Business analyst resume keywords

We counted the skills in 169 open business analyst job postings from 89 employers, including Palantir, Axon and Fivetran. The ones employers ask for most are automation (36% of postings), sales (34%) and Salesforce (30%). 60% of the postings mention AI, though often in the company's description rather than as a skill the job needs.

Top skills and tools in business analyst postings

#KeywordShare of postings
1automation 36%
2sales 34%
3Salesforce 30%
4compliance 26%
5dashboards 25%
6process improvement 25%
7analytics 25%
8SQL 24%
9sales operations 20%
10audit 18%
11marketing 18%
12accounting 15%
13go-to-market 14%
14data analysis 12%
15customer experience 12%
16supply chain 12%
17billing 11%
18product roadmap 11%
19CRM 11%
20Excel 10%
21Python 10%
22SOX 10%
23data quality 9%
24Jira 9%
25troubleshooting 9%
26procurement 9%
27reconciliation 9%
28communications 9%
29onboarding 8%
30contract negotiation 8%

Share of the 169 postings whose description names the skill (plurals and common spellings, such as “JS” and “JavaScript”, count as one).

Soft skills employers mention

reporting · 18%communication · 12%analytical skills · 10%leadership · 10%documentation · 10%cross-functional · 8%attention to detail · 7%collaboration · 7%ownership · 6%

Show these through results in your bullets (“led a team of six”) rather than listing them as adjectives.

How to use these keywords on your business analyst resume

  1. Start with the posting, not this list. These are averages across 169 jobs; the one you're applying for has its own priorities. Use this page to spot common gaps, then match the specific posting.
  2. Name skills the way employers do. If you use “automation”, “sales” and “Salesforce”, write those exact words. Applicant tracking systems and recruiters search for them, and a close synonym can be missed.
  3. Put each skill in a bullet that shows a result. Naming compliance inside a bullet about what you achieved with it, with a number where you can, is stronger than listing it alone in a skills section.
  4. Add only what's true. If you've worked with “compliance”, “dashboards” and “process improvement” but your resume doesn't say so, add it. If you haven't, leave it out: interviews expose padded resumes quickly.

How these numbers are calculated

Every figure comes from open business analyst job postings on MANY Hired, imported from employers' own career pages. For each posting we pick out the skills, tools, certifications and qualifications its description names, then count how many postings ask for each one. A job counts as business analyst by its title. Updated October 28, 2026.