AI, data & engineering
Head of Analytics
Head of Analytics is the leader of a company's analytics: manages teams of analysts and makes sure the business makes its decisions on data.
Also known as: Head of Data Analytics, Director of Analytics, Analytics Director, Head of BI, Head of Product Analytics.
What does a Head of Analytics do?
A Head of Analytics is the leader who manages one or several teams of analysts and makes sure the business makes its decisions on data. They usually lead several Team Leads and report to the CDO or directly to the CEO. In companies without a CDO, this is the top analytics role. Typical tasks:
- decides which business questions analytics answers first and defends that choice to leadership;
- designs the team structure: which verticals are needed, and how many analysts of what kind to hire;
- chooses the analytics stack and makes sure metrics are calculated the same way across teams;
- grows Team Leads and keeps strong analysts by finding the right work for them.
When does a company need a Head of Analytics?
A company usually needs a Head of Analytics when it has more analysts than one Team Lead can manage and they start working in silos, each product team with its own metrics and conclusions. Common triggers: new business lines, a move to a different analytics stack, or the previous head leaving or being promoted. The role will not work if there are two or three analysts and leadership is not ready to change decisions based on data: a strong senior Product Analyst or a Team Lead is more useful then.
Head of Analytics vs CDO: what's the difference?
A Head of Analytics owns analytics and answers to business questions, while a CDO owns the whole data function: besides analytics, that means BI, Data Science, ML and often data architecture and infrastructure. A Team Lead is a player-coach with up to 7 people; a Head of Analytics leads several such leads.
Head of Analytics vs related roles: comparison
| Head of Analytics | CDO | Analytics Team Lead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Responsible for | One or several analytics verticals | The whole data function | One team |
| Main result | Business decisions made on data | Data as a managed asset | Analytics tasks delivered |
| Works with | CEO, product, Team Leads | CEO, board, heads of departments | Head of Analytics, product team |
Why is it hard to hire a Head of Analytics?
A Head of Analytics is hard to hire because the role needs someone strong in both analytics and management, and such leaders are few and do not move for money.
- Technical teams are sceptical of "pure" managers: a new head needs a strong analytical background for the team to accept them.
- The title covers anything from a lead of three people to the head of several verticals.
- Large companies pay at similar levels, so a head is won over with challenges and growth, not money.
How much does a Head of Analytics earn?
According to NEWHR's 2024 hunting analytics on heads of analytics, a Head of Analytics' base salary is ₽550K–1M net, fixed pay excluding bonuses. The figures apply to Russian companies and Russian-speaking companies operating in foreign markets. For heads of large teams the bonus can reach 10–12 monthly salaries a year, excluding LTI (read more).
What to decide before hiring a Head of Analytics?
- Do you need a head of the same scale or a strong lead for whom the role is a step up? These are two candidate pools with different motivation, and it is worth searching both in parallel.
- How many analytics verticals and Team Leads will report to them? If the team is small, the candidate will in effect be a Team Lead, and a strong head will quickly lose interest.
- Does leadership actually want analytics? When analytics does not influence decisions and everyone is fine with that, a strong Head of Analytics will not join or will soon leave.
- Does the candidate have hiring experience? Hiring is a separate skill, and a strong analyst who has just become a manager will need help with their first searches.
Where to find a Head of Analytics?
Heads of Analytics most often come from product and technology companies with a strong analytics culture: e-commerce, marketplaces, fintech and large tech companies. They are heads of analytics verticals and strong Team Leads ready for a bigger team. Strong profile signals are experience at more than one company and projects that affected the whole business, such as a stack migration or a new business line. NEWHR finds such candidates through its network and referrals, not through job-ad responses.
How to assess a Head of Analytics in an interview?
A Head of Analytics is assessed through a walkthrough of an analytics function the candidate has built and a technical interview. Ask what they were hired to do at previous companies and how that changed: the answer shows whether they can defend their strategy. On the company side, the CEO or CDO and the product leaders who will work with analytics take part.
Strong signals:
- describes how they kept strong analysts and found the right work for them;
- confidently walks through analytics architecture and estimates timelines and risks personally.
Red flags:
- describes results only through team size and the number of dashboards;
- cannot name a business decision that their analytics changed;
- has never been through layoffs, team optimisation or urgent hiring.
How long does it take to hire a Head of Analytics?
We present the first candidates for the Head of Analytics role within 5–7 days of the brief. The whole search usually takes one to six months. In our search for a Head of Analytics at a large e-commerce company we ran two strategies in parallel, narrowed 67 candidates down to 13 for the client, and in 6 months hired a leader for whom the role was a step up.
Related roles
- CDO — owns the whole data function, including the platform and ML; a Head of Analytics often reports to the CDO.
- Product Analyst — an analyst in a product team whom the Head of Analytics hires and grows.
- Data Analyst — builds reports and dashboards for the business within the Head of Analytics' team.