Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Intelligence Consultant

🎯 Role Definition

The Intelligence Consultant synthesizes multi-source intelligence (OSINT, HUMINT, GEOINT, technical telemetry and commercial data) into actionable recommendations and strategic guidance for clients and internal stakeholders. The role requires advanced analytical tradecraft, data visualization and modeling skills, strong stakeholder management, and the ability to produce executive-level briefs, threat assessments, and competitive insights. The Intelligence Consultant supports decision-making across risk, security, market entry, mergers and acquisitions, supply chain resilience, and incident response scenarios.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Intelligence Analyst (government, military, or private sector)
Competitive Intelligence Analyst or Market Research Analyst
Cyber Threat or Security Analyst with OSINT expertise

Advancement To:

Senior Intelligence Consultant / Principal Consultant
Director of Intelligence / Head of Strategic Intelligence
Chief Intelligence Officer or Global Threat Intelligence Lead

Lateral Moves:

Risk Management Lead / Operational Risk Analyst
Corporate Security Manager or Threat Hunting Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead end-to-end intelligence assignments by defining objectives, designing collection strategies, coordinating multi-source collection (OSINT, commercial feeds, HUMINT, GEOINT, SIGINT where available), and delivering concise, actionable intelligence products tailored to executive, operational, and technical audiences.
Conduct comprehensive threat assessments and adversary profiling that synthesize behavioral, cyber, geopolitical, and economic indicators to quantify risk levels and recommend mitigation strategies for business units and C-suite stakeholders.
Develop and maintain prioritized intelligence requirements (PIRs) and tasking matrices aligned with client or organizational risk appetites, ensuring focused collection and efficient use of analytical resources.
Design and implement systematic OSINT campaigns using advanced search techniques, automated collection tools, APIs, web scraping, and open-source commercial datasets to discover vulnerabilities, threat actors, and competitive signals.
Produce high-impact written deliverables including intelligence briefs, situation reports (SITREPs), threat dossiers, competitive landscape analyses, due diligence memos for M&A, and post-incident lessons learned that drive timely executive decisions.
Create and deliver polished, executive-ready briefings and oral presentations that translate complex intelligence findings into prioritized strategic recommendations supported by data visualizations and scenario planning.
Build and maintain analyst-ready dashboards and visualizations (Power BI, Tableau, Kibana, Looker) to expose key indicators, trends, and early warning signals to stakeholders and decision-makers.
Perform adversary and campaign attribution analyses by correlating indicators of compromise (IOCs), TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures), infrastructure, and historical campaign patterns to inform defensive posture and attribution reporting.
Lead threat modeling and red-team style assessments to evaluate the resilience of physical assets, digital infrastructure, supply chains, and business processes against identified adversaries and systemic risks.
Conduct geopolitical, regulatory, and market impact analysis to inform market entry, supply chain diversification, and investment decisions; prepare contingency planning and scenario-based forecasts to inform strategic options.
Oversee HUMINT and vendor-based collection programs, including contracting, tasking, quality control, and integration of third-party intelligence into enterprise-level assessments.
Translate raw telemetry, logs, and sensor data into intelligence judgments by collaborating with data engineers and security operations teams to validate indicators, enrich datasets, and contextualize findings.
Advise incident response and crisis management teams during security incidents by providing real-time intelligence, threat actor intent analysis, targeted IOC hunting, and recommended containment and remediation strategies.
Design and implement intelligence processes, SOPs, analytic frameworks (e.g., structured analytic techniques, ACH, Analysis of Competing Hypotheses), and quality-control measures to standardize outputs across engagements.
Lead cross-functional workshops, tabletop exercises, and training sessions to elevate organizational intelligence literacy, teach tradecraft (OSINT, link analysis, source validation), and drive adoption of analytic products.
Manage client relationships and stakeholder communications by setting expectations, coordinating deliverables, and conducting periodic reviews to ensure intelligence outputs are aligned with operational objectives.
Perform competitive intelligence and market surveillance to identify emerging competitors, disruptive technologies, regulatory changes, and partnership opportunities that could materially impact strategy and revenue.
Conduct due diligence for strategic transactions by evaluating geopolitical, regulatory, sanctions, compliance, and reputational risks associated with counterparties, partners, or acquisition targets.
Maintain an updated repository of verified sources, SIGINT/IOC libraries, and actor profiles to speed analysis and enable rapid reuse across investigations and advisory engagements.
Mentor junior analysts by reviewing analytical work, providing feedback on tradecraft and writing, and supporting professional development plans to raise the overall quality of the intelligence product line.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives for intelligence tooling and automation (playbooks, enrichment pipelines, OSINT toolchains) to reduce time-to-insight and increase analytic throughput.
Ensure ethical collection, handling, and storage of intelligence data in line with legal, privacy, and compliance requirements, and lead reviews for data governance for sensitive sources.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Provide subject-matter-expert input into RFP responses, proposals, and commercial pitches to prospective clients.
Maintain situational awareness of industry-specific developments, threat actor innovations, and emerging tooling through professional development and community engagement.
Coordinate with legal, compliance, and HR teams on intelligence products that intersect with regulatory or personnel matters.
Assist in vendor selection and performance oversight for specialized intelligence tools, feeds, and managed services.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

