You have experience taking vague business or operational questions, figuring out what data to use, and turning that data into an answer.
This takes a range of skills, both technical and project management. How do you show all this on your lead data analyst resume and complementary data analyst cover letter?
That’s where we can help. Our five lead data analyst resume templates have proven to work and can help you create a resume to catch any employer’s eye. Leverage our free cover letter builder for a compelling narrative and you have a combination that significantly increases your chances of landing your dream job.
What Truly Matters: Your Experience & Your Skills
Much like we all have deal-breakers when it comes to foods (looking at you tomatoes), employers have certain deal-breakers when deciding which lead data analysts to extend interview offers to.
If you don’t have the requisite technical skills OR don’t have proven experience you’re unlikely to get an interview.
With your skills section, you want to showcase depth in a few skills instead of breadth in a lot of skills.
9 most popular lead data analyst skills
- SQL
- Project management
- Retool
- Regression analysis
- Product analytics
- Google Analytics
- Microsoft Excel
- Python/R
- Tableau
Sample lead data analyst work experience bullet points
Now that your skills section is in top shape, it’s time to focus on the main course: your work experience.
Like we said before, employers are looking for “proven” experience as a lead data analyst.
“Proven” experience here means one thing: that you have numbers to demonstrate your impact as an analyst.
Luckily, for us math nerds, there’s a basic formula:
[what you specifically did] + [more context] + [the impact]
Let’s make this a bit more concrete:
- Created automated customer segmentation reports using SQL and Tableau that helped reduce error rate by 99%
- Performed a customer funnel analysis and recommended changes to the worst performing step of the funnel resulting in a 10 basis point improvement in conversion rate
- Spearheaded and launched program to examine use of automation of data archiving, which reduced data storage requirements by 11%
- Built a logistic regression model to predict, then communicate with, customers most likely to churn improving LTV by $27
Top 5 Tips for Your Lead Data Analyst Resume
- Focus on the impact of your analysis
- It’s all in the numbers. That’s true at least in bowling and lead data analyst resumes. Your resume should focus on your measurable impact, not the responsibilities from your job description re-worded.
- Showcase your project ownership
- As a lead data analyst, it’s all in the name. You’re being hired to lead projects. This means your work experience should demonstrate project ownership from question all the way through analysis and implementation.
- Weave in context for your technical skills
- When talking about your impact (last time we say it, we swear) in your work experience, you should show the tools/ programming languages you used to get the job done. Including this context gives more credibility to your technical capabilities.
- Don’t make your skills section too long
- It is a huge red flag to a recruiter when they see a data analyst resume listing every programming language and technology under the sun. Include the skills you’re most comfortable with (5-7 total) and those you know that are mentioned in the job description.
- You should probably ditch the summary
- Recruiters have been conditioned to ignore your career summary. Most of them are too long and generic. So, unless you’re going to customize it for each lead data analyst role you apply to, it’s not worth the resume real estate.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What sections should my lead data analyst resume have?
- Your work experience and your skills sections are the two most important. I’ve forgotten to put my contact info before so definitely don’t do that. Outside of the core three, you’ll want a small section for your education and optionally (though not recommended) a career summary.
- How long should my resume be?
- Generally, you should try to keep your resume template to one page. But, as long as you keep it easy to read and you have years of experience, two pages is okay. Don’t go to five pages, puh-lease (yes, we’ve seen it before).
- Should I include soft skills on my resume?
- As a data analyst, your skills section should mostly focus on your technical skills. You should give context to your soft skills by talking about them in your work experience bullet points. For soft skills, context is necessary.
