Every senior analyst eventually considers the next step in their career: should they continue deepening their expertise or explore a managerial role? For many, this decision comes with fears and doubts — after all, not everyone is ready to take on the responsibility of leading a team.
My name is Sergey Medin, and I am the Team Lead of Sales Analytics at Avito Real Estate. In this article, I will share my experience and strategy for growing from a senior analyst to a team lead.
Expert or Managerial: Two Main Career Paths for Analysts
In large companies, analysts typically have two possible career growth paths: managerial or expert. This allows each individual to choose the path that best aligns with their interests and strengths.
It is important to understand that an analyst's career development does not necessarily involve moving into management. Many professionals achieve significant success by continuing to develop as experts, deepening their technical knowledge and skills without taking on leadership responsibilities. In such cases, the expert track becomes an excellent choice.
Companies offer competitive salaries, bonuses, and other incentives for expert analysts, comparable to managerial compensation.
Example of managerial and expert tracks in a company
Career tracks may vary slightly depending on the company. For instance, at our company, senior analysts can choose the expert track and transition to the position of Lead Analyst, focusing on deepening their technical skills. Alternatively, they can follow the managerial path and become a Team Lead if they are interested in leadership tasks.
Key Differences Between a Team Lead and a Senior Analyst
To move from a senior analyst to a team lead, it is essential to understand the key differences in their roles, responsibilities, and required competencies.
1.Role Description
A senior analyst is responsible for analytics within a specific domain. They solve open-ended problems, bringing value to the business. They independently plan their work for the quarter and generate analytical tasks, aligning them with the team lead.
A team lead is responsible for solving complex analytical challenges, establishing effective analytics processes, and facilitating communication within the team. They oversee metrics for an entire unit, draw new ideas from external interactions and industry trends, and implement innovative solutions, even if they do not immediately gain support.
2.Key Responsibilities and Competencies
Senior analysts and team leads have a similar level of technical expertise; however, their roles differ significantly.
A senior analyst does not need to manage a team, allowing them to fully focus on solving complex technical tasks.
These tasks may require applying multiple methods and tools that need to be integrated into a unified analytical system. To achieve this, a senior analyst must have a high level of proficiency with the entire tech stack, which typically includes SQL/DWH, data visualization tools such as Redash/Plotly, statistics, mathematics, Python, and Machine Learning.
Additionally, companies value senior analysts who share their expertise with colleagues and speak at internal meetups.
A team lead spends no more than 50% of their time on technical tasks, with the rest dedicated to management.
They must find an approach for each team member: explain tasks to junior analysts in a way they can understand and work effectively with senior analysts while avoiding excessive pressure, which may not be productive.
Team leads often operate under stress and experience pressure from both sides: from team members expecting support and from leadership demanding results.
Balancing these expectations is one of the key challenges for a leader.
An essential part of a team lead's role is the continuous search for growth opportunities in both the product and business. They analyze current strategies and look for ways to improve them, helping the company maintain its competitive advantage in the market.
Additionally, a team lead actively participates in the hiring process: they justify the need for team expansion, take part in interviews, and support the onboarding of new employees. Like a lead analyst, a team lead also shares their expertise externally, representing the company at industry events.
3.Growth and Development Opportunities
A senior analyst has the opportunity to expand their competencies and develop horizontally by taking on the lead analyst position.
To achieve this, they need to deepen their knowledge of all necessary tools and successfully complete a project that positively impacts the metrics of an entire cluster. Such a specialist serves as a center of expertise, identifying open issues in the product and sharing their knowledge and insights at external events.
One potential risk for a senior analyst is stagnation—the illusion that everything has already been learned and further growth is impossible. In such a situation, it can be beneficial to try mentoring younger specialists, as this not only helps them grow but also stimulates the senior analyst’s own professional development.
Upon reaching the team lead position, professionals can continue progressing toward becoming a division lead.
This role involves coordinating multiple teams, setting long-term goals, and shaping the analytics strategy for an entire business cluster. To move into this role, a team lead must successfully achieve their objectives and develop a comprehensive strategic vision for their domain.
Moving from Senior Analyst to Team Lead: Insights from Personal Experience
When I faced the decision of further career growth, I chose to pursue vertical development and become a team lead. I was drawn not only to technical challenges but also to the opportunity to build processes, establish communication, organize team workflows, and support other analysts in their professional growth.
