Two regional heads walk into a Monday review with different revenue figures, both taken from company dashboards. One filter treats cancelled orders differently from the other. Sorting that out, agreeing one definition and building it into a single trusted model is the heart of a BI developer’s work. They take data that engineers have already prepared and turn it into semantic models, calculations and reports in Power BI or Tableau, then keep those reports quick, secure and refreshed on schedule.
This page has a BI developer job description template that works for either tool, followed by notes on levels, practical screening checks, mistakes to avoid in the ad, and when to use contract, contract-to-hire or permanent hiring.
BI developer job description template
Pick one tool and title the post “Power BI Developer” or “Tableau Developer” where you can, since that is what candidates search for. The two share modelling logic but differ in practice: Power BI work centres on DAX and Power Query, while Tableau work centres on calculated fields, level of detail expressions and visual design. Keep the generic title only if you run both.
About the role
[Company] is hiring a BI Developer to build reporting for [finance / sales / operations / leadership]. You will design data models and dashboards in [Power BI / Tableau] on top of [Snowflake / Azure SQL / BigQuery / your warehouse], and be the person who makes sure the numbers agree. You will be based in [city / remote] and report to [analytics manager or head of data].
Responsibilities
- Meet with business users to understand the decisions a report should support, and agree metric definitions in writing.
- Build star-schema models that keep logic in one place and can be reused by several reports.
- Write measures and calculations in [DAX / Tableau calculated fields and LOD expressions].
- Shape and clean source data with [Power Query / Tableau Prep] and SQL, working with data engineers on upstream fixes.
- Design dashboards that lead with the answer, with sensible drill-downs and consistent filters.
- Set up row-level security so each user sees only the data they should.
- Tune slow reports using [Performance Analyzer / Performance Recording], and choose between [Import and DirectQuery / extracts and live connections].
- Schedule and monitor refreshes in [Power BI Service / Tableau Cloud / Tableau Server], and act quickly on failures.
- Manage workspaces or projects, deployment between environments and report documentation.
Requirements
- [X] years building production reports in [Power BI / Tableau].
- Strong SQL, including joins, window functions and writing views for reporting.
- Solid dimensional modelling, including fact and dimension tables and date tables.
- Strong [DAX, including filter context and time intelligence / Tableau calculations, including LOD expressions and table calculations].
- Experience implementing row-level security in a shared environment.
- Ability to discuss numbers plainly with non-technical stakeholders and challenge an unclear request.
Nice to have
- The PL-300 certification for Power BI, or a Tableau certification.
- Experience with Microsoft Fabric or dbt.
- Experience migrating reports from [Tableau to Power BI / Excel / SSRS / QlikView].
- Knowledge of your business domain, such as [retail / banking / manufacturing].
What we offer
- [Salary range] and [benefits].
- [Work mode] and [month-end or quarter-end expectations, if any].
- [Tool licences and training budget].
How the BI developer role changes by level
Junior BI developer
A junior builds and updates reports on models that already exist, writes simple measures and fixes visual issues. Ask for good SQL, one tool and a sample dashboard they can explain. Excel-heavy analysts moving across can do well here if their logic is sound.
Mid-level BI developer
This person owns a business area. They build the semantic model, write the harder calculations, set up security and manage refreshes, and they talk to stakeholders directly. Ask for a report they rebuilt to make it faster or a metric dispute they settled.
Senior BI developer or BI lead
A senior sets modelling standards, certified models, naming rules and how the organisation governs self-service reporting. They plan tenant or site administration, licensing and capacity with IT, and they guide other developers. Where the job moves towards warehouse and governance design for the whole company, an analytics architect is the better title.
BI developer skills that matter most, and how to check them
- SQL. Give two tables with mismatched grain and ask for monthly revenue by region. Watch whether they notice the join would double-count, since the same mistake often causes reporting disputes.
- Data modelling. Ask them to sketch a model for sales, returns and targets stored at different grains. Candidates who build one wide flat table for everything will suffer as the model grows.
- DAX or Tableau logic. For Power BI, ask them to explain the difference between row context and filter context, then write a year-to-date measure. For Tableau, ask when a FIXED level of detail expression behaves differently from a table calculation, and why.
- Performance. Share a report that takes too long to open and ask how they would diagnose it. Look for measuring first, then reducing visuals, simplifying measures and changing storage mode or extract design.
- Security. Ask how a sales manager would see only their region, and how they would test that. A candidate who has only ever published to small teams often struggles here.
- Dashboard judgement. Ask them to walk through a portfolio dashboard and name who uses it and what decision it changed. If nobody could act on it, that tells you plenty.
Common BI developer job description mistakes
- Listing Power BI and Tableau as one skill. A strong DAX developer may be a beginner in Tableau, and the reverse is also true. Fix: require the tool you use and mention the second as a bonus.
- Mixing up the BI developer and the data analyst. Analysts answer business questions, while BI developers build the models and reports others use. Fix: state how much of the week is development and how much is ad hoc analysis.
- Adding pipeline ownership quietly. Ads often expect this person to run the whole warehouse as well, which belongs to a data engineer. Fix: say where the data comes from and who owns it before it reaches the report.
- Asking for dashboards without naming the audience. Executive scorecards and operational reports need different skills. Fix: name the main users and how often they look at the reports.
- Ignoring licensing and environment. The work differs between Power BI on shared capacity and a large Tableau Server estate. Fix: describe the licence model, the data size and the number of report users in plain terms.
Contract, contract-to-hire or permanent: which suits a BI developer
A contract BI developer suits a defined project: moving from Excel reporting to Power BI, converting Tableau workbooks, building a finance dashboard pack or cleaning up an overgrown tenant. Be sure metric definitions are documented, otherwise the logic leaves with the person.
Contract-to-hire is useful when you need to judge how someone works with demanding stakeholders. A month-end cycle under pressure reveals a lot about their accuracy and communication.
Permanent hiring suits a company where reporting is ongoing and knowledge of the business grows more valuable each year. If you would like support, Zilo AI can hire BI developers in India on contract, contract-to-hire or permanent terms, with candidates screened on SQL and real project work before you meet them. To staff the wider analytics chain, browse our IT talent specialisations.
Frequently asked questions
What should a BI developer job description include?
Give the tool, the data source, the main business users, the kind of reports you need and who owns the data upstream. Mention security needs, refresh expectations and any busy reporting periods.
What is the difference between a BI developer and a data analyst?
A data analyst investigates questions and explains findings, usually case by case. A BI developer builds the durable models and reports behind repeated questions. In smaller companies one person may do both, so make the balance clear.
What is the difference between a BI developer and a data engineer?
The data engineer moves and prepares data so it arrives reliably in a warehouse or lakehouse. The BI developer starts from those prepared tables and builds the semantic layer and reports that business users see.
Should we hire for Power BI or Tableau?
Hire for whatever you already run, since rebuilding reports is costly. For a new choice, Microsoft-based companies often lean to Power BI, and teams focused on visual exploration often prefer Tableau, but licensing and existing skills should settle it.
If you want candidates whose SQL and project work have been checked before they reach you, Zilo AI can help. Reach out and tell us which tool you run and which reports need attention first.