Planning and Analysis
Senior Data Analyst
Career Area: Planning and Analysis
Occupation Group: Data Analysis and Mathematics
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Senior Data Analyst earns the following wages (national and state):
State
The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $79,118
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $81,011
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Analyzes data to identify patterns and provide strategic information relevant to a particular business, industry or field; analysis may be used for marketing, or to detect fraud in financial transactions, or for research. Works at a senior level, so may manage more junior data analysts or may be partially or fully responsible for determining research direction and strategy.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Growth | ||
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 406 | +11.4% |
| Nationwide | 8296 | +9.3% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Senior Data Analyst is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Microsoft Excel: Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications.
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
- Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
- Research: Experience performing creative and systematic work to understand a product, market, or customer, either before building a new solution, or to troubleshoot an existing issue
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Data Analysis: Data analysis, also known as analysis of data or data analytics, is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making.
- SQL: SQL ( ESS-kew-EL or SEE-kwl, Structured Query Language) is a domain-specific language used in programming and designed for managing data held in a relational database management system (RDBMS), or for stream processing in a relational data stream management system (RDSMS).
- Tableau: Tableau Software ( tab-LOH) is a software company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States which produces interactive data visualization products focused on business intelligence.
- Python: Python is a widely used high-level programming language for general-purpose programming, created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991.
- Data Quality: Data quality refers to the condition of a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables.
Distinguishing Skills
Any Senior Data Analyst that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:
- SAP BusinessObjects: Working experience with SAP BusinessObjects products and services, which are enterprise software oriented and specializing in business intelligence.
- Data Architecture: In information technology, data architecture is composed of models, policies, rules or standards that govern which data is collected, and how it is stored, arranged, integrated, and put to use in data systems and in organizations.
- Database Design: Working experience organizing data according to specific database models. Determining what data must be stored and how the data elements interrelate.
- Metadata: Working experience of Metadata, which is defined as the data providing information about one or more aspects of the data; it is used to summarize basic information about data which can make tracking and working with specific data easier.
- Data Validation: In computer science, data validation is the process of ensuring that a program operates on clean, correct and useful data.
Education
This career typically requires the following level of education. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
.| Education Level | % |
| Bachelor's Degree | 74% |
| Master's Degree | 22% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0% |
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 18% |
| 3 to 5 years | 58% |
| 6 to 8 years | 17% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Senior Data Analyst
- Data Analyst II
- Master Data Analyst
- Data Analyst III
- Lead Data Analyst
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles:
The wage and employment trend information shown here represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is downloaded regularly from Burning Glass Technologies. For more information about how they gather data and what it represents, see Burning Glass Technologies - Frequently Asked Questions.