4 Data Analyst Career Paths: Your Guide to Leveling Up

Getting a job as a data analyst could be your first step in pursuing a larger data career. Take a closer look at four common career paths you can take in this high-demand field.

Getting started: Entry-level data analyst jobs

If you’re new to the field of data analysis, your first job might be an entry-level role as a junior analyst. If you have some experience with transferable analytical skills from a previous job, you may be able to get hired as a data analyst.

While most data analyst jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree, some companies may allow you to fast-track into an internship or entry-level job by earning certifications for key job roles, such as SQL, Python, and Excel.

Before applying for that first job, you’ll want to develop some core data analyst skills, including SQL, R or Python, data management, statistical analysis, and data visualization. 

Read more about how to become a data analyst through four different career paths.

Levelling up: Four career paths for a data analyst

As you gain experience as a data analyst, you may encounter opportunities to advance your career in a few different directions. Depending on your goals and interests, you may progress into data science, management, consulting, or a more specialized data role. 

Take a closer look at four possible career paths in the world of data.

1. Data scientist

Many data scientists start out as data analysts. Making this transition typically involves:

• Advancing your programming skills

• Learning more advanced mathematics

• Developing an understanding of machine learning 

Many data scientists also have a degree in data science, computer science, or a related field. While a degree may not be strictly necessary, having one can mean more job opportunities.  

2. Management

Another common career path for data analysts is to move into management positions. You might start out as a data analyst before advancing to senior-level analyst, analytics manager, director of analytics, or even chief data officer (CDO).

If you’re interested in pursuing this path, you’ll want to focus on developing your leadership skills alongside your data skills. In some companies, a master’s degree in data analytics or business administration with a focus on data analytics might be required to attain these higher-level positions.

3. Specialist

As a data analyst, you might work in one of many different industries. Sometimes, your career path might take you deeper into the specialized knowledge of that industry.

• Business analysts use data to help make an organization’s IT processes, organizational structures, or staff development more efficient and effective.

• Financial analysts use data to help guide investment opportunities, identify revenue opportunities, and mitigate financial risk.

• Operations analysts are tasked with optimizing a company’s performance by identifying and solving technical, structural, and procedural issues.

• Marketing analysts, also called market research analysts, analyze market trends to help determine product and service offerings, price points, and target customers.

• Systems analysts use cost-benefit analysis to help match technological solutions to company needs.

• Health care analysts use data from health records, cost reports, and patient surveys to help providers improve their quality of care.

4. Consultant

Once you’ve gained several years of experience analyzing data for a company (or several different companies), you can consider working as a data analytics consultant. Instead of working for a company directly, you’d work as a freelance contractor or for a consulting firm, conducting analysis for a variety of clients.

Working as a consultant often means more variety in the type of analysis you’re performing, as well as greater flexibility, particularly if you’re self-employed.

How much can you make? Data analyst salaries by role

Even entry-level data analyst positions tend to be well-paid. As you add years of experience and advanced job titles, salaries often go up accordingly. Look at the average base pay of different data analyst roles in Canada in September 2024, according to Indeed:

• Junior analyst: $54,580 CAD 

• Data analyst: $72,469 CAD 

• Senior data analyst: $83,387 CAD 

• Analytics manager: $107,105 CAD 

• Director of analytics: $138,760 CAD 

• Data scientist: $96,163 CAD 

• Business analyst: $75,549 CAD 

• Financial analyst: $72,436 CAD 

• Operations analyst: $65,430 CAD 

• Marketing analyst: $80,626 CAD

• Systems analyst: $72,596 CAD 

*All annual base salary data is sourced from Indeed as of September 2024.

Build your data analytics career with Coursera

Pursuing your education or exploring certificates can help you start a career in data analytics, allowing you to choose from many different branching careers. Take the first step toward a career in data analytics with the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate available on Coursera. Build job-ready skills in less than six months. Upon completion, you’ll have a shareable certificate for your resume, as well as the ability to start applying for jobs directly with Google and more than 130 other US employers. If you're ready to build on your existing data science skills to qualify for in-demand job titles like junior data scientist and data science analyst, consider the Google Advanced Data Analytics Professional Certificate.