Data allows us to make sense of the world and change it for the better. With the average annual income for a data scientist set to pass $130K within the next 12 months, suss our pick of next-gen gigs that use analytics every day.

Check out all the awesome data jobs we could think of...

Data analyst/business analyst/ market research analyst

Skills: Maths/Communications

What you’ll do: Turn boring numbers into compelling stories people can engage with. Data analysts use the tools of data engineers to analyse data and report on what they find – identifying trends, creating charts and visual representations of the data.

Data engineer

Skills: Computer science/Maths

What you’ll do: Deal with millions of data points and manage the storage of data. Data engineers design, build and maintain the infrastructure needed for data generation, including tidying up raw data to make it readable and useful.

Data scientist

Skills: Science/Maths/Languages

What you’ll do: Make hypotheses and evaluate them using scientific principles. Data scientists come up with their own questions (hypotheses) and create computer algorithms to make predictions based on data.

Data ethicist

Skills: Maths/Law

What you’ll do: Tell stories that are skewed or selectively focused on areas of bias, and make sure companies are compliant with data laws. Establish legislation that protects us from unauthorised use of our data such as facial recognition being used to track our movements.

Data shepherd

Skills: Machine learning/ Computer science

What you’ll do: Decipher near incomprehensible algorithms trained on data. “Data shepherds will use machine learning to guide a program towards being successful and correct in the future,” says Greg Baker from General Assembly.

Data Librarian

Skills: Maths/English/ Computer science

What you’ll do: Keep track of vast quantities of data and find relevant data sets to make programs work better, tracking the provenance of data.

Biostatistical data specialist

Skills: Biology/Maths

What you’ll do: Keep track of – and utilise – biological data. In the future we might have an Apple watch that can diagnose disease, or instant genetic sampling of species. “There’s a huge range of areas that can benefit from biological data in the future,” says Greg.