Intelligence Analyst

On an intelligence analyst apprenticeship course, you’ll help identify patterns and trends to make sense of the information and data.

Whether working in the military, law enforcement, security, finance, or commerce, intelligence analysts look for patterns and trends to help them make sense of the information and data they deal with. 

In this role, you’ll be observing events and intelligence reports for issues of interest that need additional investigation. You’ll examine raw data, facts, opinions, points of view, and ideas from various sources, such as phone records, airline manifests, and surveillance recordings. Finally, you’ll bring them together, exploring, examining, and analysing data to provide intelligence.

You will interpret this intelligence by determining its significance and relevance, as well as identifying patterns and trends. For example, this might be concerning suspect individuals and organisations, problem areas, discrepancies, or information gaps.

You will provide verbal and written briefings and reports to assist an organisation in better understanding the threats, harm, and dangers that it confronts, enabling senior decision-makers to make informed choices.

This includes tax evasion, passport fraud, smuggling, organised crime, and military deployments. Other duties may include constructing a crime network map to help criminal prosecution and appearing in court to provide evidence.

What you’ll learn

On an intelligence analyst apprenticeship course, you’ll learn to:

• Engage with customers correctly to guarantee adequate knowledge of intelligence obligations and actively monitor ongoing intelligence demands, interacting with all levels of an organisation, the customer, and other interested parties to respond to requests.
• Recommend what information should be obtained based on observed intelligence gaps and/or send information requests to other organisations for data collection or analysis.
• Discover essential findings and prospects for further research, identify, evaluate, and interpret important information utilising organisationally appropriate analytical techniques such as diagnostics (links, patterns, and trends), scenario planning, and validating evaluations.
• Consider employing objective research and investigation of a topic to generate an unbiased, undistorted judgement that can survive debate.
• Produce high-quality written reports and confident verbal briefings and results presentations, using various approaches depending on the audience, available time, and organisational culture.
• Obtain client input on outcomes to be fed back into the Intelligence Cycle and used to enhance the collection, processing, and dissemination processes.
• Use existing and emerging IT (including digital) technologies to analyse, create, and disseminate intelligence products in line with organisational demands.

Entry requirements

You’ll usually need:

• Depending on the employer, but likely A-levels or equivalent qualifications or relevant experience.
• Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level before taking the end-point assessment.
• Be over 18 years of age
• Be a British citizen
• Have lived in the UK for the last three years
• Pass enhanced background checks
• Have a good level of fitness
• Pass a medical check

Assessment methods

The End Point Assessment consists of three distinct assessment methods: 

• Work-based project followed by a presentation of the work-based project
• Knowledge and skills test
• Professional interview

Duration, level, subjects and potential salary upon completion

Apprenticeship standard

More information about the Level 4 Intelligence Analyst Apprenticeship standard can be found here.

Apprenticeship end point assessment

For more information about the End Point Assessment Process, please read the Institute of Apprenticeships’ information page.