Job Description & Details
This is a hybrid contract gig based out of Chicago where you will spend about 4 days a month onsite, helping a nationally recognized organization drag their reporting infrastructure out of the stone age and into Microsoft Fabric. You won't just be heads-down building dashboards all day; a massive part of this role involves coaching finance and business stakeholders to actually understand and self-manage their own data.
What You'll Actually Be Doing
You'll be stepping into an environment that is actively transitioning from static, painful reporting into a dynamic Microsoft Fabric lakehouse architecture. Your days will be split between designing executive-ready Power BI dashboards across financial and operational use cases, and sitting down with business users to teach them how to fish. You'll need to figure out existing semantic models, translate messy business logic into clear data engineering requirements, and run train-the-trainer programs that empower power users to take the wheel long-term.
The Core Tech Stack
You need deep, battle-tested experience in Power BI Desktop and Service, alongside hands-on familiarity with Microsoft Fabric and medallion architectures in a lakehouse setup. Because this role heavily leans into enablement, your technical skills are only half the battle—you also need the communication chops to break down complex DAX and data modeling concepts into plain English for non-technical finance teams.
Interview Expectations
The hiring manager is going to want to know how you handle stubborn stakeholders who refuse to give up their static Excel sheets. Expect a scenario-based question about driving user adoption and change management. They'll also probe your technical depth with Fabric and semantic models, specifically asking how you architect reports that scale without breaking every time the underlying data layer shifts.
Application Advice
To get past the recruiter screen, ensure your resume clearly highlights both ends of your skill set: the hardcore Power BI engineering work alongside your experience in training, mentoring, and change management. Drop exact keywords like Microsoft Fabric, semantic models, medallion architecture, and PL-300 or DP-600 certifications if you have them, but make sure to emphasize your patience and ability to translate business requirements into technical deliverables.