What should a data analyst job description include?

The decisions the analyst supports, metrics they own, day-to-day work, your tools and data, five or fewer must-haves, engagement type, location and pay.

What does a data analyst do day to day?

Answers business questions with SQL and a BI tool, maintains dashboards, runs or reads experiments, and turns findings into clear recommendations.

What skills should I ask for in a data analyst?

Strong SQL, a BI tool such as Power BI, Tableau or Looker, basic statistics, clear writing, and the confidence to push back on a badly framed question. Python or R is a plus.

What is the difference between a data analyst and a BI developer?

An analyst answers questions and makes recommendations. A BI developer builds and owns the dashboards, semantic models and reporting layer others use.

How do I write a data analyst job description for the UK?

Use the same template, state pay in GBP and what it includes, describe the hybrid pattern exactly, and add your standard right-to-work wording.

Guides · carbon.talent

Data analyst job description template

Last updated 18 Oct 2026

A data analyst job description should name the decisions the analyst will support, the metrics they will own, the tools they will use and the people they will work with, plus the engagement type, location and pay range. Copy the template below and edit the brackets. Notes for UK and other markets, and for BI-heavy roles, follow.

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What good analysts look for in a job description

Who they will work for, which questions they will answer, whether the data is trusted, and whether they will spend their week on analysis or on rebuilding the same report. Be honest about the last one.

The template (copy block)

[Senior] Data Analyst, [Team], [Permanent / Contract / Fractional]
Location: [Remote, overlap … / Hybrid, City / On-site, City]
Pay: [range and currency]

About us
[Two sentences.]

Why this role exists
[e.g. "Our marketing team makes six-figure spend decisions on gut feel. You'll give them numbers they trust."]

Decisions you'll support

- [e.g. Where to put next quarter's marketing budget]
- [e.g. Which customers are at risk of churning, and why]
- [e.g. Whether the new pricing is working]

Metrics you'll own

- [e.g. CAC, conversion by channel, retention by cohort]

What you'll do

- Answer business questions with SQL and [Python / R / Excel]
- Build and maintain dashboards in [Power BI / Tableau / Looker / Looker Studio]
- Design and read [A/B tests / experiments]
- Turn analysis into a clear recommendation, in writing and in person
- Work with [data engineers / analytics engineers] on data quality and definitions

Our data
[Warehouse] · [Modelling: dbt / none yet] · [BI tool] · [Main sources]
[Honest note: e.g. "Definitions are inconsistent today; fixing that is part of the job."]

Must have (five or fewer)

- Strong SQL (joins, window functions, CTEs)
- [n]+ years of analysis that changed a business decision
- A BI tool: [tool]
- Clear writing: a one-page recommendation beats a 40-slide deck
- Comfort pushing back when the question is wrong

Nice to have

- [Python or R] · [Experimentation / statistics] · [Domain]

What we won't ask you to do

- [e.g. Be the only person maintaining 80 dashboards / Build pipelines]

Hiring process

1. [Intro] 2. [Case: a real (anonymised) question and dataset, discussed live] 3. [Stakeholder conversation] 4. [Offer]

Variants

Data analyst, UK (JD20). State salary in GBP and whether it includes pension contributions; say "hybrid, X days in the office" rather than "flexible"; add right-to-work wording your HR team uses. Same structure works for any market: local currency, local working pattern, overlap hours if remote.

BI-heavy analyst. If most of the job is building and owning dashboards and semantic models, hire a BI developer or see Power BI.

Product analyst. Replace marketing decisions with product ones (activation, feature adoption, experiments) and add event data tools.

Contract or fractional analyst. Swap "decisions you'll support" for the specific questions to answer by a date; see fractional.

Seniority

	Junior	Mid	Senior
Owns	Reports and ad-hoc questions with guidance	A domain's metrics and dashboards	The question agenda for a team
Signal	SQL, curiosity, clear writing	Recommendations that changed decisions	Pushes back, frames the problem, mentors

Questions companies ask

What should a data analyst job description include?: The decisions the analyst supports, metrics they own, day-to-day work, your tools and data, five or fewer must-haves, engagement type, location and pay.
What does a data analyst do day to day?: Answers business questions with SQL and a BI tool, maintains dashboards, runs or reads experiments, and turns findings into clear recommendations.
What skills should I ask for in a data analyst?: Strong SQL, a BI tool such as Power BI, Tableau or Looker, basic statistics, clear writing, and the confidence to push back on a badly framed question. Python or R is a plus.
What is the difference between a data analyst and a BI developer?: An analyst answers questions and makes recommendations. A BI developer builds and owns the dashboards, semantic models and reporting layer others use.
How do I write a data analyst job description for the UK?: Use the same template, state pay in GBP and what it includes, describe the hybrid pattern exactly, and add your standard right-to-work wording.