Business Intelligence Developer Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a business intelligence developer. You can use our job description template in this article to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a business intelligence developer.
Who is a Business Intelligence Developer?
Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven method for data analysis and information delivery that aids managers, employees, and executives in making wise business decisions. The primary objective of BI projects is to offer better business decisions that help companies boost revenue, improve operational effectiveness, and gain a competitive edge over rival companies. To accomplish that, BI combines analytics, reporting, and data management technologies with several different data management and analysis approaches. A business intelligence developer is an engineer that creates, deploys, and maintains BI interfaces to analyze and present data for an organization. These interfaces consist of query tools, interactive dashboards, data visualization, ad hoc reporting, and data modeling tools.
A business intelligence (BI) developer shares crucial business information with decision-makers in their organization using data analytics and technology. They develop and maintain corporate software applications that direct business strategies. BI developers work in a variety of businesses, and for success, they all require a particular set of skills and specialized education. Business intelligence refers to the various methods and tools that organizations employ to give end users useful information so they may make wise business decisions. Business intelligence has emerged as a key resource for any contemporary organization.
Every company generates a vast amount of data from its regular business operations. These might originate from both internal and external sources, such as company budgeting, market research, sales volume, etc. A business intelligence developer can use software tools and modify the data to gain insightful knowledge from it that will have a significant influence on business choices. The capacity to identify corporate growth prospects, increase profit share, gauge staff productivity, and identify dangers and hazards is the advantage of business intelligence. It also helps to decrease waste and costs. BI developers have a variety of employment duties and responsibilities, from project planning to software development, which calls for a broad range of skills.
A BI developer must be familiar with databases, have some level of technical expertise, and have a lot of relevant job experience because business intelligence is essentially a technological procedure. However, a BI developer’s duties and functions may change based on the project. You must take up the responsibilities of the technical lead for the group of software engineers as a business intelligence developer. On the software created, a business intelligence developer takes tactical choices. They are also in charge of testing and bug-fixing during the lead-up to and after the launch. It is up to a business intelligence developer to manage how users query data and how reporting functions.
Most organizations need candidates to hold a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a closely related discipline to be eligible. This program will teach you the technical capabilities you need to become a successful BI developer, including writing SQL code and designing user interfaces. Finding a reputable university where you can lay a strong technical foundation for the remainder of your career is crucial because you will use this information every day. A good BI developer can read and analyze market, share, and product trends and has a solid working knowledge of business trends. Strong communication, organizational, and analytical abilities are required.
Business Intelligence Developer Job Description
Below are the business intelligence developer job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of a business intelligence developer include the following:
- Analyze market, product, and share trends to create a data warehouse.
- Convert business requirements into technical requirements.
- Create reporting platforms that offer easily accessible data for making decisions.
- Create reports using data from the warehouse to assist in business decision-making and performance monitoring.
- Maintain data analytics systems
- Analyze and enhance current BI systems.
- Utilize data mining techniques such as clustering algorithms or association rules to research to detect trends in industry or market segments.
- Create reports that convey data analysis findings in a way that is simple to understand and act upon.
- Handle databases to guarantee accurate and current data
- Create and create new applications for tasks using business intelligence
- Create models for predictive analytics that take into account predicted customer behavior, equipment faults, and potential fraud.
- Create user interfaces that let users get information from several sources in one place.
- Implement computer programs that let users examine data and produce reports.
- Create reports that non-technical consumers can read and comprehend
- Develop prototypes for new business intelligence applications utilizing cutting-edge technology like cloud computing.
- Extract data from various sources, clean them up, and transform them as necessary before being loaded into the data warehouse.
- Perform BI model troubleshooting.
- Find and gather information from both internal and external sources.
- Clean and process data before being analyzed.
- Create and construct data warehouses and other types of storage
- Create models and algorithms to analyze data.
- Analyze data to spot patterns and trends.
- Share findings with relevant parties.
- Maintain and upgrade data systems.
- Investigate data system problems
- Investigate fresh approaches to enhance data collection and analysis.
- Create self-service reporting tools to make data available to users.
- Analyze BI system performance and suggest ways to make it better.
- Keep up with emerging BI trends and technologies, and assess how beneficial they might be for the business.
- Train users on how to use BI tools and evaluate findings.
- Work along with the IT team to maintain and enhance the BI system.
- Write technical specifications for BI development initiatives.
- Produce high-quality reports, send them to customers, and examine them for quality assurance.
Qualifications
- A Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related discipline.
- A minimum of 2 years of experience as a BI Developer.
- Proficiency in designing and building applications
- Proficiency in data warehouse design.
- Programming and scripting languages proficiency.
- Debugging and issue resolution skills.
- Working knowledge of Business intelligence technologies.
- Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Excellent attention to detail skills.
- Teamwork skills.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Essential Skills
- Communication skills: Business intelligence developers must be able to communicate effectively to share their ideas and opinions with others. A business intelligence developer must be able to summarize the data, explain how they analyzed it, and then suggest potential fixes. These abilities are also used when working on projects with other professions because they must communicate technical ideas to non-technical people. They can work more effectively and make sure that everyone is aware of the project’s objectives with the help of their strong communication abilities. Teamwork, listening, translating difficult material into comprehensible language, and leadership is all essential communication skills required in this field.
