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Business analyst career path, levels and ladder
Updated
5 levels, from Junior Business Analyst to Head of Business Analysis. Each one is rated on the same 38 skills — what changes between the rungs is how good you have to be at each. A ladder from junior business analyst to head of business analysis, covering requirements, process modeling, data and change.
- Level 1 of 5
Junior Business Analyst job description
Documents requirements and processes, guided by a senior analyst.
Read the job description - Level 2 of 5
Business Analyst job description
Runs the requirements work for a project or product area end to end.
Read the job description - Level 3 of 5
Senior Business Analyst job description
Leads analysis on complex, cross-team change and coaches analysts.
Read the job description - Level 4 of 5
Lead Business Analyst job description
Sets the analysis approach across a portfolio and leads analysts.
Read the job description - Level 5 of 5
Head of Business Analysis job description
Owns the business analysis practice and its standards company-wide.
Read the job description
Business analyst levels and job titles
Business analyst, business systems analyst and IT business analyst titles overlap. This table maps each level on this ladder to the titles you will commonly see elsewhere. For how these titles line up across departments, see the job title hierarchy.
| Level on this ladder | Common job titles |
|---|---|
| Junior Business Analyst | Junior Business Analyst, Associate Business Analyst, Business Analyst I, Business Systems Analyst I |
| Business Analyst | Business Analyst, Business Analyst II, IT Business Analyst, Business Systems Analyst II |
| Senior Business Analyst | Senior Business Analyst, Business Analyst III, Senior Business Systems Analyst, IT Business Analyst III |
| Lead Business Analyst | Lead Business Analyst, Staff Business Systems Analyst, Business Systems Analyst IV |
| Head of Business Analysis | Head of Business Analysis, Business Analysis Manager, Principal Business Systems Analyst |
Skills matrix
38 skills and 1 certification across 5 levels.
| Skill/Certification 39 | Junior Business Analyst | Business Analyst | Senior Business Analyst | Lead Business Analyst | Head of Business Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elicitation4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can follow the analysis plan for your part of a project and tell your lead when a task in it is taking longer than planned. | BasicYou can plan the analysis for a project you run so it suits how that project is delivered, whether scrum, kanban or waterfall. | ProficientYou can tailor the analysis approach to a messy or high-risk change while keeping to the way the team already works, and explain to the sponsor why you chose it. | AdvancedYou can set the analysis approach across several projects, so analysts plan in a consistent way and their work fits whether each team runs agile, waterfall or a mix. | ExpertYou can decide how analysis effort is planned and staffed for each way of delivering that the organization uses, and review whether the plans held up. | |
| NoviceYou can list the people and teams named in a project brief and record who is responsible for what once a senior analyst has agreed it. | BasicYou can build a stakeholder map for a project yourself, spot groups the brief left out, and plan how and when to involve each one. | ProficientYou can map stakeholders on a change that crosses several departments, recognize conflicting interests early, and plan how to get decisions made despite them. | AdvancedYou can read the politics around a large change, advise sponsors on who has to be won over, and keep the map current as people and priorities shift. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization identifies and involves the people affected by change, and review programs for groups that were found late. | |
| BasicYou can plan and run elicitation for a project on your own, choosing between interviews, observation and document review, and confirm what you heard with the people who said it. | ProficientYou can uncover the real need behind a stated request, resolve contradictions between stakeholders, and spot unstated assumptions before they turn into defects. | AdvancedYou can elicit requirements in unfamiliar or highly regulated areas, and coach other analysts to question requests rather than transcribe them. | ExpertYou can set the elicitation standard for the organization, and are brought in on the changes where getting the need wrong would be most expensive. | ExpertYou can set the elicitation standard for the organization, and are brought in on the changes where getting the need wrong would be most expensive. | |
| NoviceYou can prepare materials for a requirements workshop, capture what is agreed on the day, and circulate the notes afterward. | BasicYou can run a small workshop with a clear agenda and a single team, keep it on topic, and end with agreed actions and owners. | AdvancedYou can design and run workshops for large or contentious changes with senior attendees, and recover a session that is going off the rails. | AdvancedYou can design and run workshops for large or contentious changes with senior attendees, and recover a session that is going off the rails. | ExpertYou can run the workshops that settle the organization's most disputed requirements, and develop other facilitators to the same standard. | |
| Requirements5 | |||||
