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How many levels do data and analytics ladders have?

Data collected on

We read 13 data and analytics ladders that public employers and companies publish for their own staff and counted their levels. The median is 4 levels for data analysts and data scientists who do not manage people, and 4 is the most common count. Every source is linked below, and the data is free to download.

Key findings

  • Ladders run from 3 to 9 levels. The median is 4, and 5 of the 13 ladders use exactly 4.
  • 5 of the 12 ladders that use job titles have a Senior level. Its median position is step 3 from the bottom.
  • 6 ladders publish a separate track for managers. The 4 that say where it starts put it between step 4 and step 5, and the median is step 4.
  • In all 3 ladders that have both a Senior level and a placed manager track, management starts at the Senior level or later.

How many levels data and analytics ladders have

Each bar is the number of ladders with that many levels for data analysts and data scientists who do not manage people.

  • 3 levels3 ladders
  • 4 levels5 ladders
  • 5 levels2 ladders
  • 6 levels1 ladder
  • 7 levels0 ladders
  • 8 levels1 ladder
  • 9 levels1 ladder

Which titles the ladders use

The bars cover the 12 ladders whose levels are job titles. The other one uses grades or scope names instead of job titles, such as “Level A” or “Level B”. One ladder can use several of these words.

  • Associate3 of 12
  • Senior5 of 12
  • Staff3 of 12
  • Principal4 of 12

Senior counts a level titled Senior or Sr., not Senior Staff or Senior Principal.

Where the manager track starts

This chart shows the step, counted from the bottom of each ladder, where the first people-manager role sits. It covers the 4 ladders that say where it starts. Of the rest, 2 have a manager track but do not say where it starts and 7 do not say whether they have one.

  • Step 43 ladders
  • Step 51 ladder

Download the data

One row per ladder: its name, who publishes it, the source link, the number of levels, the level names, the manager track and the step it starts at.

Download the CSV

All 13 ladders

Levels for data analysts and data scientists who do not manage people, lowest first, as each publisher names them.
LadderLevelsLevel namesManager track
GitLab4
  1. Junior Data Analyst
  2. Data Analyst (Intermediate)
  3. Senior Data Analyst
  4. Staff Data Analyst
Separate, from step 4 (level with Staff Data Analyst)
Mattermost9
  1. Level 1: Product Analyst I
  2. Level 2: Product Analyst I
  3. Level 3: Product Analyst II
  4. Level 4: Product Analyst II
  5. Level 5: Senior Product Analyst
  6. Level 6: Senior Product Analyst
  7. Level 7: Staff Product Analyst
  8. Level 8: Principal Product Analyst
  9. Level 9: Distinguished Product Analyst
Not stated
Monzo8
  1. Associate
  2. Level 30
  3. Senior
  4. Lead Individual Contributor
  5. Staff
  6. Senior Staff
  7. Principal
  8. Distinguished Individual Contributor
Separate, from step 4 (level with Lead Individual Contributor)
NHS EmployersPublic employer4
  1. Information Technician
  2. Information Analyst
  3. Information Analyst Specialist
  4. Information Analyst Principal
Separate; start not stated
State of CaliforniaPublic employer5
  1. Research Data Analyst 1
  2. Research Data Analyst 2
  3. Research Data Specialist 1
  4. Research Data Specialist 2
  5. Research Data Specialist 3
Separate; start not stated
State of TexasPublic employer(read from the Internet Archive copy)6
  1. Data Analyst I
  2. Data Analyst II
  3. Data Analyst III
  4. Data Analyst IV
  5. Data Analyst V
  6. Data Analyst VI
Not stated
State of WashingtonPublic employer4
  1. Data Consultant 1
  2. Data Consultant 2
  3. Data Consultant 3
  4. Data Consultant 4
Not stated
UK Government Digital and Data ProfessionPublic employer4
  1. Associate data analyst
  2. Data analyst
  3. Senior data analyst
  4. Principal data analyst
Not stated
University of Alabama at BirminghamPublic employer4
  1. Data Scientist Assistant
  2. Data Scientist Associate
  3. Data Scientist
  4. Data Scientist Senior
Separate, above the top level (step 5)
University of British ColumbiaPublic employer3
  1. Level A
  2. Level B
  3. Level C
Separate, above the top level (step 4)
University of CaliforniaPublic employer5
  1. Research Data Analyst 1 RP
  2. Research Data Analyst 2 RP
  3. Research Data Analyst 3 RP
  4. Research Data Analyst 4 RP
  5. Research Data Analyst 5 RP
Not stated
University of WashingtonPublic employer3
  1. Research Analyst 1
  2. Research Analyst 2
  3. Research Analyst 3
Not stated
University of Wisconsin–MadisonPublic employer3
  1. Data Scientist I
  2. Data Scientist II
  3. Data Scientist III
Not stated

How we did it

We read 13 data and analytics ladders that their publishers use for their own staff: 3 from companies and 10 from public employers, on their own sites or in documents they publish. We kept only those whose levels we could read as text. We left out templates written by individuals, professional bodies’ standards and ladders only for data engineers, analytics engineers or statisticians.

Levels are the steps a data analyst or data scientist can climb without managing people, lowest first. Interns and trainees are left out. When a ladder splits one title into numbered steps, each with its own expectations (like “Data Analyst I” and “II”), each step counts. Pay bands inside one level do not. A level above both tracks that the ladder does not open to individual contributors is not counted.

The manager track starts where the ladder puts its first people-manager role: the same band or level number, the same row of its table, or the step where it says the tracks split. When that role sits above the top level, it counts as the next step up. When a ladder has a manager track but does not place it, we do not guess.

Title shares only count ladders whose levels are job titles. A level counts as Senior when its title says Senior or Sr., but not Senior Staff or Senior Principal. Associate, Staff and Principal count wherever the word sits in a title, so “Data Scientist Associate” counts as Associate and “Senior Staff” as Staff.

This is a sample of the ladders people chose to publish, mostly from governments and public universities, and some are several years old. It shows what public ladders look like, not what every employer does. Where a live page was gone or blocked automated reading, we read the Internet Archive copy, and the table says so.

We store only public facts: how many levels a ladder has, what the levels are called and where the manager track starts. Each ladder belongs to its publisher, so follow the links for the full text. None of them has reviewed or endorsed this study, and Competrace is not affiliated with them.

Spotted a mistake, or a public ladder we missed? Email support@competrace.com with the link, and we will update the data.

See levels with their skills

The study counts levels. To see what each level needs, browse our data and analytics career path with the skills each level expects, or read what a career ladder is.

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