Big Data Analytics Career Options

Data Engineer

Data Engineers design and maintain pipelines, storage systems and data platforms. This role requires programming, SQL, databases, cloud and distributed-system knowledge.

Big Data Engineer

A Big Data Engineer works specifically with high-volume or distributed systems. In practice, many companies now use the title Data Engineer instead.

Big Data Developer

Big Data Developers create applications and processing jobs using distributed frameworks and related tools.

Data Analyst

Data Analysts use SQL, statistics and visualisation to answer questions. Not every analyst works with genuinely large datasets.

Business Intelligence Analyst

BI Analysts develop dashboards, reports, metrics and analytical models for business users.

Data Scientist

Data Scientists use statistics, programming and machine learning. Entry-level Data Scientist roles can be highly competitive and may favour advanced qualifications.

Machine Learning Engineer

ML Engineers build and deploy machine-learning systems. This role requires software-engineering knowledge beyond analytical modelling.

Cloud Data Engineer

Cloud Data Engineers build data platforms using cloud storage, processing, warehouse and orchestration services.

Database Developer

Database Developers design data structures, queries, stored procedures and database applications.

Database Administrator

Database Administrators support database availability, performance, security, backup and recovery. Cloud-managed services are changing but not eliminating these responsibilities.

Data Architect

Data Architects design enterprise data structures, integration patterns and governance approaches. It is commonly an experienced role rather than a direct entry-level position.

Data Warehouse Developer

These professionals build warehouse models, transformations and reporting data structures.

ETL Developer

ETL Developers create data-integration and transformation processes. The role may increasingly be called Data Engineer.

Analytics Engineer

Analytics Engineers transform warehouse data into reliable models for analysis and reporting. They operate between Data Engineering and Analytics.

Streaming Data Engineer

These engineers develop event-driven pipelines and real-time processing systems.

Data Quality Engineer

Data Quality Engineers create rules, tests and monitoring systems to improve trust in organisational data.

Data Governance Analyst

Governance professionals support ownership, metadata, access, lineage, quality and policy implementation.

Data Visualisation Developer

These professionals build dashboards and visual analytical applications.

Operations Analyst

Operations Analysts use data to improve supply chains, processes, inventory, staffing and service delivery.

Risk and Fraud Analyst

Risk and fraud professionals analyse transactions and behavioural patterns to identify suspicious or high-risk activity.

Product Analyst

Product Analysts study user behaviour, experiments and product performance to support development decisions.

Research opportunities

Research may involve distributed systems, privacy, scalable learning, databases, algorithms and data quality.

Government opportunities

Graduates may apply for technical, statistical and analytical vacancies in government departments, public-sector organisations and research institutions when their qualification is accepted.

Higher education

Options include:

• MTech Big Data Analytics
• MTech Data Science
• MTech Computer Science
• MSc Data Science
• MSc Statistics
• MBA Business Analytics
• PG diploma
• PhD

Entrepreneurship

Possible areas include:

• Analytics consulting
• Data-integration services
• Dashboard development
• Data-quality products
• Industry-specific analytics
• Cloud data services
• Training
• Software products

Businesses handling customer data must implement appropriate security and privacy safeguards.

Employment sectors

Graduates may work in:

• Information technology
• Banking and financial services
• Insurance
• E-commerce
• Healthcare
• Telecommunications
• Manufacturing
• Logistics
• Consulting
• Education
• Media
• Government
• Energy
• Cybersecurity
• Research

Company names presented on course portals are examples of employers in the data ecosystem, not guaranteed recruiters.