| BasicYou can write a requirements document for a project unaided, with business, functional and non-functional needs each testable and traced to its source. | ProficientYou can structure requirements for a multi-team change, including shared non-functional needs such as security, and keep the set consistent as it evolves. | AdvancedYou can set the documentation standards and templates other analysts use, and review their work for ambiguity before it reaches delivery. | AdvancedYou can set the documentation standards and templates other analysts use, and review their work for ambiguity before it reaches delivery. | AdvancedYou can set the documentation standards and templates other analysts use, and review their work for ambiguity before it reaches delivery. | |
| BasicYou can write and refine stories for a team's backlog, split large ones into deliverable slices, and write acceptance criteria testers can use directly. | ProficientYou can turn a complex feature into a coherent set of stories, cover edge cases and non-functional needs in the criteria, and settle questions in refinement. | AdvancedYou can coach product owners and analysts to write better stories, and keep several teams' backlogs consistent where their features meet. | AdvancedYou can coach product owners and analysts to write better stories, and keep several teams' backlogs consistent where their features meet. | AdvancedYou can coach product owners and analysts to write better stories, and keep several teams' backlogs consistent where their features meet. | |
| NoviceYou can read a use case or scenario and check whether a proposed screen or process covers its steps. | ProficientYou can model scenarios across several systems and user roles, and use them to find the gaps in a proposed solution before it is built. | ProficientYou can model scenarios across several systems and user roles, and use them to find the gaps in a proposed solution before it is built. | AdvancedYou can decide when use cases, scenarios or stories fit a change best, and review other analysts' models for missing paths. | AdvancedYou can decide when use cases, scenarios or stories fit a change best, and review other analysts' models for missing paths. | |
| NoviceYou can record a business rule as someone describes it, including the example they give, and pass it on for confirmation. | BasicYou can capture the rules behind a process in a clear form such as a decision table, and check them against real examples with the people who apply them. | ProficientYou can untangle rules that conflict or have grown undocumented over years, and get the owners to agree a single correct version. | AdvancedYou can analyze complex decision logic such as pricing, eligibility or approvals, and separate rules the business should be able to change from those built into systems. | AdvancedYou can analyze complex decision logic such as pricing, eligibility or approvals, and separate rules the business should be able to change from those built into systems. | |
| NoviceYou can keep a requirements log or traceability sheet up to date as items are added, changed or closed. | BasicYou can run a prioritization method such as MoSCoW (must have, should have, could have, won't have) with stakeholders, and trace each requirement on your project to its tests. | ProficientYou can negotiate priorities when stakeholders disagree or scope has to be cut, and use traceability to show the impact of a requested change. | AdvancedYou can keep priorities and traceability coherent across several teams and releases, and catch requirements that have fallen between them. | ExpertYou can set how requirements are prioritized and traced across the organization, balancing control against the speed teams need. | |
| Process Analysis4 | |||||
| BasicYou can model a current and future process in BPMN on your own, with roles, decisions, hand-offs and exceptions shown correctly. | ProficientYou can model end-to-end processes that cross departments and systems, choosing the level of detail each audience needs. | AdvancedYou can set modeling conventions for a team, review other analysts' models, and keep a library of process maps people actually use. | AdvancedYou can set modeling conventions for a team, review other analysts' models, and keep a library of process maps people actually use. | AdvancedYou can set modeling conventions for a team, review other analysts' models, and keep a library of process maps people actually use. | |
| NoviceYou can gather facts about how a process works today, such as volumes, steps and systems used, for a senior analyst to analyze. | ProficientYou can define a realistic target state with the business and set out the gaps across people, process, data and technology, including external drivers such as regulation. | AdvancedYou can run gap analysis across several business areas, factoring in external drivers such as regulation and competitors, and turn it into a sequenced set of changes leaders can fund. | AdvancedYou can run gap analysis across several business areas, factoring in external drivers such as regulation and competitors, and turn it into a sequenced set of changes leaders can fund. | ExpertYou can assess where the organization falls short of its strategy and of outside demands such as regulation, and frame the gaps in terms leadership acts on. | |
