Investigator Salem

Investigator 3 job at State of Oregon. Salem, OR.

Initial Posting Date: 12/18/2025 Final date to receive applications: 01/08/2026 Agency: Oregon Youth Authority Salary Range: $5,505 - $8,097 Position Type: Employee Position Title: Investigator 3

OREGON YOUTH AUTHORITY

INVESTIGATOR 3

Salem, OR - Central Office, Professional Standards Office

Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) is currently seeking an Investigator 3 to join the Professional Standards Office (PSO) in Salem, Oregon. Your role as the new investigator is to conduct investigations initiated by youth, their families, the Governor's Office, legislators, OYA Director, staff or others. You will investigate complaints related to citizen and youth conduct and allegations of employee misconduct as necessary.

• Conduct administrative investigations to evaluate staff, contractor and program compliance with OYA policy, procedure, key performance measures, as well as state and federal statutes and rules; ensuring investigative protocols are in accordance with applicable laws and rules.
• This position also serves as investigator into youth complaints and grievances, and youth / child abuse reports and allegations.
• Collaborate with HR to engage in joint investigations upon receiving youth complaints and allegations involving OYA employees.
• Gather and preserve evidence and conduct fact finding according to applicable laws, rules, policy and procedures.
• Conduct administrative computer forensic, cellular phone and other electronic investigations utilizing evidence gathering practices and forensic technologies including Cellebrite and the Forensic Toolkit.
• Complete investigation addressing each distinct issue and any new issues that arise during the investigation.
• Review incident reports, surveys, child abuse reports, and a variety of other formats for complaints against the agency, its employees, or contractors; with priority being placed on youth safety.
• Evaluate and analyze assigned complaints during a preliminary review to identify potential staff/program non-compliance, systematic, policy or management issues, as well as any potential legal issues that may be present and determine jurisdiction and course of action.
• Assist with providing reports and trend analysis to executive management, evaluating findings and recommending, training, policy and operational changes.
• Receive, review, and process abuse allegations and investigation requests that are received from our Youth Reporting Line as well as any that come in from the general public and community partners.
• PSO Investigators are the agency liaison with Law enforcement and DHS Investigators assisting in conducting allegations involving crimes in our facility and within OYA programs in the community

• This position is part of the state's management team.
• We may use this recruitment to fill future vacancies.
• Comprehensive and equitable base salary offer within the listed range based on your experience, skills and education. For more information on pay equity, .
• The salary range listed is the non-PERS participating rate. If you are already a participating PERS member or once you become PERS eligible, the salary range will increase by 6%. Please review the Classification and Compensation page for more details.
• This position receives annual increases on the anniversary date until the maximum of the salary range is reached.
• Please save a copy of this job announcement for your reference, as it may not be available for you to view after the job closes.
• This position is overtime eligible.
• This position is required to work from Central Office or within an OYA facility and is not eligible for hybrid or remote work.

• Four years of recent (within last ten years) full-time investigative experience which included conducting fact finding; collecting and preserving evidence according to the rules of evidence; examining records; locating and interviewing witnesses to verify or disprove claims of suspected law violations; and writing investigation reports sufficient for use at administrative hearings or in court. Examples of qualifying investigation experience are in areas such…