◆ Forensic Science

What an e discovery analyst
really does.

20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.

20evidenced tasks
63,850in the US (2025)
$117,330median pay / year
7systems it runs on
See the 20 tasks ↓Open in the atlasThe full career map →
This is what one task looks like here
Study economic and business trends
Review macroeconomic indicators and sector earnings for the past five …2 sources agree

The shape of the day

tap a movement to see its tasks

Which one is you, right now?

Pick the moment · no score, no sign-up
Which moment is you right now?
Whichever you pick, the task behind it opens below.

The work, task by task

20 tasks
Hands on the work16
Study economic and business trends+
Review macroeconomic indicators and sector earnings for the past five years, identify emerging business trends that could affect credit portfolios, flag three themes with supporting charts and a one-page briefing for the risk committee by next Wednesday.
jdonet2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Track and report on market risk aspects+
Compile daily market risk metrics and limit breaches for the trading book this month, summarise exposures by risk factor, highlight any concentrations and proposed mitigations, then circulate a two-page dashboard to the head of risk by Friday noon.
jdonet2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Evaluate current and historical financial data+
Assemble and reconcile current and historical balance sheet and P&L items for the last three years, calculate trend ratios and stress-test results, and deliver a reconciled dataset plus a one-page executive summary to the credit lead on Monday.
jdonet2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Prepare written risk assessment reports+
Draft a risk assessment report that explains the methodology, quantifies key risks with recent data, rates residual risk, and lists three recommended controls; send the signed PDF to the litigation team and place the working file in the team folder by Thursday.
jdonet2 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Recommend ways to control or reduce risk+
Review the last six months of document review metrics and custodial issues, identify top three recurring sources of disclosure risk, propose three practical controls tied to policy and expected savings, and circulate recommendations to Legal Ops and the General Counsel by Friday.
escojdonet3 agree
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Care for fraud prevention+
Review transaction logs and credit decision records for the last six months, flag patterns consistent with synthetic identity or account takeover, run stress scenarios on flagged accounts, document the evidence and recommended holds for the fraud team by Wednesday.
esco
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Analyze business deals+
Produce a deal-level analysis of the last quarter’s business acquisitions, identify concentrations by counterparty and sector, calculate stress losses under the credit policy scenarios, and deliver a one-page summary with data tables to the risk committee on Friday.
esco
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Evaluate the risks and benefits involved in implementing green building technologies.+
Assess the operational and legal risks versus cost and energy savings of installing solar panels, heat-recovery systems and low-VOC materials across our Chicago office portfolio, producing a one-page risk/benefit memo for the facilities director by next Tuesday.
onet
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
Grow the practice2
Watch and assess2

What the work runs on

named inside the evidenced tasks
12 tasksMicrosoft Exceltime series analysis, charting, and scenario tables for trend identification and briefing prepOpen its task library →
4 tasksGoogle Docscollaborative drafting, version control and export to PDF for distribution
4 tasksIBM SPSS Statisticsdevelop and test statistical risk-assessment models and run stress scenario simulations
1 taskLinuxrun scripts to extract and pre-process large log files before analysis
1 taskApache Hiveinspect and cleanse large incoming data feeds using query-based validation and deduplication
1 taskMicrosoft Azurehosts and indexes large enterprise data stores and supports e‑discovery collection workflows
1 taskAmazon Web Services AWSstores and retrieves large hosted datasets and audit logs needed to validate custodial inventories
Browse every evidenced software task →

The same task, four heights

this page is height one
ExecuteDo today's task, with fewer mistakesyou are here → ImproveMake it easy for the next person to acceptin the atlas → DecideWork out the right move when it is unclearin the atlas → BecomeLearn the pattern so it stops coming backin the atlas →

Can AI actually do this job?

the honest answer

It can

where it genuinely helps
  • Explain the theory behind the work
  • Draft, tidy and structure your writing
  • Rehearse a hard conversation before you have it
  • Build a study plan that fits your gaps