| NoviceYou can collect examples and data about a recurring problem and summarize them in a form the people analyzing it can use. | BasicYou can run a five-whys or fishbone session on a contained problem and get to a cause the team agrees is supported by evidence. | AdvancedYou can lead root cause work on costly or recurring failures, and test the conclusion with data rather than opinion. | AdvancedYou can lead root cause work on costly or recurring failures, and test the conclusion with data rather than opinion. | ExpertYou can build a habit across the organization of finding causes before funding fixes, and challenge leaders who skip the step. | |
| NoviceYou can spot obvious duplication or manual rework in a process you have mapped and note it for review. | BasicYou can propose practical improvements to a single process, estimate what they save, and check them with the people who do the work. | ProficientYou can redesign a cross-team process using lean or similar principles, and weigh automation against simpler fixes. | AdvancedYou can run a program of process improvements for a business area and show the measured result of each change. | ExpertYou can set the organization's approach to continuous improvement, and decide which processes are worth redesigning first. | |
| Data Analysis4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can run and adapt an existing SQL query to answer a simple question, and check the result looks reasonable. | BasicYou can write your own queries with joins, filters and aggregates to size a problem or check an assumption behind a requirement. | ProficientYou can profile data from several tables to find quality issues or edge cases that change the requirements, and explain them to non-technical stakeholders. | AdvancedYou can investigate unfamiliar or messy data models quickly, and review other analysts' queries for logic errors before anyone relies on the answer. | AdvancedYou can investigate unfamiliar or messy data models quickly, and review other analysts' queries for logic errors before anyone relies on the answer. | |
| BasicYou can clean and combine data from several exports with lookups and formulas, and build pivots and charts that answer a clear question. | ProficientYou can build a reusable analysis workbook others can update, with clear inputs, checks and assumptions. | ProficientYou can build a reusable analysis workbook others can update, with clear inputs, checks and assumptions. | AdvancedYou can review others' spreadsheet analysis for errors and fragile logic, and advise when a question has outgrown a spreadsheet. | AdvancedYou can review others' spreadsheet analysis for errors and fragile logic, and advise when a question has outgrown a spreadsheet. | |
| NoviceYou can fill in a field-by-field data mapping sheet from system documentation and flag fields you cannot match. | BasicYou can produce a data mapping for an integration or migration, including formats, transformations and what happens to bad data. | ProficientYou can model the business entities and relationships for a new solution, and resolve where two systems define the same thing differently. | AdvancedYou can lead the data analysis for a large migration or integration program, and agree data ownership with the business. | AdvancedYou can lead the data analysis for a large migration or integration program, and agree data ownership with the business. | |
| NoviceYou can record the success measures a sponsor has named, and find where the data for each one lives. | BasicYou can turn the goals of a project into a few measurable outcomes with a baseline and a target, and check them with the sponsor. | ProficientYou can define outcomes for a change whose value is hard to measure, and challenge measures that track activity instead of results. | AdvancedYou can tie outcome measures across a portfolio to business goals, and make sure they are checked after release, not forgotten. | ExpertYou can make measurable outcomes a condition for approving change across the organization, and use the results to decide what to fund next. | |
| Solution Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can sketch a simple screen or report layout to show what a requirement means, using the team's usual tool. | BasicYou can use quick mockups in conversations with users to confirm a requirement, and record what changed as a result. | ProficientYou can mock up a full workflow across several screens to expose gaps in the requirements, and hand clear intent to designers without doing their job. | ProficientYou can mock up a full workflow across several screens to expose gaps in the requirements, and hand clear intent to designers without doing their job. | ProficientYou can mock up a full workflow across several screens to expose gaps in the requirements, and hand clear intent to designers without doing their job. | |
| BasicYou can plan and run UAT for a project: scenarios, testers, environment, schedule, defect triage and a clear sign-off. | ProficientYou can run UAT for a release spanning several teams or systems, and help the business decide whether open defects should block go-live. | AdvancedYou can set the acceptance testing approach for a portfolio, and fix the recurring reasons UAT finds problems too late. | AdvancedYou can set the acceptance testing approach for a portfolio, and fix the recurring reasons UAT finds problems too late. | AdvancedYou can set the acceptance testing approach for a portfolio, and fix the recurring reasons UAT finds problems too late. | |
