| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Data and Analytics |
| Level | Manager |
| Reports to | Head of Analytics |
| Direct reports | Power BI Developer, Tableau Developer, Reporting Analyst |
| Experience | 6 to 10 years in business intelligence with some leadership |
BI Manager job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: BI Manager
Department: Data and Analytics
Reports to: Head of Analytics
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A BI Manager owns the business intelligence platform and the governed reporting that runs on it. They manage the BI tools, data models and dashboards, set standards, and enable teams to self serve on trusted data. The role blends BI tooling with team leadership. A good BI Manager delivers a reliable, governed BI platform, standard dashboards leaders trust, a clean semantic layer, and business users who can answer their own questions without breaking the numbers.
Key responsibilities
- Own the BI platform, its data models and the governed dashboards.
- Set BI standards for design, naming and the semantic layer.
- Manage the BI developers building dashboards and data models.
- Enable business teams to self serve on trusted, governed data.
- Control access, security and row level rules in the BI tool.
- Keep dashboards performant, accurate and reconciled to the source.
- Prioritise the dashboard and reporting backlog with the stakeholders.
- Maintain the semantic layer and shared measures across reports.
- Manage BI tool licences, cost and the vendor relationships.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, statistics or related field
- Strong BI tool and data modelling experience
- BI certification is an advantage
- 6 to 10 years in business intelligence with some leadership
KRAs and KPIs for a BI Manager
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Platform reliability | BI platform available and dashboards refreshing on schedule |
| Data trust | Dashboards reconciled to source with no reported discrepancies |
| Governance | Semantic layer and standards applied on new dashboards |
| Self service | Business users building their own governed reports |
| Performance | Dashboard load times kept within the agreed target |
| Cost | BI licence and platform cost within the approved budget |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Power BI, Tableau, SQL and DAX, Data warehouse, BI gateway and scheduler.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Head of Analytics, Analytics Manager, Data Engineering Manager
Interview questions for a BI Manager
- How do you design a semantic layer that keeps numbers consistent?
- How do you enable self service without letting the numbers break?
- How do you tune a slow dashboard?
- How do you set row level security in a BI tool?
- How do you reconcile a dashboard back to the source data?
- How do you prioritise a large dashboard backlog?
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What does a BI Manager do?
A BI Manager owns the business intelligence platform and the governed reporting on it. They manage BI tools, data models and dashboards, set standards and the semantic layer, control access, and enable teams to self serve on trusted data. Their job is a reliable, governed BI platform leaders can trust.
What is the difference between a BI Manager and an Analytics Manager?
A BI Manager focuses on the platform, data models, dashboards and self service enablement. An Analytics Manager focuses on answering business questions and delivering insight, often on top of that platform. BI builds and governs the reporting layer; analytics interprets it for decisions. The roles work closely and sometimes merge.
What qualifications does a BI Manager need?
A degree in computer science, statistics or a related field, with strong BI tool and data modelling experience. A BI certification helps. Employers value semantic layer design, DAX or SQL skill, governance and security, and the ability to lead BI developers and enable self service.