What a Business Analyst does
Business Analysts (BAs) turn business goals and user needs into clear, testable requirements so teams build the right thing. You translate ambiguity into scope, align stakeholders, and define how success will be measured.
Typical deliverables
- Problem statements and business objectives
- User stories with acceptance criteria (e.g., Given/When/Then)
- Process maps (current state and future state)
- Lightweight BRDs/lean requirements backlogs
- Prioritization matrices (e.g., MoSCoW)
- Release scope and success metrics dashboards
Day-to-day responsibilities
- Meet stakeholders to clarify objectives, constraints, and risks
- Elicit requirements via interviews, workshops, and document analysis
- Write and refine user stories and acceptance criteria
- Map current processes, find gaps, propose future state
- Partner with designers, engineers, QA, and product managers
- Define and track success metrics post-release
- Facilitate decisions, manage scope, and handle changes
Mini task: turn a vague ask into a testable story
Vague: "Make onboarding faster." Try rewriting:
- Story: As a new user, I want to skip optional profile fields so I can start using the product in under 3 minutes.
- Acceptance criteria:
Given a new user, when they reach the Profile screen, then optional fields are clearly marked and can be skipped.
Given a completed sign-up, when a timer is measured from account creation to first action, then median time ≤ 3 minutes.
Hiring expectations by level
Junior/Associate
- Can write clear user stories and basic acceptance criteria with guidance
- Supports workshops; shadows discovery and testing
- Owns small, low-risk features
Mid-level
- Leads elicitation sessions end to end
- Prioritizes scope with stakeholders and defends trade-offs
- Maps processes and designs future-state flows
- Defines measurable success metrics; partners on rollout and validation
Senior/Lead
- Shapes product strategy through problem framing and value hypotheses
- Drives complex cross-team initiatives; resolves conflicts
- Establishes BA practices, templates, and coaching
- Influences metrics and governance across the org
Salary ranges
Approximate total compensation in USD:
- Junior: $50k–$80k
- Mid-level: $75k–$110k
- Senior/Lead: $100k–$150k+
- Manager/Principal: $120k–$180k+
Varies by country/company; treat as rough ranges.
Where you can work
- Industries: tech, finance/fintech, healthcare, retail/e-commerce, logistics, government, telecom, manufacturing
- Teams: product, data/BI, operations, IT transformation, customer experience, compliance
- Work modes: in-house, consulting, contracting, or freelancing
Skill map
On LuvvHelp, you start with the highest-leverage skill for BAs:
- Requirements Elicitation — uncover real needs, run great interviews/workshops, and document precise, testable requirements.
What you will practice inside Requirements Elicitation
- Clarifying objectives, constraints, and success metrics
- Interviewing stakeholders and synthesizing insights
- Writing user stories and acceptance criteria
- Handling conflicting requirements and scope changes
Practical projects for your portfolio
- Onboarding redesign: Define problem, target metric, current-state flow, future-state flow. Deliverables: lean BRD, 6–10 user stories with acceptance criteria, success metric plan.
- Support ticket deflection: Map current support process, identify top intents, propose self-service flows. Deliverables: process maps, prioritized backlog, definition of success (e.g., % tickets deflected).
- Payments reconciliation improvement: Elicit requirements from finance/engineering, capture constraints, and edge cases. Deliverables: RACI, risk register, test scenarios, sign-off checklist.
- Feature sunset and migration: Run stakeholder workshops to deprecate a legacy feature. Deliverables: impact analysis, comms plan outline, acceptance criteria for parity, and migration success metrics.
Mini task: acceptance criteria checklist
Interview preparation checklist
Workshop techniques to mention
- 1-2-4-All for inclusive ideation
- Round-robin to ensure every voice is heard
- Parking lot to manage scope during sessions
- Dot voting to converge on priorities
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Jumping to solutions: Start with the problem statement and measurable outcomes before writing features.
- Ambiguous requirements: Use structured acceptance criteria; ask for examples and edge cases.
- Scope creep: Keep a living backlog with priorities, owners, and a change decision rule.
- Silent stakeholders: Use inclusive facilitation (1-2-4-All, round-robin) and follow-ups.
- No success metrics: Agree on baselines, targets, and a post-launch validation plan.
- Poor traceability: Map requirements to objectives, risks, and test cases.
Learning path
- Learn the foundation: What BAs do, artifacts, and how success is defined.
- Requirements Elicitation: Practice interviews, stories, and acceptance criteria.
- Process thinking: Current vs future state, waste and bottlenecks.
- Prioritization and scope: MoSCoW, MVP, and change control.
- Validate outcomes: Define metrics and simple post-release checks.
Time commitment: 2–6 weeks part-time depending on your background.
Who this is for
- Career switchers from operations, support, QA, or finance
- Early-career professionals who enjoy problem solving and communication
- Engineers/designers who want to move toward product/analysis
Prerequisites
- Comfort with spreadsheets and basic math
- Clear written and verbal communication
- Curiosity about how products and processes create value
Next steps
- Take the short fit test to gauge your match
- Start the first skill and complete a mini project
- Attempt the core exam to verify your understanding
Pick a skill to start in the Skills section below.