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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for HR Analyst

💰 $60,000 - $95,000

Human ResourcesPeople AnalyticsData Analytics

🎯 Role Definition

As an HR Analyst (also known as People Analyst or HR Data Analyst), you will translate HR and business questions into actionable people insights that drive recruitment, retention, performance, and compensation decisions. This role combines HR domain knowledge with advanced data analysis, HRIS management, reporting automation, and strong stakeholder partnership to deliver accurate workforce metrics, predictive models, and executive-level dashboards. Ideal candidates are proficient in HR systems (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP), analytics tools (SQL, Excel, Tableau / Power BI), and have experience applying statistical methods to HR datasets while maintaining strict employee data privacy and compliance.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • HR Coordinator / HR Assistant with data responsibilities
  • Junior People/HR Analyst or HR Reporting Specialist
  • Business/Data Analyst with interest in HR or People Operations

Advancement To:

  • Senior HR / People Analyst
  • HR Business Partner (with strong analytics focus)
  • People Analytics Manager or Head of People Analytics
  • Workforce Planning / Talent Analytics Lead

Lateral Moves:

  • HRIS Analyst / HR Systems Specialist
  • Compensation & Benefits Analyst
  • Talent Acquisition Analytics Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, build, and maintain recurring and ad-hoc HR dashboards and visualizations (Headcount, Attrition, Time-to-Fill, Offer Acceptance, Diversity & Inclusion, and Performance distributions) using Tableau, Power BI, or comparable BI tools.
  • Analyze turnover, retention, and hiring funnel metrics to identify root causes, trends, and actionable interventions, delivering concise insights and recommendations to HR leadership and business partners.
  • Maintain and improve HRIS data integrity by developing validation rules, conducting routine reconciliation between HRIS and payroll/payroll partner feeds, and coordinating fixes with IT and HR operations.
  • Translate business and HR questions into clear analytical requirements, specifying data sources, transformation steps, and analytic approaches for reproducible reporting.
  • Build and run workforce planning models and headcount forecasts, incorporating hiring plans, attrition assumptions, and scenario analysis to inform budget and talent strategies.
  • Write, optimize, and maintain SQL queries and stored procedures to extract, clean, and aggregate employee and transaction data from HR systems and data warehouses.
  • Lead compensation and benefits analysis projects, including market benchmarking, internal equity reviews, pay curve modeling, and pay-for-performance analysis.
  • Support performance management analytics by correlating performance ratings to promotion rates, retention, calibration outcomes, and compensation actions.
  • Partner with HR Business Partners and People Ops to design and measure the impact of talent programs (onboarding, L&D, retention initiatives), using A/B testing, cohort analysis, and KPI tracking.
  • Create executive-ready presentations and one-pagers that synthesize complex HR analytics into prioritized recommendations and measurable next steps for senior leaders.
  • Implement and maintain key HR metrics and KPIs with documented definitions, calculation logic, and data lineage to ensure consistency and trust across stakeholders.
  • Conduct predictive and statistical modeling (logistic regression, survival analysis, propensity scoring) to identify flight risk, promotion likelihood, and drivers of employee engagement or performance.
  • Manage data requests and prioritize deliverables from multiple HR and business stakeholders, balancing speed with accuracy and ensuring SLAs are met for reporting.
  • Ensure strict adherence to data privacy and security practices (PII masking, role-based access), and maintain compliance with employment laws and internal governance policies.
  • Support annual HR audit processes by preparing reconciliations, providing source data, and remediating discrepancies identified by auditors or finance partners.
  • Automate manual reporting processes through scripting (Python, R, or Power Query), macros, or workflow automation to reduce time-to-insight and minimize data errors.
  • Configure and manage ATS and HRIS report catalogs (e.g., Workday, SuccessFactors, Greenhouse) including saved reports, user permissions, and distribution schedules.
  • Conduct pulse and engagement survey analysis: design questions, analyze results by segment, identify drivers, and present prioritized action plans to people leaders.
  • Monitor DE&I metrics and create targeted analyses (representation, hiring, promotion rates, pay equity) to support diversity initiatives and regulatory reporting.
  • Provide training and documentation for HR teams and hiring managers on interpreting dashboards, generating reports, and understanding HR metrics definitions.
  • Partner with Finance, Legal, and IT to align HR metrics with financial forecasts, ensure accurate cost allocation for headcount, and integrate HR data into enterprise data models.
  • Evaluate, select, and manage relationships with HR analytics and HRIS vendors, co-owning roadmap, requirements, and implementation timelines for new people data tools.
  • Capture and maintain metadata, data dictionaries, and process documentation for HR data flows, ETL jobs, and reporting logic to support governance and reproducibility.
  • Drive continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to standardize HR reporting processes, reduce manual effort, and increase the predictive power of people analytics solutions.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc business intelligence requests and exploratory data analysis to answer emerging leadership questions using rapid prototyping and hypothesis testing.
  • Contribute to the organization's people analytics roadmap and prioritize initiatives that deliver measurable ROI against talent objectives.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Finance, IT, Legal, Marketing) to translate people analytics needs into technical requirements and implementation plans.
  • Participate in agile ceremonies and sprint planning within the HR data and analytics team, providing estimates and clarifying acceptance criteria for analytics deliverables.
  • Assist in the design and rollout of HR technology upgrades or migrations (HRIS, ATS, payroll) by validating data migrations, reconciling records, and testing reporting functionality.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • HRIS administration and reporting experience (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, UKG) with proven ability to extract and reconcile system data.
  • Proficient SQL authoring for complex joins, window functions, aggregations, and query optimization against HR and payroll schemas.
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, Power Query, advanced formulas, VBA/macro basics) for rapid analysis and modeling.
  • Hands-on experience with BI/visualization tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) to design intuitive dashboards and drill-down analyses.
  • Practical experience with statistical tools and languages (Python, R, or SAS) for predictive modeling, hypothesis testing, and automation.
  • Familiarity with ATS systems and recruitment analytics (Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS) and ability to analyze sourcing and hiring funnel efficiency.
  • Knowledge of compensation analysis techniques, pay equity assessment, and market benchmarking methodologies.
  • Experience building workforce planning and forecasting models (scenario modeling, headcount budgeting, FTE calculation).
  • Understanding of HR data privacy, GDPR/CCPA implications, and role-based access control for PII and sensitive employee information.
  • Experience with ETL/data engineering concepts, data warehousing, and maintaining data pipelines for HR reporting.
  • Comfortable writing clear documentation, data dictionaries, and reproducible analysis notebooks or scripts.
  • Basic project management skills and familiarity with Agile methodologies for delivering analytics initiatives.

