Back to Blog

Data Analyst Job Description and Roles & Responsibilities Guide

data analyst job description

The job description is the first contact between a company and a prospective candidate. Hence, it should be as comprehensive and cover all things that the employee would be expected to do. Here we give you an overview of how to write a data analyst job description.

You can divide any job description into three parts – The title, job summary, responsibilities, and qualifications and skills.

Job Title of a Data Analyst

The job title should indicate the level of expertise required- whether the advertised position is an entry-level, mid-level or managerial. It helps you filter out and attract the most suitable applicants for the job with the required responsibility and knowledge. You also need to add if there is any specialization required in the job title itself. However, ensure that you avoid internal terms and abbreviations that people may not understand.

Examples of titles for a data analyst job description –

  1. Based on the level of expertise- Junior Data Analyst, Senior Data Analyst, Analytics Manager
  2. Based on specialization- Clinical Data Analyst, Business Analyst, Operations Research Analyst

Job Summary of a Data Analyst

You would be introducing the job role to the prospects here. Summarize the position’s requirements and expectations, but do not go into the details. Ensure that you provide an outline of the daily activities. It gives prospective applicants an idea of what the job is and whether they are qualified to apply.

Here’s a summary you can include in a data analyst job description –

Our startup is looking for a Junior Data Analyst who will be dealing with managing the sales master data set, generating reports for the stakeholders, and troubleshooting any data issues. He should be able to identify trends and provide insights to the management to make critical business decisions. An ideal candidate would be someone who is good with calculations, has an eye for detail, and has hands-on experience with data analysis and management tools.

Learn more about the difference in job description of a Data Analyst vs Data Scientist

Job Responsibilities of a Data Analyst

You can list the detailed responsibilities of the job and everyday functions over here. Other things you can mention here would be the reporting manager and any other special trait required for the job.

Some responsibilities that can be included in the data analyst job description are listed below:

  • Manage the creation, updating, and maintenance of master data
  • Manage all users and user roles
  • Ensure the integrity of imported data, working with QA analysts if needed
  • Handling data and information as per internal guidelines
  • Cleaning and processing data generating reports to present to the stakeholders
  • Providing support for data integrity and normalization processes
  • Troubleshooting report-generating environment and any other data-related issues
  • Evaluating changes and ensuring the production systems are up-to-date
  • Training the users on dashboards and other data tools as required

Qualifications and Skills of a Data Analyst

Mention the qualifications, skills, and prerequisites for the position here. It can also include experiences, certifications, and other training. You must not miss out on – linguistic requirements, soft skills, and personality traits. However, ensure to keep a check on the length of the skills and requirements. It can dissuade candidates from applying. Add relevant keywords to ensure that your listing gets good visibility.

Check out the 3 most common personality tests to improve your recruitment process

Here’s a list of qualifications and skills commonly found in a data analyst job description:

  • A bachelor’s degree from a government-recognized college
  • Suitable work experience as a data analyst in the particular or allied field
  • Ability to deal with large-scale databases
  • Experience working with software for handling, cleaning and processing large amounts of data
  • An eye for recognizing trends in the data and the ability to present them to stakeholders
  • Working knowledge of methodologies and processes in dealing with data
  • A high-level understanding of addressing and metadata standards
  • Excellent verbal and written skills

You can add your specific requirements to the data analyst job description.

Shortlyst’s AI-sourcing tool can help you hire better. All you need to do is use the 15+ filters and apply the recommendations from the built-in smart filters to look for candidates that meet your requirement. It saves you the effort needed to write job descriptions, cuts your hiring time by half, and improves the overall hiring experience.

Written by

Shortlyst Team

Get started with Shortlyst today

Request Demo