← All entries
Data and AnalyticsEntry 4

BusinessAnalyst

Take a business question, find the data that answers it, explain the answer to whoever has to decide.

The same work is also posted as
Data AnalystOperations AnalystInsights AnalystReporting AnalystBusiness Intelligence AnalystDecision Support Analyst

What the title covers

Work that involves taking a business question, finding the data that answers it, and presenting the answer to the people making the decision. The analysis is usually done in Excel or SQL, and the output is usually a report, a dashboard, or a recommendation.

A second use of this title

Same title, different job

At software companies and IT consulting firms, Business Analyst frequently describes a role that gathers requirements from users and documents them for engineering teams. That work involves interviews, written specifications, and process mapping rather than data analysis.

Both roles use the same title. The responsibilities section of a posting identifies which one it describes.

Where it is found

Most companies above a few hundred employees, which is why the title appears in so many different contexts.

Technology companiesSits within a product, growth, or operations team.
Retail and logisticsSits within a single function such as buying, inventory, or fulfillment.
Healthcare and insuranceSits within claims, underwriting, or clinical operations.
BankingSits within lending, risk, or a specific product line.

Typical entry requirements

Education
Bachelor's degree, commonly economics, statistics, information science or business
Expected
Excel, including lookup formulas and pivot tables
Frequently required
SQL, at a level sufficient to write a query joining a few tables
Often listed
Experience with a dashboard tool such as Tableau, Power BI or Looker
Experience
Zero to two years. Internships and coursework projects count toward this
Example of a taskAnalytics

What a typical day may look like

The request below is typical of how this kind of work is assigned. The steps that follow describe what completing it involves.

Your manager9:14 AM
Cancellations were up last month. Can you look into why and get back to me Thursday?

Two days to complete.

01

Confirm the increase is real rather than a reporting change, by checking whether the definition of a cancellation or the way the data loads was altered in that period.

02

Compare the same month in prior years to determine whether the increase occurs seasonally.

03

Divide the cancellations into groups, such as by plan type, by how long the customer had been with the company, and by whether they contacted support recently.

04

Identify which group accounts for most of the increase.

05

Review what changed for that group in the preceding months, such as a price change, a product change, or a service issue.

06

Compare the timing of that change against the timing of the increase.

07

Note any part of the data that is incomplete, such as recent weeks that have not fully settled.

What is delivered

A chart showing cancellations by group over time, a statement of the most likely cause, and a note on what the data does not yet confirm.

FitBusiness Analyst

Is this job for you

Characteristics of the work itself, listed so you can compare them against how you prefer to spend your time.

Yes, if you like

  • Working with large sets of data
  • Being given a question without being told how to answer it
  • Explaining findings to people who will not read the data
  • Checking your own work closely
  • Moving between different parts of the business
  • Writing and presenting regularly

No, if you don't like

  • A defined process to follow each day
  • Managing a team
  • Regular in person contact with customers
  • Making the decision rather than informing it
  • Building a finished product rather than a recommendation
  • Repeating the same task to a consistent standard
CompensationUnited States

What this work pays

Two numbers, because they answer two different questions. The first is what you would be paid in your first job. The second is what people in this field earn after they have been doing it for years.

Starting out
$68,873Average starting salary, business graduates, Class of 2026

This is base pay, before any bonus.

After several years
$91,290Middle of the range across everyone in this field

This includes people with twenty years of experience, which is why it is much higher. The lowest paid ten percent earn under $53,910.

Pay varies by city

The same job pays more in places like New York and San Francisco than in most of the country. Housing costs more in those cities too, so a higher salary does not always leave you with more money.

SOURCES / NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND EMPLOYERS, WINTER 2026 SALARY SURVEY. U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK, OPERATIONS RESEARCH ANALYSTS, MAY 2024 WAGE DATA. GOVERNMENT DATA DOES NOT LIST BUSINESS ANALYST SEPARATELY, SO THE SECOND FIGURE USES THE CLOSEST PUBLISHED JOB CATEGORY.

Reading a posting against your own background

SIGNAL scores a specific job posting against your resume and shows you where you match and where you do not.

Try SIGNAL free