People Analytics & Workforce Planning — P6
PEOPLE.PEOPLEANF6F9.P6
Focuses on transforming HR and workforce data into evidence-based insight that drives talent decisions. Spans reporting and data cleaning, statistical and predictive analysis (e.g., attrition risk, compensation equity, engagement), and short- to long-horizon workforce planning. Distinct from HRIS/systems administration (which maintains the technical data infrastructure) and from HR business partnering (which owns relationship and policy execution); this function owns the analytics, research design, and the data strategy that informs human capital decisions.
Focuses on transforming HR and workforce data into evidence-based insight that drives talent decisions. Spans reporting and data cleaning, statistical and predictive analysis (e.g., attrition risk, compensation equity, engagement), and short- to long-horizon workforce planning. Distinct from HRIS/systems administration (which maintains the technical data infrastructure) and from HR business partnering (which owns relationship and policy execution); this function owns the analytics, research design, and the data strategy that informs human capital decisions.
Focus — People Analytics & Workforce Planning
Focuses on transforming HR and workforce data into evidence-based insight that drives talent decisions. Spans reporting and data cleaning, statistical and predictive analysis (e.g., attrition risk, compensation equity, engagement), and short- to long-horizon workforce planning. Distinct from HRIS/systems administration (which maintains the technical data infrastructure) and from HR business partnering (which owns relationship and policy execution); this function owns the analytics, research design, and the data strategy that informs human capital decisions.
Material PAY and SKILL differential vs the function baseline.
Responsibilities by level
What this person actually does at each level on the professional track — escalating scope, not one generic blob. Your level is highlighted.
- Builds reports and dashboards from HR systems and cleans and organizes raw data into a usable analytical format.
- Conducts basic statistical analyses (e.g., descriptive summaries, simple regression) under the direction of senior analysts.
- Aggregates data from HRIS and other HR systems, maintaining data quality and updating systems as records change.
- Supports senior analysts on research projects by extracting headcount and attrition data and preparing inputs.
- Learns the organization's data infrastructure and builds credibility with HR business partners through accurate, timely reporting.
- Designs and leads research projects independently, framing the question, selecting methodology, and interpreting results with appropriate caveats.
- Owns a specific analytics domain such as engagement, attrition, compensation equity, or talent acquisition effectiveness.
- Runs SQL queries to extract headcount and attrition data from the HRIS and builds dashboards in Tableau or Power BI.
- Advises HR business partners on engagement survey results and translates predictive models (e.g., flight risk) into actionable recommendations.
- Conducts operational workforce planning over a six-month to two-year horizon and mentors junior analysts.
- Conducts in-depth analysis explaining not just what happened but why, using regression and predictive modeling across multiple HR systems.
- Structures and manages complex data-driven analysis spanning HRIS, ATS, and the HR data warehouse to produce insights that influence business decisions.
- Presents findings to HR leadership and executive teams and forecasts hiring bottlenecks with talent acquisition leaders.
- Ensures data integrity and navigates ethical data compliance across analytics deliverables.
- Leads cross-domain analytics projects and may supervise the work of more junior analysts on those efforts.
- Serves as the subject matter expert, working with HR and business leadership to identify critical human capital opportunities.
- Consults with senior-level business leaders on human capital initiatives, translating strategic goals into analytics agendas.
- Makes recommendations to the HR Senior Leadership Team on analytics, reporting strategy, metrics, and data governance best practices.
- Acts independently on broad and special assignments, applying judgment to ambiguous, strategic human capital questions.
- Builds influential networks across HR and the business and represents the analytics function in executive forums.
- Owns the data strategy for the entire people function (VP-level scope, reporting to the CHRO) and leads the organization toward a data-driven, insight-led culture.
- Provides leadership, guidance, training, and subject matter expertise to the People Analytics team.
- Enables leaders and HR to make workforce decisions aligned with talent strategy, moving them away from gut-feel decisions.
- Directs strategic workforce planning over a three- to five-year horizon or beyond.
- Builds advanced machine learning and agentic AI capabilities and continuously emphasizes the business-outcome value of people analytics.
