A Field Hearing Officer conducts administrative hearings in the field — often traveling to regional offices, claimant locations, or temporary hearing sites — on contested benefits, licensing, or regulatory matters. Combines the substantive work of hearing officers with significant travel and venue variability.
Most days can involve traveling to hearing locations, conducting hearings in office or hotel conference rooms, taking testimony from witnesses and parties, and drafting decisions in the evenings or on return travel days. The role pulls together logistics and substantive adjudication, and field officers often handle cases in remote or underserved areas where centralized hearings would be impractical.
The hardest parts often involve the travel demands — multi-day trips, evening writing, hotel-life rhythm — and the procedural challenges of off-site hearings. Equipment failures, witness no-shows, and venue issues land on the field officer to resolve in real time. Agency variance is significant: SSA, VA, state benefits agencies, and federal regulatory bodies each run different field programs.
People who tend to thrive here are adaptable, comfortable with travel, and self-sufficient when running hearings without much office support. If you want stable office hours or pure desk work, the road-warrior rhythm can wear. If you find satisfaction in bringing administrative justice to claimants who can't easily reach centralized offices, the role offers a particular blend of public service and operational autonomy.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
A Field Hearing Officer conducts administrative hearings in the field — often traveling to regional offices, claimant locations, or temporary hearing sites — on contested benefits, licensing, or regulatory matters. Combines the substantive work of hearing officers with significant travel and venue variability.
Median pay for a Field Hearing Officer is about $115K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $57K to $204K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Writing, and Judgment and Decision Making.
Most people in this role hold a professional degree.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 0.7% through 2034, with roughly 16,230 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Junior Field Hearing Officer, Claims Adjudicator, and Justice of the Peace.
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