| NoviceYou can collect product information and pricing from vendors and set it out in a comparison someone else has designed. | NoviceYou can collect product information and pricing from vendors and set it out in a comparison someone else has designed. | ProficientYou can define the options for a need, write the requirements section of a request for proposal, and lead a fair evaluation with the business. | AdvancedYou can run evaluations for major purchases or platform choices, and recommend an option that weighs cost, fit, risk and how hard it would be to switch away later. | ExpertYou can set how the organization chooses between building, buying and changing the way it works, and advise leadership on the biggest of those calls. | |
| BasicYou can use the feedback and usage data you are given to find where users struggle, and review the findings with a senior analyst. | ProficientYou can combine research, analytics and support evidence into one view of a user journey, and tie each pain point to the requirement it should drive. | AdvancedYou can agree with your analysts which user findings enter the backlog first, weighing cost and platform limits. | ExpertYou can decide how user evidence is gathered and used across your services, and make sure funding choices cite it. | ExpertYou can decide how user evidence is gathered and used across your services, and make sure funding choices cite it. | |
| Strategy & Change3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can gather cost figures and benefit estimates for an option and lay them out in the team's standard template. | BasicYou can build a simple cost-benefit comparison for a project's options, with the assumptions behind every figure stated. | ProficientYou can write the cost-benefit case for a significant change, including risks and sensitivity, and defend it when finance challenges it. | AdvancedYou can build cases for large investments across several areas, and stop weak cases before they reach a funding decision. | ExpertYou can set how change is justified across the organization and hold completed changes to the benefits they promised. | |
| NoviceYou can list the teams, systems and documents that use or describe a process that is about to change. | BasicYou can assess the impact of a change on each affected group and system, and record it in a form the delivery team can plan from. | ProficientYou can analyze impacts that ripple across departments, spot the ones nobody raised, and feed them into training and rollout plans. | AdvancedYou can assess whether the people, processes and support teams hit by several changes at once are ready for them, and advise leaders when to sequence or delay the changes. | ExpertYou can set how impact is assessed for significant change across the organization, and review whether the groups affected were told before rollout. | |
| NoviceYou can find where a project sits on an existing capability map when someone shows you the map. | NoviceYou can find where a project sits on an existing capability map when someone shows you the map. | BasicYou can use a capability map to explain which parts of the business a change touches. | AdvancedYou can build and maintain the capability map for a large part of the organization, and use it to show where spending overlaps and where it falls short. | ExpertYou can use capability mapping to shape the organization's investment plan, and keep it the shared view leaders plan against. | |
| Certifications1 | |||||
| Not required | Not required | Not required | Required | Required | |
| Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep your own tasks and deadlines in a current to-do list, and tell your manager as soon as work you own will be late. | BasicYou can organize a small piece of work into steps, put them in a sensible order, and finish it by the date you agreed, raising problems before they cause a delay. | ProficientYou can coordinate a small team's work on a shared goal: who does what by when, what has to wait for what, and a revised plan when things change. | AdvancedYou can keep several people's work in step across teams, agree priorities and hand-offs with them, and keep one shared task list that all of them actually use. | ExpertYou can set the everyday habits for how work is organized and followed up across the organization, and teams you do not lead adopt the routines you introduce. | |
| NoviceYou can estimate how long a task will take once the approach is clear, and you say promptly when the estimate turns out to be wrong. | BasicYou can estimate your own work with reasonable accuracy and keep a steady enough pace that other people can plan around you. | ProficientYou can estimate a whole project including its risks and unknowns, split it into stages, and defend the estimate when it is challenged. | AdvancedYou can estimate work that spans several teams, name the assumptions behind each figure, and rework the plan when those assumptions break. | ExpertYou can forecast work and staffing quarters ahead, and set the estimating method other teams use. | |
| BasicYou can stay responsible after you hand work over: you check it did what it was meant to, fix your own mistakes, and give updates before anyone asks. | ProficientYou can pick up a problem that has no obvious owner and make yourself accountable for it, including the parts nobody enjoys. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | ExpertYou can report the organization's most exposed outcomes to its leaders as they stand, including bad news, and answer for them. | |
