Roles › Chief Executive Officer › Chief Data (& Analytics) Officer › Analytics & BI › Internal Analytics

Analytics / BI

What does a Data Analyst do?

Analysts and BI developers who help the company's own teams make decisions.

High demand Team: Internal Analytics Reports into: Analytics & BI

What they actually do

Build and maintain dashboards for finance, sales, marketing, ops, HR, product.
Answer ad-hoc questions with SQL: "which region drove the drop?"
Define and monitor KPIs; investigate anomalies.
Run deep-dives: churn, funnel, cohort analysis, forecasting.
Translate between business language and data language.

Hiring demand

High demand. Large, steady volume of postings across industries. A realistic target for an active job search.

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Who they work with

Department leadersAnalytics engineersBI developersData science

Typical tools

SQLPower BITableauExcelPython or R (optional)

Skills to get there

SQL (non-negotiable)
One BI tool deeply
Statistics basics
Clear writing
Domain knowledge

Title ladder

Common titles for this role at each level. Companies vary; see Role titles decoded.

Level	Typical titles
Entry	Junior / Associate Data Analyst · Data Analyst I
Mid	Data Analyst · Data Analyst II
Senior	Senior Data Analyst · Lead Data Analyst
Expert (IC track)	Staff / Principal Data Analyst
Management track	Manager, Internal Analytics → Director of Internal Analytics → VP

See the free training path →

See current openings

Searching for: Data Analyst · anywhere in the US · change

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Opens the job board's own search; results and counts are theirs.

How to get here

Salary (US) as of 2026-11

Median$94K

Typical range$72K–$122K

Senior / manager$132K

Sources:

BLS has no analyst-only occupation; 15-2051 mixes data scientists in, so market sources sit lower. Tech pays at the top of the range.

Experience to get here

Entry level0-2 years

Typical title2-5 years

Bachelor's in any quantitative or business field is typical; postings often accept a certificate plus portfolio instead of a specific major.

Typical prior roles

Junior / Associate Data AnalystReporting AnalystFinancial AnalystBusiness AnalystCareer changer via bootcamp or certificate

Must have

SQL (joins, aggregations, window functions)
One BI tool deeply: Power BI or Tableau
Excel / Sheets for reconciliation
Basic statistics
Explaining findings to non-technical teams

Milestones people hit first

Built and maintained a dashboard a department runs its weekly meeting on
Answered an ad-hoc 'why did this drop?' question with SQL and a written summary
Defined a KPI and documented how it is calculated
Published a 2-3 project portfolio (Tableau Public or GitHub)

Certifications

Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate (PL-300)Microsoft

Preferredin postings: often

Exam fee	$165
Training	free Microsoft Learn PL-300 path; paid instructor-led course optional
Renewal	$0; free online renewal assessment every 12 months
Typical total	$165-400

Time: 6-8 weeks at ~5 hrs/wk
Prerequisites: none formal; Power Query and DAX familiarity expected

Power BI is the top BI tool in mid-market and enterprise postings; PL-300 covers model, DAX and service administration.

Google Data Analytics Professional CertificateGoogle / Coursera

Nice to havein postings: sometimes

Exam fee	not published
Training	$49/month Coursera subscription; most finish for under $300
Renewal	none
Typical total	under $300

Time: about 6 months at 10 hrs/wk
Prerequisites: none

Named as an acceptable 'relevant certification' in public-sector and entry postings; useful for career changers.

Salesforce Certified Tableau Data AnalystTableau (Salesforce)

Nice to havein postings: sometimes

Exam fee	not published
Training	free Tableau training videos; Trailhead
Renewal	annual Tableau maintenance badge on Trailhead (third-party report)
Typical total	$200-250 exam (third-party sources conflict: $200 + $100 retake vs $250)

Time: 3-4 weeks at ~5 hrs/wk
Prerequisites: none listed

Called out where Tableau is the house dashboard tool; the portfolio matters more than the badge.

Google Advanced Data Analytics Professional CertificateGoogle / Coursera

Nice to havein postings: sometimes

Exam fee	not published
Training	$49/month Coursera subscription; most finish for under $300
Renewal	none
Typical total	under $300

Time: about 6 months at 10 hrs/wk
Prerequisites: Google Data Analytics certificate or equivalent (SQL, spreadsheets, dashboards)

Python and statistics are what separate senior analyst postings from junior ones.

Training & learning

SQL Tutorial (foundational to advanced) FREE ThoughtSpot (formerly Mode) · course · free · 1-2 weeksSQL is in nearly every posting in this family; a free, browser-based path from basics to advanced queries.
PL-300T00: Design and manage analytics solutions using Power BI FREE Microsoft Learn · learning path · free (self-paced) · 3-day course; ~72 hrs self-pacedOfficial prep for PL-300: Power Query, data modeling, DAX and Power BI service administration.
Tableau free training videos FREE Tableau · course · free · about 1 hour of videos plus practiceFastest free path to a Tableau Public portfolio dashboard, which hiring managers ask for.
Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate Google / Coursera · learning path · $49/month; most finish under $300 · 6 months at 10 hrs/wkBeginner path covering spreadsheets, SQL, Tableau and a capstone portfolio project; no prerequisites.
Introduction to A/B Testing FREE Udacity (by Google) · course · free · 5 lessonsFree course by Google on metrics, experiment design and analysis; the core of experimentation analyst work.
dbt Fundamentals FREE dbt Labs (dbt Learn) · course · free · about 5 hoursVendor's free on-ramp to models, tests and docs; follow with the free Jinja, materializations and refactoring courses.

Sources & notes

PL-300 price ($165 US) comes from a third-party page because Microsoft's page shows 'price varies by region'. Tableau exam fees come from third-party pages that conflict ($200 + $100 retake vs $250); Salesforce's own exam guide was not available. Experience fields draw on the postings listed plus OrgLadder's earlier analyst research.

Figures are US, from the sources listed, and change often; verify before deciding.

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