Decision Support Analyst
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Decision Support Analyst provides research and analysis to help managers identify options and implement solutions to business or operational problems. Gathers data and creates reports and presentations, or reviews and organizes existing quantitative analyses.
Job Outlook
There were 40 Decision Support Analyst job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 1207 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Operations Analyst industry, which includes the Decision Support Analyst career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Decision Support Analyst jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $101,084.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $101,162.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Decision Support Analyst postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $85,176.
Education and Experience
Posted Decision Support Analyst jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 2.57% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 78.71% |
| Master's Degree | 51.62% |
| Doctoral Degree | 8.45% |
| Other | 3.15% |
Posted Decision Support Analyst jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 21.45% |
| 3 to 5 years | 55.82% |
| 6 to 8 years | 16.15% |
| 9+ years | 6.57% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Decision Support Analyst positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (44.99%)
- Management (41.92%)
- Decision Making (40.43%)
- Leadership (29.99%)
- Mathematics (26.35%)
- Innovation (23.53%)
- Research (20.13%)
- Influencing Skills (19.88%)
- Microsoft Excel (19.72%)
- Operations (19.22%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Decision Science (41.4%)
- Finance (42.03%)
- Operations Research (24.84%)
- Data Visualization (23.94%)
- Data Analysis (50.05%)
- SAS Business Intelligence (BI) (10.53%)
- Economics (26.64%)
- Python (Programming Language) (23.49%)
- Decision Support Systems (45.81%)
- Data Science (28.8%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (38.7%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Business Process (6.21%)
- Exploratory Data Analysis (10.17%)
- Business Objects Framework (7.2%)
- Information Systems (8.37%)
- Healthcare Industry Knowledge (8.64%)
- Data Management (11.16%)
- Auditing (9.72%)
- Cost Accounting (13.05%)
- Computer Science (13.5%)
- Statistical Modeling (12.69%)
- Dashboard (14.04%)
- Performance Management (1.89%)
- Data Synthesis (10.71%)
- Algorithms (7.74%)
- Machine Learning (15.3%)
- Accounting (20.07%)
- Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (16.47%)
- Statistical Analysis (3.6%)
- Project Management (15.3%)
- Data Warehousing (4.41%)
- Financial Services (3.24%)
- Business Analysis (11.7%)
- Data Security (6.39%)
- Data Mining (11.16%)
- Business Strategies (16.2%)
- Strategic Decision Making (4.5%)
- Marketing (19.17%)
- Emerging Technologies (10.98%)
- Financial Analysis (14.76%)
- Predictive Modeling (3.24%)
- Financial Planning (9.27%)
- SAS (Software) (15.75%)
- R (Programming Language) (20.07%)
- Industrial Engineering (8.19%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (5.22%)
- Financial Statements (10.8%)
- Supply Chain (3.24%)
- Statistics (28.98%)
- Data Collection (4.77%)
- Advanced Analytics (20.43%)
- Peer Review (9.99%)
- Ad Hoc Reporting (5.85%)
- Database Design (6.66%)
- Artificial Neural Networks (4.68%)
- Business Intelligence (9.09%)
- Analytics (7.74%)
- Reporting Tools (9.09%)
- Performance Measurement (7.29%)
- Benchmarking (6.12%)
- Automation (5.4%)
- Teradata SQL (6.39%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Fourth-Generation Programming Language (6.03%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- SAS Business Intelligence (BI) (11.75%)
- Decision Science (46.18%)
- Data Analysis (55.82%)
- Data Visualization (26.71%)
- Decision Support Systems (51.1%)
- Economics (29.72%)
- Python (Programming Language) (26.2%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (43.17%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Decision Support Analyst skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Decision Science Analyst
- Loyalty Program Manager
- Decision Support Manager
- Decision Scientist
- Director of Decision Support
- Decision Support Specialist
- Decision Support Consultant
- Decision Analyst
- Course Developer/Instructor
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Decision Support Analyst jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- USAA (118)
- Highmark Health (75)
- General Motors (61)
- Disney (51)
- Travelers (25)
- University of California (24)
- University of Maryland (20)
- Acxiom (11)
- Air Products & Chemicals (11)
- Citigroup (11)
North Carolina
- USAA (15)
- UNC Health (5)
- TIAA (2)
- Belk (2)
- Targetbase (2)
- Duke University (2)
- Spectrum (2)
- Pardee Hospital (2)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (1)
- Atrium Health (1)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.