The work of a business analyst is all about identifying areas where improvements can be made, and finding solutions. It’s a vital job which can lead to a lucrative and immensely rewarding career.
Updated: 22 Sept 2025
When businesses seek to optimise, expand or adapt, there are a lot of factors to consider. Sometimes the best approach is not easy to understand, and the importance of getting it right first time can be crucial. To provide guidance through a critical moment or a period of change, an organisation can hire a professional analyst who uses their business intelligence, informed by data, to help them achieve the desired result while meeting the needs of their clients and customers.
It's an important role, and larger companies often employ a business analyst as part of their full time staff. Salaries are high, and there are a lot of additional perks. Interested? Great, let’s take a closer look.
Business analysts help a company reach its goals by using data analysis to find practical solutions. They translate data patterns and trends into a language understandable by the wider team, and implement strategies which solve a range of specific objectives such as increasing profits, reducing overhead costs or simplifying workflows.
Business analysts also play a fundamental role in communicating between the internal colleagues and external shareholders, translating feedback between different elements of the organisation in a manner which is clear, concise and useful.
Job details are famously varied within the profession, however some of the tasks which business analysts engage with on a weekly basis are:
Manage and lead team meetings
Assess department organisation and identify clear objectives
Consult external shareholders to establish feedback
Collect data and organise using database software
Build financial models and perform advanced data analysis
Create data-driven strategies for operational improvements
Conduct risk assessments associated with new strategies
Communicate effectively between departments
Produce written reports to support proposal and outline implementation
Oversee delivery of strategies
None of the frequently-mentioned perks of being a business analyst is that there is no ‘typical project’, and that every day is different. For those of you who enjoy variety and fresh challenges, it can be an exciting and fulfilling career which keeps you on your toes and continuously brings opportunities to learn new things.
There are many different working environments which you’ll likely encounter. You might be employed at a business analysis agency, being contracted out to various client companies on a project-by-project basis, or managing several projects simultaneously.
You could be employed full-time at a larger company, working entirely within the organisation’s framework to ensure ongoing efficiencies and optimal workflow. You can even work freelance, building up your own network of clients and sourcing your own short-term contracts on a consultancy basis.
Nonetheless, analyst work does follow some notable patterns. The role is largely office-based, and often requires travel to meet different internal and external shareholders. A professional manner is usually required, and a formal dress code is usual.
Your day-to-day work will involve team meetings, data analytics, task planning, strategy refinement, and plenty of communicating between shareholders and your project team. You can expect to be talking to a lot of different people, either in person, on the phone or by email or video link.
The average work schedule of a business analyst is 40 to 44 hours per week, and screen time is typically high. You’ll be working within an often self-organised system of dates and deadlines, and this can sometimes result in needing to work evenings and sometimes weekends at certain points within a project.
The payoff for this hard work (besides the salary) is that you can make a significant positive impact to the success of a business, and the wellbeing of its employees, the shareholders, and their families. You might help a new company though a successful launch, facilitate a major scaling up operation, or rescue a struggling organisation teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The possibilities are endless.
Business analysis is all about the data, however, if you want to be a top analyst then there are a variety of key skills which you’ll need to develop. Many of the following skills are transferable, and will serve you well across a number of professional scenarios:
Interpersonal communication skills
Ability to understand and set objectives
Proposal and project timeline design
Confident decision making skills
Advanced analytical methods
Solution-driven approach
Problem solving and critical thinking skills
Time-management and ability to work under pressure
Database and SQL skills
IT and programming fluency
Positive attitude towards change
In the UK, the average entry-level salary for a junior analyst is £27,500 per year, which works out at around £14 per hour. With experience, earnings generally increase, and after a few years on the job, you can expect to make between £35,000 and £65,000 annually.
At the top end, experienced analysts can earn upwards of £100,000 per year, especially within financial sector organisations. In general it is a reliable and high-earning profession with very good potential for growth.
You can also go solo and work freelance once you've built a network of clients and a portfolio of projects. As business analyst with experience and good credentials, you can expect to charge between £350 and £500 for a day’s work.
So you want to become a business analyst? Competition is fierce, but luckily there are many pathways into the profession, and with a bit of applied analysis you can plan a route which suits your ambitions, resources and timescale. When you think about it, it’s just like the work you’ll eventually be doing in the world of business, so listen up, and we’ll give you some tips to getting started.
Hone your skills
In practise, having the right skills to do the job is the most important thing, so start with the fundamentals. A firm grasp of finance, analytical methods, accounting, and business practises will give you the intuition to sense where operational issues are present in a business plan, and what you need to do to find a solution. Become fluent in business related softwares such as Excel, SQL and other programming languages so you can easily integrate with a working team, once the opportunity presents itself.
Get experienced
Theories are all well and good, but business analysis is judged by results. Put your newly honed skills into practise any way that you can. Find work experience in businesses of varying scales and professional sectors. Different issues require different solutions, and having a broad field of experience at this stage will give you a wide and versatile perspective into the profession, which will serve as an advantage you can rely upon for years to come.
Consider qualification
We can’t deny that holding a relevant qualification is definitely an advantage, and in many cases a mandatory prerequisite to job applications. A good bachelors degree in a relevant subject is a common requirement for entry-level positions and, in practice, many jobs are so competitive that a master’s degree is standard. Preferred subject areas include:
Finance
Economics
Business administration
Accounting
Statistics
Computer science
Information management
STEM graduates also have good success transferring into business analyst roles, due to their advanced data analysis skills. Often, adding a business related master’s degree to a STEM bachelors qualification is a strong position to be in.
At the advanced end of business education you can go all-in and complete aMaster of Business Administration (MBA), which offers many options for business analytics specialisms. This is not always necessary to get started in the profession, but gives you a comprehensive education with superb credentials which will give you a significant competitive advantage and a fast-track route to more senior roles within business.
If university is not in your plans, then you can complete many types of short courses for business and intensive skills-based certificates in a particular software or technique. These are are a great way to learn, while adding bespoke credentials to your resumé, showing employers that your skills are up to date, and that you’re tuned in to the requirements of the job.
Want to see which universities offer a brilliant course for learning how to become a business analyst? Check out the top five unis on the Complete University Guide's Business and Management Studies Subject League Table...