OPM qualification standard for the series and mirror its language. Marines targeting the same series include 0231 Intelligence Specialist and 0241 Imagery Analysis Specialist. Our walkthrough on how to write a federal resume covers the format these announcements demand, and you can start your federal resume now when you are ready.

If you are staying in intelligence, cyber, or cleared analysis, your terminology already translates. Contractor and agency recruiters know what SIGINT, all-source, and TS/SCI mean. This section is for 2629s targeting careers OUTSIDE the intelligence field, where a hiring manager has never read a SIGINT report and will not decode acronyms for you.

The move is to describe the cognitive work, not the classified subject. You analyzed large volumes of ambiguous data, found the meaningful pattern, and communicated a defensible conclusion to leaders on a deadline. Stated in plain business language, that is what corporate analysts, researchers, and writers are paid to do.

Before (military): Performed SIGINT analysis and target development, maintained communications order-of-battle files, and produced intelligence reports for the supported command.

After (civilian, non-field): Analyzed high-volume, fragmentary data to identify subjects and activity patterns, maintained a structured relational database of entities, and authored decision-ready written reports for senior leadership on daily deadlines.

The translation is the work that wins callbacks, not the experience itself. Our military-to-civilian resume translation guide walks through more examples, and the BMR military resume builder handles the rewrite for you. When you are ready to build it for real, you can get started here.