To transition from a senior analyst to a team lead, there are two main paths:
1.Growth through Initiative and Achievements
For a senior analyst aiming to become a team lead, it is crucial not only to perform their duties successfully but also to demonstrate leadership qualities. This includes actively contributing to the development of the team and the company on a more strategic level.
While senior analysts already play a significant role in business-impacting tasks, the key differentiator is proactive initiative in creating new opportunities. For example, leading a small group (2-3 people) to execute a project that positively influences key business metrics. Another critical factor is mentoring colleagues and sharing expertise, as this demonstrates readiness to manage a team.
In large IT companies, work performance is typically reviewed periodically, and if a senior analyst’s results align with the expectations of a team lead role, they receive a promotion.
2.Growth through Changing Companies
If career growth opportunities are limited at the current employer, another option is to move to a different company for a higher-level position.
I chose the first path. For me, growing through initiative and achievements was the most natural and engaging approach. The company I was working at at the time provided clear opportunities for career advancement.
Key Steps That Helped Me Become a Team Lead
Step 1: Study the Hard and Soft Skills Required for a Team Lead
I thoroughly studied the skill descriptions for analytics team leads available in the company's knowledge base. I also reviewed job postings and spoke with my manager. Together, we created an Individual Development Plan (IDP), outlining my current competencies, strengths, and areas for growth.
Based on this, we identified the skills that required further development and defined specific goals and action steps to help me improve. Among hard skills, I focused particularly on mastering Python libraries at an expert level (pandas, seaborn, requests, etc.), as well as developing the ability to formulate strategies and make independent decisions.
Regarding soft skills, I actively worked on leadership qualities, interacting with junior and mid-level analysts and coordinating their work.
I also paid close attention to motivating the team, effective communication, and conflict management. Platforms like Coursera and Stepik were particularly helpful, as they offer a wide range of courses developed by professionals from top international companies and universities.
Step 2: Understand the Company’s Strategic Business Goals
For a team lead to be successful, they need to understand not only their specific area of work but also the company’s broader strategic goals. I suggested to my manager that we organize regular meetings to analyze results, discuss initiatives, and align on the overall objectives of our department.
This allowed us to identify the current product priorities and helped me understand how I could contribute effectively. Additionally, on my own initiative, I analyzed available reports and company news, which enabled me to propose more efficient solutions and improve the team’s performance.
Step 3: Take on Responsibilities Typical for a Team Lead
One of the company's key challenges was the high cost of courier acquisition. I decided to demonstrate my team lead potential by starting with an in-depth analysis of the processes in this area. My task was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of all acquisition channels, identify ineffective ones, and create analytical dashboards for managers.
This required coordinating the work of multiple teams, delivering presentations, and closely collaborating with colleagues. I also took charge of backlog management, made key decisions independently, and delegated other tasks by identifying the right executors and aligning with them.
As a result, we reduced courier acquisition costs and improved team efficiency, confirming my readiness for a team lead role. This project is just one example of how taking initiative can drive meaningful impact.
Step 4: Prepare Thoroughly for Performance Reviews
A performance review is an evaluation of an employee’s results over a specific period, which can lead to a promotion. The frequency of reviews depends on the company.
During a review, it is crucial to clearly and convincingly present your achievements, supporting them with quantitative data rather than just listing responsibilities. For six months leading up to my review, I collected and documented evidence of my achievements and growth, including successful projects, feedback from colleagues and management, as well as my own observations on my development.
My progress was noticed by my manager even before the review—I was entrusted with hiring new employees for a project. This was a strong indication that I was moving in the right direction.
Final Thoughts
By following these steps, I successfully transitioned to a team lead position and continued developing in the managerial track. Later, I wanted to work on a new product, so I moved to another company.
When choosing a new employer, I focused on companies with a well-structured performance evaluation system. For example, in my current company, career growth is determined through calibration and performance reviews, which take place every six months. During these sessions, team leads and division leads (leaders of team leads) gather to discuss each employee's results and make a collective decision about promotions.
This approach minimizes bias. If a company lacks clear growth opportunities and a structured performance evaluation process, career progression can become unclear. That’s why it’s essential to clarify these aspects during the interview stage.
I hope my experience proves valuable and perhaps inspires you to take the next step in your career.
If you have any questions and would like to discuss career development, feel free to message me on LinkedIn!
Top comments (1)
It was very interesting to read about the managerial and exert development track. Thank you for the article!