It cannot

where it stops, completely
  • Be in the room where an e discovery analyst actually works
  • Carry the responsibility when the call is wrong — that weight stays yours
  • Notice what no one wrote down: the hesitation, the thing left unsaid
  • Live with the outcome

What the work pays

two countries, two different measures

United States

this exact occupation · BLS 2025
  • $117,330 a year — the middle: half earn more, half earn less
  • The lowest tenth earn near $64,820; the top tenth near $196,110
  • 63,850 people employed in this occupation

India

the occupation GROUP, not this job · PLFS via ILOSTAT 2025
  • ₹26,152 a month — the median for Technicians and associate professionals, the group this work sits in
  • India publishes pay by broad occupation group, so this covers many jobs besides this one. It is a shape, not a salary.
read this carefullyThese two numbers are not comparable and must not be converted into each other. One is a yearly figure for this job alone; the other is a monthly figure for a whole family of jobs. What travels between them is the pattern, not the amount: experience lifts pay almost everywhere.

Where the evidence lives

open any of it yourself
O*NETThe US Department of Labor's own record of this job11 of these tasks ESCOThe European skills and occupations register4 of these tasks Job descriptionsReal postings, in the wild12 of these tasks US Bureau of Labor StatisticsPay and employment, by occupation2025 figures UK NOS SFJPS6.4.5Draw up risk profile of businesses and/or individualsnational standard UK NOS CFABCM002Conduct a Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessmentnational standard

Close to this work

12 nearby
Forensic ScienceCourt Liaison Officer26 evidenced tasks Forensic ScienceForensic Photographer22 evidenced tasks Forensic ScienceForensic Nurse Examiner22 evidenced tasks Forensic SciencePrivate Investigator22 evidenced tasks Forensic ScienceProperty Room Custodian21 evidenced tasks Forensic ScienceSketch Artist21 evidenced tasks Forensic ScienceFacial Reconstruction Artist21 evidenced tasks Forensic ScienceForensic Chemist20 evidenced tasks

Questions people actually ask

You review large sets of electronic documents, emails, and metadata for legal or risk questions. That often means running searches in systems like Apache Hive or AWS, exporting results to Microsoft Excel, and flagging relevant items.

You also meet with legal teams or company officials to clarify what to look for, prepare short written reports, and update trackers in Google Docs or Azure. Days shift between focused data work and quick meetings; expect several hours of hands-on analysis plus report-writing.

Start with Microsoft Excel—pivot tables, filters, and charts are used every day to summarize findings. Next, learn basic Google Docs for collaborative notes and report drafts.

After that, get comfortable with cloud platforms commonly used to host data: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Familiarity with Linux and SQL-like tools (Apache Hive) helps when you need to query large datasets.

An E-Discovery Analyst focuses on retrieving and reviewing electronic evidence for legal or compliance matters, not creating investment advice. You spend more time on document collection, metadata, and relevance rather than market forecasting.

Financial risk analysts study market trends, build risk models, and recommend investments. Some tasks overlap—like making charts in Excel or preparing reports—but the purpose and stakeholders are different.

Yes, AI can help triage documents, cluster similar items, or suggest relevance, especially when paired with search in Hive or AWS. Use it to surface likely documents, not to replace human review.

Risk: AI can hallucinate, miss context, or reveal sensitive data. Always validate AI outputs against original documents, keep an audit trail in Google Docs or Excel, and follow your legal team's protocols for confidentiality.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 2025, this occupational area had 63,850 employed with a median wage of $117,330 per year. The lowest tenth earned $64,820 and the top tenth earned $196,110.

Actual pay depends on location, employer type (law firm vs. corporation), and experience with systems like AWS, Azure, or Apache Hive.

Attention to detail. You must spot relevant facts in thousands of documents, preserve metadata, and ensure data quality in risk-management systems. Small errors can change legal outcomes.

Pair attention to detail with clear written reports—your findings often go to lawyers or executives who rely on accurate, concise summaries in Excel or Google Docs.