| BasicYou can choose checks that suit the task in front of you, catch your own mistakes before anyone else sees them, and confirm the result works once people start using it. | ProficientYou can define what good enough means for a project, put checks in place to show it has been met, and hold work back when it falls short. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | ExpertYou can raise the quality bar across the organization by building the tools and habits that make the careful way the easy way. | |
| Craft3 | |||||
| BasicYou can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom. | ProficientYou can break a large, ambiguous problem into pieces and weigh the options for each against the evidence. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | ExpertYou can crack problems the organization has repeatedly failed to solve, and your approach becomes how others tackle that whole kind of problem. | |
| NoviceYou can apply the basics of your field to the work you are given, and ask an expert when a task goes beyond what you have learned. | BasicYou can work confidently with the tools and methods your team uses daily, and you can explain how your work serves the team's goals. | ProficientYou can advise the team on your area and apply new developments in the field where they pay off. | AdvancedYou can bring in good practice from outside the organization and make it work here, and your judgment clearly improves the work you touch. | ExpertYou can influence how the field is practiced beyond this organization, and your expertise settles questions that have stood open for years. | |
| ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | ExpertYou can set what the organization invests its learning time in, and the material and practice you create outlive your involvement. | |
| Communication4 | |||||
| BasicYou can explain your work so your team can act on it, and play a request back in your own words before you act on it. | ProficientYou can explain a complex topic to people with very different backgrounds, adjusting the detail to the audience without talking down to them. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization communicates by creating the forums and norms that teams use to share information. | |
| BasicYou can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory. | ProficientYou can build working relationships beyond your own team and get things done through people who do not report to you. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | ExpertYou can remove the barriers that stop teams working together by putting in place routines and forums they use across the organization. | |
| BasicYou can document your own work well enough for a colleague to follow it unaided, such as a how-to guide or a handover, and keep it current as things change. | ProficientYou can write for a defined audience, whether a proposal, a policy, a report, or a decision record, and make the reasoning as clear as the conclusion. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | ExpertYou can set the writing standard the organization works to, and documents you wrote are still in use long after you have moved on. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it. | BasicYou can identify who is affected by your work and keep them updated at a level of detail and a frequency that suits them. | ProficientYou can win support for a proposal, reset expectations when the plan changes, and turn down a request with a reason the other side accepts. | AdvancedYou can hold senior and external relationships, negotiate between competing demands, and deliver unwelcome news without losing trust. | ExpertYou can represent the organization in its most important relationships and set how it engages with everyone who depends on it. | |
| Leadership3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with. | BasicYou can spot a problem and propose a way forward unprompted, and you take a small leading role such as running a working group. | ProficientYou can lead one piece of work shared by several people, on your own team and beyond, and make calls that they act on. | AdvancedYou can lead across team boundaries, build the credibility that makes people follow you by choice, and create room for others to lead. | ExpertYou can set direction for the whole organization, make hard calls under real uncertainty, and carry the decisions nobody else wants to own. | |
| NoviceYou can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around. | BasicYou can help someone new settle into your team's work, answer their questions patiently, and give feedback specific enough to act on. | ProficientYou can mentor someone over months, tell them the uncomfortable thing they need to hear, and adapt how you teach to how they learn. | AdvancedYou can develop other mentors, coach people through career decisions rather than tasks, and lift the capability of a whole team. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization grows its people, and those you developed are themselves named by others as strong in their field. | |
| NoviceYou can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for. | BasicYou can connect your team's work to its goals and question a task that does not appear to serve them. | ProficientYou can look a year ahead in your area, name what will matter by then, and turn that into work people can pick up now. | AdvancedYou can set direction for an area, choose deliberately what not to do, and defend that choice when it is challenged. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's strategy, and the bets you argued for are visible in where it ended up. | |
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