Career Path

Frequent travel and reassignments to a variety of duty stations, occasionally including liaison assignments in foreign countries, are some of the unique opportunities that await a special agent.

A typical special agent career path, depending upon performance and promotions that affect individual assignments, begins with the first six to eight years on the job assigned to a field office. Newly-appointed agents may be assigned to field offices anywhere in the United States.

After their field experience, agents are usually transferred to a protective assignment where they will stay for three to five years. Following their protective assignment, many agents return to the field or transfer to a headquarters office, a training office or other Washington, D.C.-based assignment. During their careers, agents also have the opportunity to work overseas in one of the agency's international field offices. This typically requires foreign language training to ensure language proficiency when working alongside the agency's foreign law enforcement counterparts.

Special agents are usually hired at the GL-07 or GL-09 level, depending on individual qualifications and/or education. The full performance level for a special agent is GS-13. Selection for promotion for positions above the GS-13 level is competitive.