SC-Cleared Senior BI Analyst / Platform Lead

An opportunity for an SC-cleared Senior BI Analyst / Platform Lead to join a mature, well-established delivery team supporting a mission-critical, secure on-premise data and reporting platform for a major UK defence organisation. This role is less about green-field development and more focused on the ongoing management, optimisation, and evolution of a live BI environment. You will act as a trusted interface between technical teams, civil servants, and operational end-users ensuring the platform remains secure, performant, and aligned to changing business and operational needs.

The successful candidate will bring strong BI architecture awareness, analytical capability, and stakeholder management skills, alongside deep hands-on experience of SQL Server, SSIS, SSAS and Power BI in high-assurance environments.

Role Overview

• Own and manage the day-to-day health, performance, and roadmap of a secure, on-premise BI and data platform
• Act as a technical authority and analytical partner for stakeholders, translating operational and policy requirements into sustainable reporting and data solutions
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives, including data quality, model optimisation, security hardening, and reporting usability
• Support and enhance existing ETL pipelines, semantic models and reports rather than focusing on large-scale rebuilds
• Provide ongoing support, troubleshooting, and optimisation for business-critical dashboards and datasets
• Work closely with civil servants, analysts and operational users to ensure insights are trusted, accessible and actionable
• Ensure the platform remains compliant with GDS standards, security policies, and defence assurance requirements

Key Responsibilities Platform Ownership & Continuous Improvement

• Own the on-prem BI estate, including SQL Server, SSIS, SSAS (Tabular), and Power BI Report Server
• Proactively identify and implement improvements to performance, resilience, data quality, and security
• Manage technical debt and incremental enhancements in a controlled, low-risk manner
• Ensure robust monitoring, logging, and operational support processes are in place

Stakeholder & User Engagement

• Act as a trusted BI partner to business and operational stakeholders
• Run requirement-gathering sessions and translate needs into analytical solutions rather than raw development tasks
• Support users in understanding data, metrics, and limitations of the platform
• Balance competing priorities across multiple user groups in a secure environment

Analytical & Reporting Capability

• Maintain and evolve SSAS Tabular models, measures and KPIs using DAX
• Ensure reporting logic is consistent, auditable, and aligned to operational definitions
• Oversee data ingestion, cleansing and transformation processes to ensure reliable downstream reporting
• Support analysts and end users with complex data questions and ad-hoc analysis

Governance, Security & Assurance

• Ensure alignment with GDS standards, internal data governance, and defence security policies
• Manage access control and authentication using Active Directory
• Support audits, assurance activities and documentation required in high-security environments
• Champion best practice in secure on-prem BI delivery

Required Skills & Experience Core Experience

• Strong experience managing and supporting secure, on-premise BI platforms
• Advanced SQL Server expertise (2019+): Engine, Security, Jobs, Objects, Performance tuning
• Strong experience with SSIS (data ingestion, transformation, cleansing and scheduling)
• Strong understanding of SSAS Tabular models and semantic layer design
• Advanced use of DAX to deliver robust, maintainable business logic
• Hands-on experience with Power BI Report Server (on-prem) administration and configuration
• Experience working in UK Government environments to GDS standards
• Confident working with Active Directory for authentication and role-based access

Analytical & Soft Skills

• Proven ability to operate as a bridge between technical teams and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong analytical mindset with a focus on insight, usability and data quality
• Experience supporting live systems with ongoing improvement rather than project-only delivery
• Comfortable working in structured, assurance-led environments with formal governance
• Experience in Defence or Military settings
• Exposure to information assurance, data classification and secure environments
• Experience mentoring junior analysts or developers

Security & Location

• Active SC clearance required
• Candidates must be UK-based
• Hybrid working with occasional travel to Hampshire (secure site)

Commercials

• Day rate: Up to £550 (Outside IR35)
• Start date: ASAP
• Duration:12 months (initial), with strong likelihood of extension