Data jobs analysis 2026
How much do different data roles get advertised for in non profits and how has that changed in the past few years.
In 2026 I undertook an analysis of Nonprofit data roles based on my weekly(ish) newsletter.
The analyses are published in a series of posts examining:
We might be seeing a greater spread of salaries for heads of data
Crunching the numbers for head of data roles in nonprofits.
This is part four of a several part series analysing four years of data vacancy data in nonprofits.
Part one gives an overview and explains a bit more about the dataset.
Heads of data
This is a job family that covers roles such as Head of Data or Head of Insights. For simplicity I’m going to refer to “Heads of Data” roles throughout.
How much Heads of data get paid
Heads of data roles had median salaries of £65,933 in 2026. This was up from £56,019 in 2022.
Though the median salary has bounced around a bit I think we can see a general increase over the years.
But what, you ask, is the spread of salaries?
To the dumbbell charts.
If your salary is between the dots then you're in the same range as 50% of Heads of data. If your salary is lower than the lower dot you're in the range where only 25% of Heads of data get paid this little. If your salary is higher than the high dot, you're in the range where only 25% of Heads of data get paid this much.
These roles include London weighting where that is relevant. They are also the FTE rate in cases where the post was advertised on part time hours.
We’ve seeing a big spread of salaries in 2026. This could be an artefact of a smaller dataset. If I were to speculate I might imagine that more organisations are recognising they need a head of data but many organisations can’t justify the typical salary. The upper bound is reasonably steady but we’re seeing expansion at the lower bound.
I’ve drawn one chart for each calendar year.
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
Heads of data overall
As we might expect there are fewer adverts for Head of data positions than more junior roles. Though looking back I’ve been surprised, ad pleased, to see that actually there are more than I remembered.
There is a real range of salary within this job family. Does this suggest that there is progression within the job family? Are people being recruited to lower salary roles and then moving into higher salary roles?
I can’t tell from this data. Which is frustrating. But I am pleased to see that there are a steady stream of adverts for heads of data in nonprofits. So if you are in a more junior role right now there is something to work towards.
Officers get paid a lot less than analysts but their pay is increasing
What does the data tell us about data officer roles in nonprofits?
This is part four of a several part series analysing four years of data vacancy data in nonprofits.
Part one gives an overview and explains a bit more about the dataset.
Part five looks at heads of data
Officers
This is a job family that covers roles that have a technical focus but at a lower level than Analysts. It includes jobs such as “Data Officer, Data Selections Officer and Data Co-ordinator”.
How much officers get paid
Analyst roles had median salaries of £31,565 in 2026. This was up from £27,644 in 2022.
This increase is striking when compared to Analyst roles which were largely flat across the same time period.
Averages are all very well but what you really want to know is whether you are competitive in the market. That’s what these dumbell charts try to help you with.
If your salary is between the dots then you're in the same range as 50% of officers. If your salary is lower than the lower dot you're in the range where only 25% of officers get paid this little. If your salary is higher than the high dot, you're in the range where only 25% of analysts get paid this much.
So in 2026 the range is from £28,712 to £34,404. Which only barely overlaps with analyst roles (the range there between £33K and £42K). I think it’s worth asking yourself whether you need an analyst given the premium you’ll be paying over an officer.
These roles include London weighting where that is relevant.
I find it really helpful to look at the spread of all salaries. These charts have a dot for each vacancy. I’ve annotated a few so you can see what sort of roles we’re talking about here.
I’ve drawn one chart for each calendar year.
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
Analysts overall
This is a really interesting job family to me. I suspect that there are organisations who only need a data officer rather than a data analyst and the data suggests they will be paying less for that role.
But are there organisations who would get the value from an analyst who are only recruiting to officer roles?
I’d love to hear from employers and from people in data officer roles.