Reports & Papers
from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Private Sector Intelligence Careers: Analyzing Job Titles and Professional Trends

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Introduction

If an aspiring intelligence professional types “intelligence analyst” into a job search, what might they find? Traditional government intelligence roles are discoverable online through domains such as intelligencecareers.gov with reasonably standardized titles. However, the job search would also produce a wide variety of private sector roles. Some of these closely resemble traditional intelligence positions, while others bear little relation to intelligence. 

The corporate world has a vast and growing array of intelligence and security roles that focus on geopolitics, risk, and security threats. These jobs are obscured under a bewildering array of terminology. The young aspiring intelligence professional would find a vast range of disparate jobs whose responsibilities range from analyzing threat actors to managing consumer pricing data. Roles listed as “intelligence” may prove to be purely economic or computer science positions, while other roles may prove to be classic intelligence positions without ever using the word intelligence. This poses challenges for students, young professionals, and former government practitioners looking to transition into corporate intelligence roles. Intelligence is professionalizing and evolving, as are the roles within it, and the array of jobs posted in this field have never before been systematically studied. 

At the Belfer Center’s Intelligence Project, we undertook a multi-year initiative to systematically track job postings in private sector intelligence, building a dataset of 425 intelligence postings. These positions appear in over 200 different organizations in multiple countries, reflecting the varied, international landscape of private sector intelligence. Our goal is to illuminate this landscape and to provide insight into skills and qualifications that private sector intelligence employers are seeking in their new hires. We also aim to encourage future research on an understudied domain that has implications for corporate security and national security. 

Key Takeaways

  1. Private sector intelligence jobs have a terminology problem. Many positions entitled "Intelligence Analyst" or similar have profoundly different profiles and responsibilities. Meanwhile, many positions do not have intelligence terminology in their titles but are quintessentially intelligence roles.
  2. While studying security or intelligence is valuable, there are many educational backgrounds that are conducive to intelligence employment. Studying security or intelligence is a useful gateway into these roles, with 58% of job postings citing security as a useful degree, and 47% mentioning intelligence studies. However, there are many other appealing educational backgrounds with relevance in this space, from studying business to a myriad of other areas such as journalism, finance, and computer science, as well as the importance of developing critical thinking and communication skills. Furthermore, language skills can be a gateway to intelligence work, with the most frequently mentioned being Spanish, Arabic, French, and Russian.
  3. Government experience is less of a prerequisite than expected. While having worked in the intelligence community, the military, or law enforcement is conventionally seen as an asset for corporate intelligence, the jobs data reveal a surprisingly low proportion of positions that actually mention this as helpful. A full 65% of the job postings made no mention of previous government experience, and only 2% specifically required prior government experience. This finding suggests a shift away from what historically had been a de facto job requirement. It continues to be an asset; however, the postings reveal a myriad of other backgrounds that can bring value to corporate intelligence.

 

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Recommended citation

Gaspar, Judit , Maria Robson-Morrow and Katherine Tucker. “Private Sector Intelligence Careers: Analyzing Job Titles and Professional Trends.” Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, January 31, 2025