Do We Need Junior Business Analysts?

The Temptation to Say No

I saw on LinkedIn a rare opportunity for 2025: a vacancy for a Junior BA. I wondered whether hiring someone for such a junior position makes sense, considering the current level of AI advancement.

My immediate answer is NO: as a Product Manager managing a portfolio of products, AI could do the same work as a junior Business Analyst does. And sometimes, with a better quality and less involvement of someone who needs to guide that person.

Let's discuss the statement above, because the answer is not as simple as it may seem.

The Reality of Junior Roles

I hired, interviewed, and mentored several junior business analysts. I was a junior business analyst many years ago, so I have some credibility to debate that topic.

Let's exclude the speculation that AI will replace everyone in the software development business in a few years. The people who say that are biased, and they have a clear financial incentive to push their narrative.

We are not there yet, and it is unclear when or whether we will achieve full automation to produce production-ready solutions.

Junior developers, for instance, are not capable of writing production-ready code without supervision for a complex enterprise system. The same applies to junior business analysts, who need guidance at every analysis stage.

Let's review the basic responsibilities of a junior BA:

1. Requirements gathering: usually assisting a more experienced colleague with focusing on document analysis. They need time to develop other techniques, like interviewing and workshops.
2. Documenting requirements: writing business requirements documents, use cases, user stories, acceptance criteria, etc. All those BA artifacts require an additional review from a more experienced colleague.
3. Stakeholder communication: I recently wrote about that aspect, which is difficult to replace with AI. Junior specialists are primarily involved in simple tasks like demos, scheduling, meeting participation, taking notes, and following up on action items.

AI is good at document analysis, producing credible BA artifacts, recording demos, and taking meeting notes with the following action items. Of course, it is possible when you use the right tools and know the proper techniques.

Based on my observation, a junior BA requires about a year to start giving real value, covering all efforts spent on their training. That number can vary depending on a person's background, skills, and familiarity with a business domain. But again, that is my observation without any data proof.

So, do I need to invest a year of my time and my colleagues' time (which might not end successfully if a person underdelivers) when AI tools cover those basic responsibilities usually required from a junior BA?

The Market Has Changed

From a short-term business perspective, the answer is an obvious NO. Product managers and middle/senior business analysts are empowered enough to manage activities that they could previously delegate to junior specialists. If they are not empowered with AI tooling, they will soon be replaced by those who are.

That coincides with the unfortunate state of the job market, with the limited and narrowing demand. Nowadays, you can hire experienced professionals for an amount of money that was unthinkable five years ago. Continuous tech layoffs have dramatically decreased the financial expectations of people ready to accept pay cuts to have a job.

In 2021, I was looking for a middle BA to join my Digital Experience Platform team and relieve me of the requirements burden. Due to the technical and complex domain requiring API knowledge and not overpaying for that, job seekers showed little interest. I hired and trained a Junior BA, which was a good decision at that moment.

In 2025, I would have had a vast choice from dozens, if not hundreds, of experienced candidates. So, I would not consider hiring a junior person, even for cheaper money, but because I need to invest my time in mentoring and training.

The Long-Term Problem: No Juniors, No Future

The denial of hiring junior business analysts causes another problem: extinction. We had to have a flow of fresh blood into the discipline.

Organizations tended to hire junior specialists to keep up with growing demand and provide circulation to replace people who will eventually leave. Leave for another job or another, often a managerial role in the company.

But now the demand is low.

And senior specialists like me will also struggle: no one will naturally replace us and let us grow on a career ladder.

But the ladder no longer exists. Big tech eliminates the mid-managerial level. That means we have no space to advance and are destined to stay experienced individual contributors. AI-powered individual contributors.

And our number will diminish as in the Hunter Games, until all that reaches a kind of balance.

Or another Black Swan will get rid of us. Who knows.

What Comes Next?

Business Analysis will strive as a discipline, but I doubt that a BA role will exist as it did 5-10 years ago. It will transform, and we will soon see what it becomes.

And we, my dear experienced professionals, are trapped in a vicious circle: we are undergoing a crucial transformation while an old, good career ladder is broken.

My fellow juniors! Even though my words sound pessimistic, that doesn't mean no one is hiring and everyone should be desperate. Keep trying: where there's a will, there's a way.

Good luck to us all!