Power BI SME

Job description

Role Summary Avanade India’s Data & AI practice is looking for a Power BI Consultant who can take a reporting requirement from the first conversation with a business user through to a published, refreshing, secured dashboard in production. This is a hands-on build role with real client exposure — you will gather requirements, design the data model, write the DAX, build the visuals and own the solution through go-live. We are looking for someone who thinks about the model before the chart. Strong DAX and a clean star schema are what make a dashboard fast, accurate and maintainable, and this role is weighted towards that discipline as much as towards visual design. Programming exposure — particularly Python for data analysis — is a welcome addition and will be supported and developed in the role, but strong Power BI craft is what matters most. Key Responsibilities Gather and clarify reporting requirements with business and IT stakeholders — understand the questions being asked, the decisions they support, the underlying data sources and the definitions behind each metric. Translate requirements into a solution design: data model, KPI and measure definitions, report structure, navigation, security model and refresh approach. Design and build robust Power BI data models — star schema design, fact and dimension tables, relationships and cardinality, date/calendar tables, hierarchies and role-playing dimensions. Write and optimise DAX — measures, calculated columns and tables, time intelligence, variables, context transition, and performance tuning of slow measures. Build and maintain Power Query (M) transformations — source connections, cleansing, shaping, merges and appends, query folding awareness, parameters and incremental refresh setup. Develop KPI dashboards and analytical reports that are visually clear and decision-oriented — appropriate visual selection , consistent formatting, drill-through, bookmarks, tooltips and accessible design. Implement row-level security — role design, DAX filter expressions, static and dynamic RLS patterns — and validate it thoroughly before release. Configure and manage Power BI Service operations: workspaces, apps, dataset publishing, scheduled refresh, on-premises data gateway configuration, refresh failure troubleshooting and access management. Profile, validate and reconcile data against source systems — using SQL, and Python where you have it — to investigate anomalies and support analysis that goes beyond the dashboard. Write and tune SQL against source systems and data warehouses to extract, validate and shape data for reporting. Test and validate reports — reconciliation against source, measure accuracy checks, performance testing on realistic data volumes, and UAT support with business users. Document solutions — data dictionaries, measure definitions, model documentation and handover material — and support end users through training and adoption. Follow deployment and governance practice: workspace lifecycle, deployment pipelines, version control, naming standards and dataset certification where applicable. Contribute to reusable practice assets — report templates, DAX pattern libraries, theme files and accelerators. . Required Skills & Experience 3–6 years of hands-on experience building and delivering Power BI solutions in a client or enterprise environment. Strong DAX skills — measures, time intelligence, filter and row context, CALCULATE patterns, and the ability to debug and optimise existing DAX. Strong Power Query / M skills for data transformation, including handling multiple and messy source systems. Solid data modelling capability — dimensional modelling, star schema design, relationship and granularity decisions, and understanding of why model design drives report performance. Proven experience designing and building KPI dashboards that business users actually use , with attention to layout, clarity and interaction design. Hands-on implementation of row-level security, including dynamic RLS driven by a user/security table. Practical experience with Power BI Service administration: workspaces, apps, scheduled refresh , data gateway setup and refresh troubleshooting. Experience across the full delivery cycle — requirement gathering, solution design, build, testing, UAT and go-live support — not only report building to a handed-over spec. Good SQL — joins, aggregations, window functions and query optimisation basics. Ability to engage business stakeholders directly, ask clarifying questions and explain technical constraints in plain language. Attention to detail on data accuracy, with the habit of reconciling and validating numbers before they reach a user. Preferred / Good to Have Programming exposure and data analysis in Python — pandas and numpy for data manipulation, basic visualisation and readable analysis scripts. Good to have rather than essential; an interest in building this skill is valued. Microsoft certification PL-300 (Power BI Data Analyst) or DP-600 (Fabric Analytics Engineer). Exposure to Microsoft Fabric — Lakehouse, Warehouse, Dataflows Gen2, semantic models and Direct Lake. Experience with Azure data services — Azure SQL, Synapse, Data Factory or Databricks — feeding Power BI datasets. Familiarity with Power BI performance tooling: DAX Studio, Tabular Editor, Performance Analyzer and Best Practice Analyzer. Experience with paginated reports (Power BI Report Builder) or Power BI Embedded. Exposure to Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate) for embedded and write-back scenarios. Awareness of data governance and cataloguing — Microsoft Purview, sensitivity labels and dataset certification. Version control and CI/CD experience for Power BI (Git integration, deployment pipelines). Domain exposure in one or more of manufacturing, BFSI, consumer goods, energy or healthcare reporting. .