Power BI Architect and Platform Administrator

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Architect: Responsible for the entire Power BI ecosystem, ensuring it is scalable, secure, and integrated with the broader data stackDesigns advanced end-to-end solutions and setting organizational standards for BI adoption and data flow. 

Focus on scalable architecture, performance optimization, and strategic leadership builds the technical infrastructure: ETL, data modeling, and advanced DAX.  High-level system design and strategic planning.

Administrator: Responsible for the overall health, security, and governance of the organization's Power BI environment. Focus is on the Tenant and Infrastructure level rather than individual report creation. Managing the Power BI Service environment, including licenses, gateway configuration, and tenant settings.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty at a satisfactory level. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions. Essential job functions and duties include, but are not limited, to:

Architect:

Strategic Leadership & Architecture

• Stakeholder Partnership: Collaborate with executive leadership to align BI initiatives with overall business goals.  Serve as technical bridge between business leadership and BI development teams.
• Enterprise Architecture: Define how data flows from source systems into the warehouse and semantic layer.
• Data Lineage & Documentation: Establish and enforce organizational standards for data lineage, KPI definitions, and reporting governance.
• Mentorship: Lead and mentor junior developers and analysts, conducting code reviews to ensure quality and efficiency.
• Risk Mitigation: Identify scalability and performance risks before they impact reporting reliability. 
• Technical Mentorship: Provide high-level guidance to Power BI Developers and Data Engineers, defining the "best practices" they must follow.

Strategic Design & Roadmap

• Architecture Blueprinting: Design end-to-end BI solutions that define how data flows from source systems into the Power BI Service.
• Capacity Planning: Manage Power BI Premium/Fabric capacities, optimizing resource allocation to maintain performance across the enterprise.
• Roadmap Development: Align the BI strategy with long-term business goals, planning for future growth and evolving technology needs. 

Enterprise Data Modeling & Performance

• Semantic Model Strategy: Design and maintain enterprise-grade semantic models  (single source of truth).
• Complex Data Modeling: Build scalable star-schema models supporting multi-fact and multi-grain scenarios.
• Large Dataset Management: Architect solutions for high-volume transactional environments.
• DAX Optimization: Write high-performance Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) for optimized refresh strategies and deep performance tuning.
• Advanced Optimization: Direct troubleshooting for complex system-wide performance issues and large-scale data refresh failures.
• SQL & ETL Standards: Establish best practices for data transformation in SQL and Power Query.
• Advanced ETL: Utilize M language in Power Query for complex transformations or push processing upstream into SQL views to optimize the data pipeline.

Enterprise Integration & UX

• Visual Storytelling & UI/UX: Apply advanced design principles (e.g., Gestalt Principles) and interactive features like bookmarks, field parameters, and custom visuals (e.g., Deneb) to enhance user adoption.
• Automation: Integrate Power BI with Power Automate or Python/R scripts for advanced predictive modeling and workflow automation. 

Data Engineering & Performance

• Semantic Model Strategy: Lead the design of shared datasets and certified semantic models to promote a "single version of the truth" and reduce data duplication.
• Infrastructure Management: Oversee the configuration of on-premises data gateways and ensure high availability for data refreshes.
• Advanced Optimization: Direct troubleshooting for complex system-wide performance issues and large-scale data refresh failures. 

Governance, Security & Administration:

 Tenant Management & Governance

• Tenant Administration: Manage Power BI Service settings, workspace governance, and content lifecycle standards.
• License & Capacity Management: Oversee Pro / Premium / Fabric capacity allocation and performance monitoring.
• Gateway & Infrastructure Oversight: Ensure reliable data refresh and system uptime.
• Workspace Strategy: Define and enforce policies for workspace creation and management to prevent "tenant clutter".
• Governance Framework: Establish a Center of Excellence (CoE) to set standards for data lineage, naming conventions, and content certification. 
• BI Standards Framework: Define naming conventions, KPI governance, and dataset certification processes.
• Report Rationalization: Reduce duplication and enforce consistency across dashboards.

Security & Compliance

• Access Control: Manage user licenses (Pro, Premium, Fabric) and assign administrative roles like Power Platform Admin or Fabric Admin.
• Information Protection: Implement Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to protect sensitive data.
• Auditing & Monitoring: Regularly review Power BI Activity Logs and usage metrics to track user behavior and ensure compliance with regulatory standards like GDPR or HIPAA. 
• Security Architecture: Design and enforce Row-Level Security (RLS) and role-based access frameworks.

Performance & Capacity Optimization

• Capacity Management: Monitor and optimize Power BI Premium or Fabric capacity to ensure high performance and manage costs.
• Gateway Administration: Oversee the installation and maintenance of on-premises data gateways for secure, high-speed data refreshes.
• Performance Tuning: Use the Premium Capacity Metrics app to identify overloaded datasets or inefficient reports affecting system health. 

Automation & ALM

• Lifecycle Management: Support Deployment Pipelines to manage the movement of content between development, test, and production environments. Define release management standards using Deployment Pipelines or DevOps practices.

QUALIFICATIONS

The employee must have demonstrated experience and/or education as outlined below in order to satisfactorily perform the essential job duties and responsibilities. Qualifications may include, but are not limited, to:

Required Qualifications

•    7-10 years Business Intelligence / Data Engineering experience
•    Strong enterprise data modeling and warehouse design background

•    Advanced Power BI and DAX expertise

•    Proven experience administering Power BI tenant environments

•    Strong SQL and ETL optimization skills

•    Experience managing Premium or Fabric capacities

•    Experience designing enterprise security frameworks

Preferred Qualifications

•    DevOps / CI-CD experience

•    Experience with large-scale transactional datasets

•    Exposure to PostgreSQL, MSSQL, Fabric Lakehouse, Spotfire, Jira

• Experience supporting ERP or major system migrations

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORKING CONDITIONS

The Physical Demands and Working Conditions of this job may require the employee to perform the following physical activities during the course of work. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the Physical Demands and Working Conditions. Physical Demands and Working Conditions may include, but are not limited, to:

• Regularly uses a telephone/cell phone, computer (including keyboard), SMART devices, email and/or fax for necessary communications.
• Requires the essential use of hands, speech, eyesight, and hearing 

LOCATION

This position is based in our Beaver Dam, Wisconsin office and offers a hybrid work schedule.