Market Research Analyst

Market Research Analysts study what people buy, why they buy it, and what they think about products, services, and brands. They design surveys, run focus groups, analyse sales data, and write reports that summarise findings for clients or internal teams. The work sits at the intersection of statistics, psychology, and business strategy. Analysts may work for dedicated market research firms, inside large corporations, or within government agencies. The output is usually a recommendation or a set of findings that helps a decision-maker choose a direction.

A typical day could involve drafting a survey questionnaire in the morning, cleaning a dataset in a spreadsheet or statistical software package in the afternoon, and preparing a slide deck summarising key findings before end of day. There are often client or stakeholder briefings to attend, and some roles require coordinating with fieldwork teams who collect data on the ground. Deadlines tend to cluster around project milestones, so workload can vary across the week. Writing clear, concise reports is a core part of the job, not an occasional task.

A bachelor degree is the typical entry-level qualification for this occupation (JSA Occupation Profile). Relevant fields include marketing, psychology, statistics, economics, commerce, and social science. Some employers value postgraduate study or a specialisation in data analytics. Practical skills in survey design, statistical software (such as SPSS, R, or similar tools), and data visualisation are often sought alongside formal credentials. For those considering retraining, yourcareer.gov.au lists accredited courses, and it is worth checking dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for any subsidised study options in your state or territory.

The real challenge in this role is translating numbers into a story that non-technical stakeholders will act on. Collecting data is the straightforward part. Convincing a marketing director or a board that the findings are credible, and that the recommended course of action is sound, requires clear communication and a degree of commercial awareness that takes time to develop. Career changers coming from unrelated fields may find the technical side manageable after retraining, but building a portfolio of real research projects, and the professional credibility that comes with it, takes patience. The field also overlaps increasingly with data analytics, so staying current with software tools and research methods is an ongoing commitment rather than a one-time investment.

In practice, market research activity tends to concentrate in cities where large corporate head offices, advertising agencies, and government departments are based, though remote and hybrid arrangements have become more common in recent years.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 2251, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Attention to Detailcore
• Customer Needs Assessmentcore
• Data Entry and Accuracycore
• Feedback Collection and Actioningcore
• Microsoft Excel Data Managementcore
• Microsoft Office Suite Proficiencycore
• Power BI Reporting and Dashboardscore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Process Improvement Identificationcore
• Report Writingcore
• Reporting and Analyticscore
• Research and Analysiscore
• Stakeholder Communicationcore
• Written Communicationcore
• Active Listening
• Confidentiality and Privacy Compliance
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Drive)
• Quality Assurance and Checking
• Team Collaboration
• Time Management and Prioritisation
• Verbal Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Market Research Analyst workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 10 October 2026