Mid-Level

Business Operations Analyst

It's the role that keeps internal operations honest with numbers — building dashboards, diagnosing process drift, and turning vague leadership questions into the metric or model that actually answers them. Often a quiet, high-leverage seat inside a fast-moving org.

Career Level
Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
VP
Executive
Work Personality
C
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A
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Conventionalorganizing, detail-oriented
Investigativeanalytical, curious
Based on Holland Code framework
Job markets for Business Operations Analysts
Employment concentration · ~400 areas
Based on employment in related occupations
Mapped SOC categories:
BLS Occupational Employment Statistics
What it's like

What it's like to be a Business Operations Analyst

Most days mix SQL pulls, dashboard maintenance, and ad-hoc analyses for whoever has a meeting on Friday. You might rebuild a churn cohort one morning, sit in on a leadership review at noon, and ship a draft model of next quarter's headcount by EOD. The work tends to live in spreadsheets, BI tools, and the small Slack threads where decisions actually get made.

The harder part is often how much of the value comes from picking the right question rather than the right method. Leaders ask broad things; you tend to negotiate scope, time-box the work, and ship something useful in days. Variance across employers is steep — a clean, well-instrumented company can feel like analyst paradise, while one with messy data and conflicting sources of truth can feel like archaeology.

People who tend to thrive here are comfortable with ambiguity, allergic to vanity metrics, and good at translating between analyst and operator languages. The trade-off can be visibility — your fingerprints are on a lot of decisions, but the slide that lands in a board deck rarely carries your name.

AchievementAbove avg
IndependenceAbove avg
Working ConditionsAbove avg
RecognitionAbove avg
RelationshipsModerate
SupportLower
O*NET Work Values survey
✦ Editorial — written by Truest from industry research and career patterns
Career Paths

Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.

$239K$179K$119K$60K$0KLower paying387 metro areas, sorted by salary level
All experience levels1
This level's estimated range
INDUSTRIES PAYING ABOVE AVERAGE
1 BLS OEWS May 2024 covers all Business Operations Analysts (SOC 13-1111.00, 15-2031.00), not just this title · BEA RPP 2023
* Top salaries exceed this figure. BLS caps reported wages at ~$240K to protect individual privacy in high-earning roles.
Also appears in: Technology
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✦ Editorial — career progression and interview guidance based on industry patterns
The Broader Landscape

Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.

$54K–$174K
Salary Range
10th – 90th percentile
1.0M
U.S. Employment
+15.15%
10yr Growth
108K
Annual Openings

How this category is changing

$74K$71K$68K$65K$62K201920202021202220232024$62K$74K
BLS OEWS May 2024 · BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034

Skills & Requirements

MathematicsCritical ThinkingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionComplex Problem SolvingJudgment and Decision MakingReading ComprehensionActive ListeningWritingSpeaking
O*NET OnLine · Bureau of Labor Statistics
13-1111.0015-2031.00

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Federal data: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (May 2024) · BLS Employment Projections · O*NET OnLine
Truest editorial: Fit check, role profile, things that vary, advancement analysis, lateral moves, interview questions.