Level guidelines
The universal leveling rubric applied to this function — how scope, complexity, collaboration, and experience step up across levels.
| Level | Knowledge & Application | Complexity & Problem Solving | Collaboration & Interaction | Typical Degree & Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P2 | Applies foundational reporting, SQL extraction, and data-cleaning skills within defined procedures; builds familiarity with the HR data infrastructure and standard metrics. | Handles moderate, conventional analytical tasks such as building a recurring dashboard or running a descriptive summary; problems have known approaches. | Builds productive working relationships with HR business partners and senior analysts; communicates clean outputs and clarifies data requests. | 2+ years with a BA, or an MS/PhD with no prior experience. |
| P3 | Applies research design, statistics, and BI tooling to own a discrete analytics domain end-to-end; selects appropriate methods within an established domain. | Evaluates identifiable factors across diverse problems with moderate independence — e.g., designing an attrition study or interpreting engagement survey patterns. | Networks with senior professionals and HR business partners; advises stakeholders on survey results and model outputs; may coordinate project activities. | 5+ years (BA), 3 years (MA), or a PhD without prior experience. |
| P4 | Applies in-depth analytical and predictive-modeling expertise across multiple HR systems; selects methods and resolves confounding-variable and data-integrity challenges. | Tackles complex issues with functional impact, performing causal and predictive analysis ('why,' not just 'what') across integrated data sources. | Coordinates across HR, talent acquisition, and business groups; presents to leadership and executive teams; may influence decisions and lead project teams. | 8+ years, often with graduate education in a quantitative or behavioral field. |
| P5 | Brings expert, intangible judgment to strategic human capital questions; recognized internally as the authority on analytics methodology, metrics, and governance. | Addresses strategic, ambiguous issues that contribute to company objectives; navigates intangibles with high independence on broad and special assignments. | Builds influential networks across HR and business leadership; advises the HR Senior Leadership Team; acts as a spokesperson for the analytics function. | 12+ years with extensive people-analytics expertise. |
| P6 | Shapes the field of practice for the organization — defining the people-function data strategy and pioneering ML/agentic-AI capabilities and strategic workforce planning. | Solves organization-wide, field-defining problems with a visionary, multi-year outlook; sets the analytics agenda that reshapes how the company makes workforce decisions. | Influences the function and the broader organization as a recognized thought leader; partners with the CHRO and executive leaders to drive culture change. | 15+ years as a principal expert in people analytics; often PhD plus demonstrated industry leadership. |
Skills
Focus-specific skills the role applies — the relevance layer beyond the occupational base.
- SQL
- Queries HRIS databases, joins tables across systems, and extracts specific data subsets for headcount, attrition, and research needs.
- Excel / Spreadsheet fluency
- Applies advanced spreadsheet skills to structure and manage complex data-driven analysis.
- Python or R
- Uses statistical programming to run models, automate data pipelines, and perform analyses beyond Excel or BI tools.
- Data visualization
- Builds clear, insightful dashboards and translates findings into formats non-technical stakeholders can act on.
- Statistics
- Applies statistical methods including linear and logistic regression to uncover patterns and relationships within workforce data.
- Machine learning
- Applies regression, classification, and clustering concepts for predictive modeling such as attrition risk scoring.
- Research design
- Frames a question, selects the right methodology, identifies confounding variables, and interprets results with appropriate caveats.
- Psychometrics
- Applies survey and measurement science to handle constructs and engagement survey data.
- Data governance
- Ensures data integrity, ethical data compliance, and adherence to data governance best practices.
- Stakeholder consulting
- Translates analysis into actionable recommendations and advises business and HR leaders on human capital initiatives.
- Workforce planning
- Analyses strategic goals to determine workforce requirements, skills, knowledge, and capabilities needed across short and long horizons.
Provenance
The evidence base behind this profile — every layer is sourced; quality is scored by an adversarial review panel (1–5; passes at ≥4 on the minimum dimension).
Level — P6 — Principal Professional
Top individual contributor; recognized authority with strategic impact, equivalent to a low executive level
- Scope
- Organization-wide architecture and the hardest problems
- Autonomy
- Defines direction; minimal oversight
- Complexity
- Strategic, open-ended problems shaping the technical future
- Impact
- Organization-wide
- Decision rights
- Sets technical strategy for a major area
- Leadership
- Recognized authority; multiplies many teams
- Typical experience
- 12–18 yrs
Adjacent roles
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O*NET / SOC
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