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

Saving keeps the career family and this occupation as your private target role on this device.

Occupation content

Part of Government, policy and administration

A visual day in the work

What the work involves

  1. Define the indicators that will show whether a program is meeting its stated objectives.

  2. Pull administrative and operational data and check it for gaps before analysing it.

  3. Interview delivery staff and participants about how the program works in practice.

  4. Compare delivery against the program's authority, guidelines, and reporting commitments.

  5. Write evaluation findings with recommendations the responsible manager can act on.

  6. Track whether prior recommendations were implemented and what changed as a result.

Entry-route stepper

How people commonly enter

  1. A bachelor's degree in public administration, social science, economics, or statistics.

  2. A graduate qualification in evaluation, public policy, or program management for senior work.

  3. Promotion from a program delivery, administrative, or data role in the same organization.

  4. 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

Work-context map

Typical work context

  • Desk based
  • Team based
  • Hybrid office
  • High responsibility

Desk based · Team based · Hybrid office · High responsibility

Related interests

  • Investigative (analytical)
  • Conventional (organizing)

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.

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

Explore Canada's official sources

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.

Report a change or missing information

Related occupations

Learn → Practise → Prepare → Apply

Continue from this occupation

Choose a learning action because it supports the work, not because a test score predicts career suitability.

When you get to the application

Novus Learn stops at preparation. These two Novus tools cover the paperwork, and like this site they run entirely in your browser. Nothing you upload to them leaves your device.

Report a change or missing information

Consent version 2026-08-21.1

Cookie preferences