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Analytics leadership: influence, mentoring and team craft · Expert · Lesson 88 of 99 · 5 min video, then about 1 hour of practice
Choosing between the staff IC and management paths
After this you can describe what senior individual contributor and analytics manager roles involve day to day, and make a deliberate choice between them.
Why it matters
After senior analyst, the path forks: staff or principal analyst (deep expertise, methodology, cross-team influence, no direct reports) or analytics manager (hiring, growing and directing people). Neither is a promotion over the other in a healthy organisation. Choose by which work energises you: solving hard analytical problems, or helping others solve them. Look at a public career framework to see what each level expects.
How to use this resource
Google for Developers on choosing between the individual contributor and manager paths, from December 2025. Framed for engineers; the trade-offs are the same for analysts.