💡 Why it matters: Companies often know their problem but not the right software for it, and analysts figure out what is needed so developers build the right thing the first time.
🌍 Around the world
- United States: Jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦1.4M – ₦3.5M
- Mid-career
- ₦4M – ₦9M
- Senior
- ₦9M – ₦20M
≈ ₦333k – ₦750k a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇺🇸 United States
Median pay; low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Hourly wage low/median/high x 2,080 hours. Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2023-2024
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Interview staff about how they work
- Write down what a new system must do
- Check that software matches the needs
- Help staff test and learn the new system
- Suggest improvements to slow processes
⚡ Skills you'll need
- Communication
- Analysis
- Problem solving
- Documentation
- Tech understanding
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Business analysis certificate such as ECBA or CBAP
- Moving from customer support or operations roles
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Start in IT support or testing and move up
- BCS (British Computer Society) professional certificates
🇺🇸 United States
- Help desk or business role, then move into analysis
- IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) certificates
🇨🇦 Canada
- Co-op work terms in IT departments
- Move across from support, testing or operations
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Practise explaining problems clearly in writing
- 2Learn basic IT and how software is built
- 3Study Information Systems, business or computing
- 4Start in support, testing or admin
- 5Move into a junior analyst role
⏰ A day in the life
A hospital wants faster patient registration. You sit with nurses to see what slows them down, write a simple list of what the new system needs, and review the first draft with the developers.