OSINT collection and advanced internet research methodologies, including web scraping, API integration, social media monitoring, and darknet research.
Cyber threat intelligence tradecraft: IOC analysis, TTP mapping, MITRE ATT&CK framework, malware behavioral analysis, and threat actor profiling.
Data analysis and scripting: proficiency in Python (pandas, requests, BeautifulSoup), R, or equivalent for data manipulation, enrichment, and automation.
Database and query skills: SQL for data extraction, aggregation, and exploratory analytics from large datasets.
Data visualization and BI tooling: experience creating dashboards and reports in Tableau, Power BI, Kibana, or Looker to communicate intelligence insights.
Analytical frameworks and structured analytic techniques: ACH, scenario analysis, indicator development, and hypothesis testing to reduce bias and increase analytic rigor.
Intelligence tooling and platforms: experience with SIEM, TIPs (Threat Intelligence Platforms), geospatial tools, Maltego, Recorded Future, Splunk, or equivalent commercial/open-source platforms.
Report writing and brief development: ability to produce clear, evidence-backed intelligence assessments, M&A due diligence packages, and executive summaries.
Project management and stakeholder coordination: scoping, resource allocation, timeline management, and client-facing reporting.
Technical familiarity with network telemetry, logs, IOCs, and basic understanding of exploitation vectors and defensive controls.
Knowledge of compliance, sanctions screening, and regulatory risk assessment relevant to geopolitical and financial intelligence contexts.
Foreign language proficiency or experience interpreting foreign-language sources (preferred for region-specific roles).
Cloud and data engineering awareness: familiarity with AWS/GCP/Azure data services and basic ETL concepts to collaborate with engineering teams.

Soft Skills

Exceptional written and verbal communication with demonstrated ability to simplify complexity for executive audiences.
Critical thinking and intellectual curiosity to probe assumptions, pursue alternative hypotheses, and challenge conventional wisdom.
Stakeholder management and business acumen to align intelligence outputs with strategic objectives and commercial outcomes.
Strong attention to detail, source validation capability, and a commitment to transparent, evidence-based reporting.
Adaptability and resilience to operate under ambiguity, shifting priorities, and time-sensitive incident response scenarios.
Presentation and facilitation skills for workshops, briefings, and training sessions.
Ethical judgment and professional integrity when handling sensitive or classified information.
Team leadership, mentorship, and collaborative mindset to uplift analytical teams and cross-functional partners.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in International Relations, Political Science, Computer Science, Data Science, Security Studies, Economics, or a related discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Intelligence Studies, International Affairs, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Business Administration (MBA), or a related advanced degree.
Professional certifications such as GIAC Cyber Threat Intelligence (GCTI), Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), or equivalent are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

International Relations / Geopolitics
Computer Science / Data Science / Information Security
Political Science / Security Studies
Economics / Business Administration
Criminal Justice / Law Enforcement Studies

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–10+ years of relevant experience in intelligence analysis, competitive intelligence, cyber threat intelligence, consulting, or military/government intelligence roles.

Preferred:

5+ years of progressive experience delivering client-facing intelligence products or advising senior leadership, with demonstrated examples of driving measurable business or operational outcomes.
Prior experience in corporate intelligence, incident response, M&A due diligence, or working within or alongside security operations centers (SOCs) is strongly preferred.