How To Become An Analyst Lead: What It Is and Career Path

What is an analyst lead and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Erik Johnson Ph.D.

Analyst leads are also known as lead business analysts. They perform the role of business analysts in a superior capacity. So, in addition to analyzing trends and making forecasts, they also manage teams and delegate responsibility as needed.

A day in a lead analyst's life may include developing methodologies, designing frameworks, and studying data. They may also review weekly reports prepared by other analysts and make recommendations.

Lead analysts may also be involved in the hiring and firing of junior analysts on their team. This responsibility may extend to training analysts to meet employer standards. As a lead analyst, you may attend client meetings, make direct recommendations, and supervise their implementation.

To become a lead analyst, you need a bachelor's degree in statistics, business administration, or related courses. You'll also need years of experience to qualify for the role. It's helpful for business analysts to have skills like communication, leadership, and decision making.

What general advice would you give to an analyst lead?

Erik Johnson Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Economics, Carthage College

Economics gives you a set of tools to analyze a variety of policy and business problems. However, determining which tools to apply in which situation requires that you learn the industry, you are working from top to bottom. When you begin a new job in a new field, be sure to do everything you can to understand how the organization and the industry work to understand the primary incentives that everyone faces. One right way to do this is to make as many connections within the company you are working for as possible, and always be on the lookout for new opportunities within the company and how they can help you learn more. Moreover, do your best to ensure that a significant portion of your job involves some creative endeavors, such as economic modeling or building tools for yourself or others to use. As computing power continues to become cheaper, and artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, relatively repetitive tasks become more comfortable and easier to automate. Therefore, you will have less job security. Creative tasks, such as modeling and tool building, are difficult to automate and are more likely to provide you with more satisfaction.

ScoreAnalyst LeadUS Average

Salary

7.4

Avg. Salary $95,264

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.3

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.19%

Asian 14.44%

Black or African American 10.61%

Hispanic or Latino 11.31%

Unknown 5.03%

White 58.43%

Gender

female 37.60%

male 62.40%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

5.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an analyst lead

Explore analyst lead education requirements

Most common analyst lead degrees

Bachelor's

66.1 %

Master's

17.9 %

Associate

10.2 %

Start to develop specific analyst lead skills

Skills	Percentages
Analytics	9.66%
Data Analysis	5.10%
Project Management	5.05%
Customer Service	4.89%
Excellent Interpersonal	4.73%

Complete relevant analyst lead training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New analyst leads learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an analyst lead based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real analyst lead resumes.

Research analyst lead duties and responsibilities

Lead technical development team using Java technologies to create web applications.
Lead release and installation efforts for software and hardware releases through different phases of the SDLC.
Manage and design SharePoint as a pseudo-admin.
Manage SharePoint project database and maintain project records.

Get analyst lead experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become an analyst lead. The most common roles before becoming an analyst lead include analyst, programmer analyst team lead and consultant.

Prepare your analyst lead resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your analyst lead resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an analyst lead resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable analyst lead resume templates

Build a professional analyst lead resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your analyst lead resume.