How long does it take to become a Senior Analyst?

It takes 6 years of professional experience to become a senior analyst. That is the time it takes to learn specific senior analyst skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 9 to 11 years years to become a senior analyst.

How long does it take to become a senior analyst?

It takes five to seven years to become a senior analyst. Depending on the company and your educational level, the time it takes to become a senior analyst can be ten to 12 years. The minimum educational requirement for a senior analyst is typically a bachelor's degree. Around 68% of senior analysts have a bachelor's degree, and 23% have a master's degree. Interestingly, approximately 6% of senior analysts have just an associate's degree.

What is a senior analyst's salary?

A senior analyst's salary is approximately $80,000 annually. This salary can vary based on employer and location. While the average salary for a senior analyst is substantial, there are companies that pay a senior analyst a great deal more. The average senior analyst at Goldman Sachs earns approximately $87,000 annually. Some senior analysts at Liberty Mutual Insurance earn as much as $123,000 per year.

What is a senior analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Experts

Erik Johnson Ph.D.,

George Dierberger

A senior analyst is an individual who works in various industries, such as finance, technology, healthcare, and more. They are responsible for analyzing complex data, identifying trends, and making recommendations to improve business operations or outcomes. They also collaborate with other team members and stakeholders to develop strategies and solutions based on their analysis. A senior analyst must possess excellent analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills to succeed in this role.

What general advice would you give to a Senior Analyst?

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.

ScoreSenior AnalystUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,799

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.8

Growth Rate 11%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.16%

Asian 14.30%

Black or African American 7.42%

Hispanic or Latino 8.44%

Unknown 4.44%

White 65.23%

Gender

female 38.15%

male 61.85%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress Level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

2.2

Work Life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a Senior Analyst?

Pros

High salary potential
Opportunities for career advancement
Intellectual challenge and problem-solving opportunities
Opportunity to develop specialized skills and knowledge
Opportunity to mentor and train junior analysts

Cons

Long hours and high workload
High stress environment
Responsibility for important decisions and outcomes
Limited creativity and flexibility due to rigid processes and procedures
Potential for conflicts with colleagues or clients.

Key steps to become a senior analyst

Explore senior analyst education requirements

Most common senior analyst degrees

Bachelor's

67.9 %

Master's

18.5 %

Associate

8.3 %

Start to develop specific senior analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Analytics	12.96%
Data Analysis	6.23%
Tableau	5.94%
Project Management	4.85%
Strong Analytical	4.08%

Complete relevant senior analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior analysts 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 a senior analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior analyst resumes.

Research senior analyst duties and responsibilities

Manage and lead a team through the verification and validation process to ensure ISO audit findings are permanently resolve.
Experience with the PMI methodology for project managing.
Lead developers with complex DB2 coding efforts reducing system overhead.
Ensure adequate liquidity in each fund while managing WAM exposure across treasury bills.

Get senior analyst experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a senior analyst. The most common roles before becoming a senior analyst include analyst, consultant team lead and internship.

Prepare your senior analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior analyst 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 a senior analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Analyst Resume templates

Build a professional Senior Analyst 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 Senior Analyst resume.

Apply for senior analyst jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior analyst job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior analysts rate their job?

5/5

Based On 1 Ratings

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Senior Analyst reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2022

Pros

-interacting with end users or customers - delivering successful products or services

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2021

Pros

Flexibility of schedule and type of work in Organizational Development. Telecommute options are also superb.

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2020

Cons

It needs more patience to apply the true solution and satisfy your client