Occupation
Program analyst
Program analysts examine how a funded program actually runs — who it reaches, whether it does what it was designed to do, and where it leaks time or money. The role sits between the policy that authorized a program and the operation that delivers it, and the output is usually an evaluation, a performance report, or a redesign recommendation.
Also known as: Programme analyst · Program officer · Program evaluation analyst
Occupation content
Part of Government, policy and administration
What the work involves
- Define the indicators that will show whether a program is meeting its stated objectives.
- Pull administrative and operational data and check it for gaps before analysing it.
- Interview delivery staff and participants about how the program works in practice.
- Compare delivery against the program's authority, guidelines, and reporting commitments.
- Write evaluation findings with recommendations the responsible manager can act on.
- Track whether prior recommendations were implemented and what changed as a result.
How people commonly enter
- A bachelor's degree in public administration, social science, economics, or statistics.
- A graduate qualification in evaluation, public policy, or program management for senior work.
- Promotion from a program delivery, administrative, or data role in the same organization.
- A government graduate or internship program with an evaluation or performance placement.
Typical training: Bachelor's degree
Licensing: Not typically licensed
Pathways: Common in public service
Typical work context
Desk based · Team based · Hybrid office · High responsibility
Related interests
Investigative (analytical) · Conventional (organizing)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Government, policy and administration.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- O*NET OnLine — occupation search: program analyst · United States
Link checked
- Canada Job Bank — Search job profiles (search: program officer) · Canada
Link checked
- USAJOBS — United States federal government hiring portal · United States
Link checked
Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Government, policy and administration in Canada, not a figure for Program analyst. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Government, policy and administration family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Government, policy and administration: education pathways
Some roles in Government, policy and administration may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Government, policy and administration: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Program analyst”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)