Work with us
We're always interested in sharp, professional investigators and support staff. If you can sit in a parked car for eight hours and still write a coherent report about hour seven, we should talk.
To apply, open a role below and click Apply online to complete the application and attach your resume and cover letter.
Surveillance Investigator Detroit, Michigan Covert field surveillance across Michigan (Ohio to follow). A flying-solo job for people who take ownership of their cases and pride in their work.
The job, honestly
You will sit alone in a vehicle for 10 to 14 hours, watching a door. Some days the door opens and you capture the footage that decides a six-figure claim. Some days the door does not open at all, and your job is to prove that with the same care. Both days matter. Both days end with a clean log, uploaded footage, and a report a defense attorney can stand on.
Nobody will be watching over your shoulder. That is the point of the job, and it is also the test of it. There is no supervisor in the passenger seat, no office to disappear into, no team to absorb a sloppy day. The case is yours: the planning, the positioning, the footage, the notes, the write-up. If that sentence reads like pressure, this is not your job. If it reads like freedom, keep going.
We work for insurance carriers, self-insured employers, and defense attorneys. Everything you produce is built to hold up in a claim file, a deposition, and a courtroom.
What you actually do
- Covert mobile and stationary surveillance in urban, suburban, and rural Michigan, with Ohio to follow once licensing completes
- Capture clear, steady, usable video and document activity in detailed time logs
- Follow subjects during mobile surveillance while staying legal, safe, and unnoticed
- Spot checks, neighborhood canvasses, and related field work
- Write accurate, objective reports: observations only, no exaggeration, no assumptions, delivered on deadline
- Upload and organize footage through our case portal, maintaining chain of custody like the evidence it is
- Edit deliverable video using Apple software (we teach our house format)
- Coordinate with management on strategy, then execute independently
What we provide
Everything. Company surveillance vehicles, all camera equipment, fuel cards, hotels on overnight assignments, and paid training through our internal academy. You bring judgment, patience, and a clean driving record. We supply the rest.
Compensation
- $21/hour, with overtime on the long weeks (there are long weeks)
The requirements that are actually requirements
- Valid driver’s license and a clean driving record, at hire and throughout employment
- Comfortable driving and parking for long stretches in any weather, day or night
- Physically able to stay alert and camera-ready through a full shift in a vehicle
- Frequent travel across Michigan, overnights included, sometimes on 24 hours’ notice
- Absolute confidentiality: you will hold client information, sensitive case files, and PII, and you will protect all of it. Loose lips sink investigations.
- Comfortable with smartphones, GPS, cloud systems, and file uploads; Sony Handycam experience is a bonus, not a requirement
Who does well here
Self-starters. People who take ownership so naturally that “who’s responsible for this?” is never a question with their name in the answer. Prior surveillance, military, law enforcement, insurance, or security experience helps. So does OSINT interest. But the trait we hire for is simpler: pride in work nobody watches you do.
The best surveillance investigators are not the loudest people in the room. Usually, nobody notices them at all. That is the skill.
About Ridgeback Investigations
Ridgeback Investigations is a Michigan-based, owner-operated investigations firm serving insurers, self-insured entities, and defense attorneys across Michigan and Ohio: surveillance, social media investigations, medical canvassing, and claims support. Small team, direct communication, every report reviewed by an owner. Fighting Fraud, Tracking Truth.