What Is a Director of Analytics? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.

The director of analytics is in charge of meeting company analytics goals and delivering business insights to key stakeholders. Here’s what to know about a director of analytics’ salary, needed skills and how to become one.

What Is a Director of Analytics?

A director of analytics establishes and oversees an organization’s overall analytics strategy and assigns tasks to data-facing team members. They have a versatile set of skills that allow them to step in as needed to assist in completing crucial data science projects. 

What Does a Director of Analytics Do?

A director of analytics is responsible for managing, developing and integrating data analytics tools properly so insights and market trends can be derived efficiently.

Director of Analytics Responsibilities

• Establishing data analytics best practices.
• Delegating tasks and responsibilities to data analytics team members.
• Communicating business insights and project goals.
• Creating and presenting data visualizations.
• Mentoring and training direct reports.
• Holding team members accountable for completing assignments by deadline.
• Assisting in data science projects.

Directors of Analytics Within a Company

The director of data analytics manages the daily activities of their team members, including data analysts, data engineers, data scientists and business intelligence analysts. They also communicate key business insights to executive leadership and the board of directors. A director of analytics may answer to a chief data officer or another C-suite position.

Importance of Directors of Analytics

A director of analytics is vital to an organization’s data infrastructure, leading the data analytics and data warehousing departments as they carry out the needs of the organization. A successful director of analytics must be aligned with their company’s vision and capable of delivering relevant business intelligence data.

What Skills Are Needed to Be a Director of Analytics?

Qualifications to Be a Director of Analytics

• Technical expertise that may include data analysis, data mining, machine learning or programming.
• Experience in management. 
• Comfortable communicating with their direct reports as well as with executive leadership.
• Experience working with data analytics and data visualization tools.

Director of Analytics Prerequisites

• At least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• Bootcamps and certifications to grow their skill sets.

Director of Analytics Hard Skills

• Extracting and communicating relevant data insights.
• Preparing data-based presentations and visualizations
• Using necessary tools and software.

Director of Analytics Soft Skills

• Strong communication skills.
• Analytical and strategic mindset.
• Meeting deadlines.
• Managing and mentoring team members.

Tools and Programs Directors of Analytics Use

• Microsoft Power BI
• Tableau
• Excel
• Zoho Analytics
• Slack
• Google Workspace

How to Become a Director of Analytics

Director of Analytics Education and Experience

Applicants for a director of analytics job will typically need a bachelor’s degree in a field like data science, computer science or statistics, along with several years of relevant experience, which should include time spent as a manager. Some companies also require the director of analytics to have a master’s degree.

Director of Analytics Certificates and Courses

• Data Analytics Bootcamp
• Data Science Bootcamp
• Data Science Accelerator
• 21 Data Science Bootcamps You Need to Know
• Learning Python for Data Analysis and Visualization
• 21 Python Data Science Courses and Bootcamps to Know
• Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate
• IBM Data Analyst Professional Certificate
• Certified Analytics Professional

Director of Analytics Career Path

Working as a data analyst, data engineer, data scientist, analytics engineer, business analyst or business intelligence analyst can prepare professionals for a role like data manager. After gaining necessary management skills and experience, they can then move on to becoming a director of analytics.

Director of Analytics Salary and Job Outlook

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 29 percent increase in employment for mathematical science occupations from 2021 through 2031.

The full compensation package for a director of analytics depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average director of analytics salary.