Junior Data Analyst job description

Data and analytics — Junior Data Analyst
Runs defined analyses and dashboards under close guidance.

RESPONSIBILITIES
- Pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it.
- Write a multi-table join with window functions for totals and rankings, following the team's examples, and check it for duplicated rows.
- Add a completeness, range or row-count check to a dataset using the team's pattern, and follow the runbook when its alert fires.
- Classify a new dataset's sensitivity, apply the masking or access restriction it needs, and tell its owner when a planned use looks unfair to the people in the data.
- Build a small dashboard from a brief using the team's template, with chart types that suit each metric and labels a first-time viewer can read, then have a senior review it.
- Turn a vague request into a concrete analysis by working through the team's question template, then share the result after a senior has reviewed it.

REQUIREMENTS
- No earlier level needed: this is the first level of the ladder

REQUIRED SKILLS
Data Engineering
- Analytical SQL Querying — You can write a multi-table join with window functions for totals and rankings, following the team's examples, and check it for duplicated rows.
- Dimensional Data Modeling — You can read an existing star schema and say which table holds a given fact or attribute.
- Data Pipeline Development — You can run and troubleshoot an existing pipeline job from its logs, following a runbook.
- ETL/ELT Transformation Design — You can apply a documented cleaning rule, such as trimming a field or standardizing a date format, inside an existing transformation.
- Data Warehouse Architecture — You can explain the layers of the warehouse you work in and say which layer a given table lives in.

Data Governance
- Data Quality and Pipeline Monitoring — You can add a completeness, range or row-count check to a dataset using the team's pattern, and follow the runbook when its alert fires.
- Metric Definition and Governance — You can look up an existing metric definition and calculate it correctly for a simple request.
- Data Lineage and Documentation — You can trace one field back to the table it came from with help, and write up what a dataset holds using the team template. You ask the owner when the meaning of a column is not obvious.
- Data Ethics and Privacy — You can classify a new dataset's sensitivity, apply the masking or access restriction it needs, and tell its owner when a planned use looks unfair to the people in the data.

Statistics & ML
- Statistical Analysis and Inference — You can calculate summary statistics such as mean, median and standard deviation, and describe what a simple distribution looks like.
- Experiment Design and A/B Testing — You can read an experiment results dashboard and say whether the change is winning, losing or inconclusive against its stated metric.
- Predictive Modeling and Machine Learning — You can describe, in plain terms, the difference between a regression problem and a classification problem.
- Feature Engineering — You can build the features a colleague specified, such as a ratio, a lag or a bucketed field, and check the result against hand-calculated rows.
- Forecasting and Trend Analysis — You can produce a forecast using a method someone has chosen for you and plot it against what actually happened. You notice when the output looks obviously wrong and say so rather than passing it on.
- Data Exploration and Preparation — You can profile a dataset with the checks you were given, such as row counts, distributions and missing values, and report what you found.
- Programming for Analysis — You can write a short Python or R script that answers a simple question, following the team's template and having a reviewer check it.

Visualization
- Dashboard Design — You can build a small dashboard from a brief using the team's template, with chart types that suit each metric and labels a first-time viewer can read, then have a senior review it.
- Data Visualization Best Practice — You can build a chart to a given specification using the agreed colors and labels. You label axes and units without being reminded, and you ask before choosing an encoding yourself.
- Stakeholder Analytics Translation — You can turn a vague request into a concrete analysis by working through the team's question template, then share the result after a senior has reviewed it.
- Analytics Storytelling and Reporting — You can write up an analysis in the team format, leading with the finding rather than the method. You get it reviewed before it reaches anyone outside the team.

Delivery
- Project Management — You 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.
- Planning & Estimation — You 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.
- Ownership & Accountability — You 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.
- Quality Focus — You 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.

Craft
- Problem Solving — You can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom.
- Domain Expertise — You 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.
- Continuous Learning — You can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse.

Communication
- Communication — You 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.
- Collaboration — You can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory.
- Writing & Documentation — You 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.
- Stakeholder Management — You can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it.

Leadership
- Leadership — You can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with.
- Mentoring — You can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around.
- Strategic Thinking — You can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for.