Decision Support Analyst
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Decision Support Analyst provides research and analysis to help managers identify options and implement solutions to business or operational problems. Gathers data and creates reports and presentations, or reviews and organizes existing quantitative analyses.
Job Outlook
There were 14 Decision Support Analyst job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 855 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Operations Analyst industry, which includes the Decision Support Analyst career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Decision Support Analyst jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $84,793.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $84,793.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Decision Support Analyst postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $66,970.
Education and Experience
Posted Decision Support Analyst jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 67.84% |
| Master's Degree | 34.62% |
| Doctoral Degree | 1.64% |
| Other | 4.44% |
Posted Decision Support Analyst jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 23.45% |
| 3 to 5 years | 61.28% |
| 6 to 8 years | 7.99% |
| 9+ years | 7.28% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Decision Support Analyst positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Management (48.42%)
- Communication (45.85%)
- Operations (31.81%)
- Decision Making (29.12%)
- Leadership (29.12%)
- Microsoft Excel (25.26%)
- Microsoft Office (21.4%)
- Planning (19.53%)
- Innovation (19.18%)
- Problem Solving (18.13%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Data Analysis (44.5%)
- Fourth-Generation Programming Language (12.89%)
- Dashboard (21.71%)
- Finance (45.59%)
- Decision Support Systems (59.84%)
- Financial Analysis (24.29%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (40.84%)
- Statistics (28.49%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Statistical Analysis (4.34%)
- Ad Hoc Reporting (9.36%)
- Cost Accounting (21.03%)
- Strategic Decision Making (4.48%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (3.39%)
- Data Management (20.35%)
- Relational Databases (10.31%)
- Microsoft Access (8.96%)
- Business Intelligence (13.16%)
- Accounting (31.34%)
- Business Intelligence Tools (4.75%)
- Automation (7.19%)
- Auditing (14.11%)
- Benchmarking (8.96%)
- Financial Modeling (7.06%)
- Operations Research (18.05%)
- Data Collection (4.61%)
- Data Integrity (9.91%)
- Data Mining (7.46%)
- Industrial Engineering (13.57%)
- Data Security (15.06%)
- Data Warehousing (4.34%)
- Hospital Information Systems (3.66%)
- R (Programming Language) (19%)
- Economics (17.5%)
- Data Visualization (8.55%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (7.19%)
- Extract Transform Load (ETL) (8.68%)
- Health Administration (9.09%)
- Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act (HIPAA) Compliance (14.25%)
- Information Systems (9.36%)
- Financial Planning (9.77%)
- IBM DB2 (12.89%)
- Database Design (14.38%)
- Financial Data (9.91%)
- Financial Services (3.39%)
- Python (Programming Language) (7.73%)
- Financial Statements (11.67%)
- Selling Techniques (13.03%)
- SAS (Software) (18.86%)
- Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (17.64%)
- Project Management (15.88%)
- Reporting Tools (18.72%)
- Healthcare Industry Knowledge (15.2%)
- Performance Measurement (14.52%)
- Business Objects Framework (8.55%)
- Process Improvement (11.13%)
- Power BI (19.67%)
- Teradata SQL (13.57%)
- Programming Languages (16.28%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Decision Support Systems (95.66%)
- Financial Analysis (38.83%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Decision Support Analyst skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Decision Support Manager
- Director of Decision Support
- EDI Support Analyst
- Support Analyst
- Decision Support Consultant
- Decision Support Specialist
- Administrative Support Analyst
- Sales Support Analyst
- Acquisition Support Specialist
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Healthcare Analyst
- Data Analyst
- Business Intelligence Analyst
- Pricing Analyst
- Financial Analyst (General)
- Business Analysis Manager
- Data Specialist
- Operations Analyst (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Decision Support Analyst jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Highmark Health (97)
- University of California (19)
- Acxiom (15)
- McLaren Health Care (13)
- Stony Brook University (11)
- State of Georgia (10)
- Texas Health Resources (10)
- American Red Cross (9)
- Strata Decision Technology (9)
- University of Maryland (8)
North Carolina
- Duke University (2)
- Mindlane (1)
- Peritus International Ltd (1)
- Highmark Health (1)
- Biogen (1)
- Insight Global (1)
- Allegis Group (1)
- ASCII Group (1)
- Catawba Valley Medical Center (1)
- State of North Carolina (1)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.