- Business acumen: The ability to comprehend and communicate clearly in areas that are unique to the sector and organization being analyzed is a crucial competency for a business intelligence developer. You must have a firm foundation and in-depth understanding of your sector, as well as your organization’s business model, strategy, and goals, as well as its main problems and rivals. Your ability to translate the strategy of your organization into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be aided by having strong business acumen. This can be done at the executive, managerial, or operational levels to assist with long-term, short-term, and daily decision-making.
- Problem-solving skills: To appropriately identify a company’s challenges, problem-solving skills are essential. You must look further and begin figuring out what is causing the challenges. You must develop clear recommendations or solutions as a business intelligence developer to assist your organization in making better business decisions. You must be able to recognize problem areas, ascertain the causes of the difficulties, evaluate potential solutions, gauge how stakeholders view the issue, calculate the cost of correcting it, and provide remedies. You must also exercise creativity in your decision-making, conduct enough research, facilitate brainstorming meetings, and oversee projects while doing all of this.
- Debugging and troubleshooting skills: It is essential to have good troubleshooting skills at every level of creating, producing, and sustaining. Working with data is complicated, and when it comes to business data, there are additional complexities related to platform security, data access, rights, updates, and maintenance. Finding bugs in the system is the main goal of the testing phase. However, a business intelligence developer will fundamentally resolve queries and data representation-related problems.
- knowledge of database concepts and principles: For BI developers, understanding database ideas and principles is essential since it enables effective data management. You can choose the best software tools and platforms for your projects by being knowledgeable of database principles. Relational databases, normalization, tables, columns, rows, and indexes are all examples of database concepts. Additionally, you should have a fundamental understanding of SQL, a programming language used to communicate with databases.
- Programming Skills: The key component for performing analytical reporting and business intelligence is basic knowledge of SQL programming. This skill is essential to retrieve data from Relational databases for Business Intelligence reports and to executing Data Warehouse data validation. You can use SQL to compare information from Business Intelligence reports to various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
- Microstrategy skills: Microstrategy is a piece of software that business intelligence developers use to build and manage data models. Additionally, they use this software to evaluate the data so they may generate recommendations depending on what they learn. Business intelligence developers need to be adept at this because it’s how they decide what adjustments need to be made to boost business performance.
How to Become a Business Intelligence Developer
Step 1. Earn a bachelor’s degree
The minimal educational requirement for this position is a bachelor’s degree. This profession might be pursued in computer science, information technology, or a related discipline like business intelligence or data analytics. These programs often offer classes in programming languages, database management systems, and software development. Additionally beneficial are elective courses in business administration, economics, statistics, and mathematics. These can aid in the development of your analytical abilities and business concept knowledge.
Step 2. Acquire experience and training
A key component of becoming a business intelligence developer is gaining experience with business intelligence software platforms and technologies. Many firms prefer applicants with at least three years of experience working with business intelligence (BI) tools like Tableau, MicroStrategy, or QlikView. Working in an IT position for a business intelligence software-using organization will give you this experience. On websites like Upwork or Guru, you could also be able to find paid freelancing employment where you can hone your abilities by completing projects for customers. Many organizations will offer freshly hired business intelligence developers on-the-job training. The business intelligence developer will benefit from this training by learning the unique software and systems that the company uses. The business intelligence developer will also benefit from learning the particular practices and procedures used by the company.
Step 3. Earn a master’s degree
A master’s degree can help you develop in your career and open up more chances, even though it isn’t always necessary for this position. If you want to learn more about analytics and how to use that knowledge in practical situations, you can consider obtaining a graduate degree in business intelligence or data science. You can choose to specialize in a particular field of business intelligence engineering, such as predictive analytics, big data, or information management, through a master’s program.
Step 3. Join professional organizations
Professional organizations such as the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) are recommended for business intelligence developers. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a professional organization that offers opportunities for people in computing, information technology, and business intelligence to learn, be motivated, and network with other professionals in the field. ACM provides a lot of benefits to its members, including access to journals, magazines, and other publications. It also offers them discounts on conferences and workshops. Becoming a member of this organization or another similar one can help you stay up to date on changes and developments in the industry. It also helps you network with professionals who may be able to provide you with job opportunities or recommendations.
Where to Work as a Business Intelligence Developer
Business intelligence developers work in different places such as corporate offices, government agencies, and consulting firms. These professionals usually work full-time and during standard business hours, and may occasionally work overtime also to meet deadlines or to complete tasks and projects. Business intelligence developers usually work with teams of other developers, analysts, and business intelligence specialists. They may also be required to travel to meet clients. They meet clients or customers to interact and explain the features and benefits of the business intelligence applications they have developed.
Business Intelligence Developer Salary Scale
The salary scale of business intelligence developers varies depending on factors such as their level of education, years of experience, location, extra qualifications, etc. Business intelligence developers make an average of $93,439 per year in the US, and this amount usually falls between $82,162 and $105,591 per year. In the UK, the salary scale typically ranges from £40,000 to £60,000, while £45,000 is the average salary. In Canada, they are paid about $83,309 per year, but the pay can range from $72,500 to $107,127 per year. In Nigeria, the average salary is 3,930,000 NGN per year, and this salary can start from 1,235,000 NGN to 5,785,000 NGN per year.