Soft Skills

  • Strong business partnering and stakeholder management — able to translate analytical findings into business recommendations and influence decisions.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication; able to present complex analyses to non-technical audiences and senior leaders.
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving — aptitude for hypothesis-driven analysis and triangulating multiple data sources.
  • High attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy and governance.
  • Strong time management and prioritization skills in a fast-paced, multi-stakeholder environment.
  • Ethical approach to handling sensitive data and demonstrated discretion in employee matters.
  • Collaborative team player who can work across HR functions and with cross-functional partners.
  • Curiosity and continuous learning mindset, especially with evolving HR tech and analytics best practices.
  • Change management and facilitation skills to support adoption of new processes and dashboards.
  • Coaching and mentoring skills to support junior analysts or HR partners in upskilling on analytics.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Economics, Psychology, Statistics, Data Science, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Human Resources, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Business Analytics, MBA, or Data Science preferred.
  • Professional certifications such as PHR / SHRM-CP, People Analytics Certificate, or relevant analytics certifications (Tableau, Power BI, SQL).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Human Resources Management
  • Business Analytics / Data Science
  • Industrial-Organizational Psychology
  • Economics / Statistics
  • Information Systems / Computer Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of progressive experience in HR analytics, HRIS reporting, people operations, or a related data/analytics role.

Preferred:

  • 3–7 years of direct experience in HR analytics or people analytics within medium to large organizations.
  • Demonstrated experience with HRIS administration, building production dashboards, and delivering actionable workforce insights.
  • Prior exposure to cross-functional projects involving Finance, IT, and Legal on people data integrations and compliance.
  • Experience working with executive leadership, designing strategic HR metrics, and creating data-driven talent recommendations.
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