BI Developer

Overview

Amazing chance to join a Software Development company that develops software for the insurance industry. They are a medium size company that look after their staff and give recognition. They have been around for over 25 years and have an international footprint in London. They have a branch in London, Stellenbosch and Rosebank. They are extremely people orientated and offer a fun dynamic working environment.

No. of Vacancies

1

Specific Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability, with attention to detail and data accuracy.
• Ability to translate business and client requirements into effective technical BI solutions.
• Pragmatic about where logic belongs, with sound judgement on whether a calculation is best solved in T-SQL, Power Query, or DAX.
• A security-first mindset, treating client data confidentiality as non-negotiable and defaulting to least privilege rather than convenience.
• Clear communicator, able to present data insights and explain technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Mindful of the operational impact of reporting workloads on shared infrastructure, and disciplined about query cost and refresh timing.
• Strong time management, able to prioritise and deliver across multiple concurrent projects and reporting requests.
• Collaborative team player who works effectively with development, implementation, database, security, and client-facing teams.
• Self-managed and proactive, with sound judgement on when to escalate risks or blockers.
• High personal accountability and ownership.
• Curious and committed to continuous learning across the BI and analytics landscape.

Responsible For

The Power BI Developer is responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the reporting and analytics solutions that turn platform data into insight for our clients, covering both new client implementations and the ongoing maintenance and enhancement of reporting for existing clients. The role spans client-facing insurance reporting built on the platform (policy, premium, claims, and book-of-business analytics for insurers, MGAs, and brokers) as well as internal management information that supports decision-making across the company. Reporting is delivered directly against the operational data model rather than a data warehouse. Dashboards are sourced from a dedicated non-production SQL Server reporting instance, where T-SQL stored procedures, views, and functions form a curated reporting layer that shapes, joins, and aggregates the data before it reaches Power BI. Strong T-SQL is therefore as important as strong Power BI in this role. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable writing and tuning set-based queries at the database and building the semantic models, DAX measures, and visualisations that sit on top of them. Because dashboards are consumed by external clients as well as internal teams, controlling what each user can see is a core design responsibility rather than an afterthought. The Power BI Developer owns the access model behind every report: how users are authenticated, how client and tenant data is isolated, how row-level and object-level security are applied within the semantic model, and how workspace and app permissions govern distribution. Note that the gateway connects to the source SQL Server using a single least-privilege service account, so per-user entitlement cannot be enforced by database permissions and must be designed and proven within the semantic model. Working closely with development, implementation, and business stakeholders, the Power BI Developer builds robust semantic models, well-crafted DAX measures, and performant, intuitive dashboards, ensuring that every report is accurate, secure, and trusted as a single source of truth. KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS 1. Report & Dashboard Development Design, develop, and maintain interactive Power BI reports, dashboards, and semantic models for both client-facing insurance reporting and internal management information. Translate business and client requirements into clear, intuitive visualisations that make complex insurance data easy to understand and act on. 2. SQL Development & the Reporting Data Layer Write, optimise, and maintain the T-SQL stored procedures, views, and functions that supply the dashboards from the non-production SQL Server reporting instance. Push joins, aggregation, and business logic down to the database so that Power BI consumes clean, report-ready result sets, and maintain this reporting layer as a stable contract that insulates dashboards from change in the underlying platform schema. 3. Semantic Modelling & DAX Development Build and maintain robust, reusable semantic models, shaping normalised operational data into report-friendly star schemas. Develop accurate, well-structured DAX measures to support analysis of policy, premium, claims, and operational data, and select the appropriate storage mode (Import, DirectQuery, or composite) for each requirement. 4. Data Access, Security & Authentication Design, implement, and test the access model that determines what each user can see. This covers authentication and identity through Microsoft Entra ID or, where reports are embedded in the platform, service principal authentication with embed tokens and an asserted effective identity. It also covers dynamic row-level security driven by an entitlement model that reflects insurance access hierarchies such as broker, agency, branch, class of business, and delegated authority; object-level security to conceal sensitive tables and columns such as commission terms or claimant personal data; and least-privilege credentials for the gateway service account. Access control must be demonstrably tested before every release, not assumed. 5. Refresh, Deployment & Power BI Service Administration Manage workspaces, on-premises data gateways, scheduled and incremental refresh, and the promotion of content across development, test, and production environments. Apply the correct workspace and app roles for internal and client audiences, recognising that elevated workspace roles bypass row-level security. Schedule refresh windows to respect the load profile of the source SQL Server, monitor refresh reliability, and resolve failures promptly. 6. Data Quality & Governance Ensure the accuracy, consistency, and integrity of all reporting outputs. Apply data minimisation so that personal and sensitive data is only brought into a model where it is genuinely required for reporting, support sensitivity labelling and data residency requirements across UK and South African client bases, and support compliance with POPIA, GDPR, and data governance standards. 7. Stakeholder Engagement & Requirements Analysis Work closely with clients, implementation teams, and internal stakeholders to gather, analyse, and refine reporting requirements, including who is entitled to see what. Provide estimates, communicate progress clearly, and support users in adopting and getting value from reporting solutions. 8. Performance Optimisation, Documentation & Continuous Improvement Monitor and optimise query, refresh, and report performance, from execution plans at the database through to visual render times in the report. Maintain clear documentation of the SQL reporting layer, semantic models, measures, and the access and entitlement model, follow and enhance BI standards and best practice, and stay current with the evolving Power BI and Microsoft Fabric ecosystem.

Job Nature

Full Time

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or National Diploma in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Statistics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• 3 to 5 years’ experience in a BI development or data-centric role, with strong hands-on Power BI experience across Desktop and the Power BI Service.

• Strong T-SQL development skills on Microsoft SQL Server, including writing and maintaining stored procedures, views, functions, and complex set-based queries against normalised transactional schemas.

• Practical query tuning ability: reading execution plans, understanding indexing and query cost, and writing reporting queries that perform well without adversely affecting the source system.

• Proven ability to shape normalised operational data into report-friendly models, applying star schema and dimensional modelling concepts within the Power BI semantic model.

• Strong proficiency in DAX for measures and calculations, including filter context, time intelligence, correct handling of ratios, and security expressions, together with working knowledge of Power Query (M).

• Practical understanding of Power BI storage modes (Import, DirectQuery, and composite models) and their implications, including the constraints that apply when a model is sourced from stored procedures.

• Hands-on experience implementing row-level security, including dynamic RLS driven by an entitlement or bridge table and the use of functions such as USERPRINCIPALNAME and CUSTOMDATA, and the ability to test it credibly.

• A working understanding of Power BI access and sharing mechanics: Microsoft Entra ID identity, workspace and app roles, and which roles enforce or bypass row-level security.

• Sound security instincts around credentials and data access: least-privilege service accounts, secure storage of gateway and data source credentials, and awareness of what an export or a shared link can expose.

• Experience administering the Power BI Service: workspaces, on-premises data gateways, scheduled refresh, row-level security, and deployment pipelines or an equivalent controlled promotion process.The following are strongly preferred and will carry material weight in selection:

• Experience delivering reporting within the insurance industry, whether at an insurer, MGA, broker, or insurance software vendor.

• A working understanding of insurance data and terminology: the policy lifecycle (quote, bind, endorsement or mid-term adjustment, renewal, cancellation), premium, claims, commission, and reinsurance, together with the measures built from them such as gross written premium, earned premium, loss ratio, claims frequency and severity, retention, and new business conversion.

• Comfort with effective-dated and point-in-time reporting: producing a correct view of the book as at a given date from a live transactional schema, including the treatment of mid-term adjustments and pro-rata earned premium.

• Experience designing entitlement models for external users, particularly across broker, agency, and delegated authority hierarchies where a user may see their own book, their agency’s book, or a ceded share only.

• Experience delivering reporting in a multi-tenant environment, and a view on when to isolate clients into separate workspaces and semantic models versus sharing a model secured by row-level security.

• The following will be an advantage but not a minimum requirement:

• Microsoft PL-300 (Power BI Data Analyst) certification.

• Experience with Power BI Embedded and the app-owns-data pattern: service principal authentication, embed token generation, and passing an effective identity so that security is enforced for users who hold no Power BI licence.

• Object-level security, dynamic data masking, or comparable techniques for concealing sensitive columns and tables.

• Experience with Power BI paginated reports (Report Builder / RDL) or SSRS, for operational and pixel-perfect outputs such as bordereaux, statements, and schedules.

• Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels, Power BI audit and activity logging, tenant settings, and periodic access reviews.

• Awareness of data residency and cross-border transfer considerations across UK and South African client bases.

• Version control of Power BI artefacts (PBIP / TMDL in Git) and use of tools such as Tabular Editor, DAX Studio, and the Best Practice Analyzer.

• Exposure to the Azure data stack (Azure SQL, Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric), as the reporting architecture is expected to evolve over time.

• Experience in a SaaS or software implementation environment supporting multiple concurrent clients

Experience Requirements

3+

Job Location

Rosebank - JHB, Stellenbosch

Other Benefits

• Medical aid • Pension • Group Life • Group Trauma • Income protector • Funeral Policy • 20 Annual Leave days • Performance bonus • Pay for studies with work back agreement • Hybrid working model (3 days a week from home and 2 days a week at the office)

Job Level

Intermediate Position

Interested candidates can send their resumes to [email protected] mentioning "Job Title" in the subject line.