How To Become A Principal Examiner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a principal examiner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a principal examiner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $35.7 an hour? That's $74,253 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 13,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePrincipal ExaminerUS Average

Salary

5.8

Avg. Salary $74,253

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.6

Growth Rate 21%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.35%

Asian 9.95%

Black or African American 6.74%

Hispanic or Latino 12.60%

Unknown 5.61%

White 64.76%

Gender

female 36.46%

male 63.54%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress Level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.4

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.0

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a principal examiner

Explore principal examiner education requirements

Most common principal examiner degrees

Bachelor's

73.7 %

Master's

17.2 %

Doctorate

5.1 %

Start to develop specific principal examiner skills

Skills	Percentages
Securities	21.94%
FINRA	20.42%
Financial Statements	17.64%
Business Lines	15.62%
Relevant Rules	6.87%

Complete relevant principal examiner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New principal examiners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a principal examiner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real principal examiner resumes.

Research principal examiner duties and responsibilities

Manage large ATF cases in coordination with other supervisors and field members.
Lead a team of ten examiners responsible for reviewing and evaluating taxpayer information and offers of compromise for overdue IRS payments.
Provide regulatory advice and reviews relating to compliance (including sanctions regimes), transactions, and litigation for depository institutions.
Review individual general ledger accounts and reconcile those accounts to subsidiary ledgers or statements.

Get principal examiner experience

Prepare your principal examiner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your principal examiner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a principal examiner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Principal Examiner Resume templates

Build a professional Principal Examiner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Principal Examiner resume.

Apply for principal examiner jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a principal examiner job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams