Data Analytics Technical Specialist

Position Overview

As a Data Analytics Technical Specialist is responsible for providing advanced technical support for customer analytics platforms and reporting solutions, with a focus on Microsoft Power BI, Fabric, SQL Server, Azure data services and associated integrations.

The role acts as a subject matter expert for complex analytics issues, supporting customers and internal teams to maintain reliable, secure and performant reporting and data services. The specialist is responsible for troubleshooting incidents, implementing improvements, contributing to service documentation and supporting the successful operation of customer analytics environments.

This is a senior individual contributor role, not a formal people leadership role. The role is expected to share knowledge and support colleagues where appropriate, while remaining primarily accountable for technical delivery, investigation quality, customer communication and service improvement.

Salary & Benefits

The budgeted salary for this role is between 65,000 - 70,000 ZAR monthly, depending on experience.

Click here for the list of benefits.

Hybrid working

We recognise the benefits that remote and flexible working brings.

We operate a hybrid working policy that allows our employees to balance time in the office and time from home. Each team within our organisation can decide how to implement this policy. If you have any questions after applying, please reach out to our recruitment team.

Responsibilities

• Act as the subject matter expert for complex analytics, reporting and data platform issues.

• Investigate, diagnose and resolve advanced incidents affecting analytics and reporting services.

• Support customers and internal teams to ensure reporting and data services remain reliable, secure and high performing.

• Implement service improvements and technical enhancements to optimise analytics environments.

• Maintain and enhance service documentation, knowledge articles and operational procedures.

• Monitor and support the ongoing operation and stability of customer analytics platforms.

• Communicate effectively with customers, providing updates, technical guidance and issue resolution support.

• Deliver high-quality technical investigations and root cause analysis for complex service issues.

• Identify opportunities to improve service performance, resilience and user experience.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve issues and deliver continuous improvement initiatives.

• Share technical knowledge, best practice and guidance with colleagues to support team development.

• Ensure analytics services are delivered in line with agreed standards, security requirements and customer expectations.

• Take ownership of technical delivery, investigation quality and service outcomes within assigned areas of responsibility.

• Contribute to the successful operation and continual improvement of managed analytics and reporting services.

What Success Looks Like

• Develop a detailed understanding of supported customer analytics environments, including key reports, datasets, data sources, refresh schedules and known issues.

• Successfully manage and resolve assigned Microsoft Fabric, Synapse, Power BI, SQL Server features for analytics (SSAS, SSIS and SSRS), and data platform incidents, requests and changes within agreed service processes.

• Produce accurate and complete ticket notes, troubleshooting updates, resolution summaries and customer communications.

• Contribute to support documentation, known error records and knowledge-sharing material for recurring analytics issues.

• Build effective working relationships with Service Desk, Service Delivery Managers, technical colleagues and customer contacts.

• Demonstrate ownership of support tickets through to resolution, workaround or appropriate escalation.

• Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, monitoring, documentation or service quality.

Qualifications & Experience

• Strong experience supporting Microsoft Fabric, Synapse and Power BI environments, including workspaces, datasets, semantic models, pipelines, notebooks, reports, dashboards, gateways and refresh schedules.

• Good understanding of Azure SQL and SQL Server, with the ability to support analytics and reporting solutions in production environments derived from the on-premise SQL Server features including SSAS/SSIS/SSRS.

• Experience investigating and resolving data refresh failures, gateway issues, report performance concerns, permission issues and data quality issues.

• Strong understanding of data modelling, analytics concepts, reporting architectures and data integration principles.

• Understanding of data governance, security and access management principles, including appropriate handling of sensitive customer data.

• Moderate SQL query and troubleshooting skills, including the ability to investigate joins, filters, stored procedures, views, indexing principles and query performance.

• Understanding of data governance, security and access management principles, including appropriate handling of sensitive customer data.

• Ability to analyse complex technical issues, identify probable root causes and implement stable, supportable fixes or escalation routes.

• Strong customer service and stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to explain technical issues clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.

• Experience producing and maintaining technical documentation, support procedures, known error records and knowledge articles.

• Experience working within Incident, Request, Problem and Change Management processes.

• Ability to work independently on assigned tickets and investigations while collaborating effectively with wider technical teams.

Desirable

• PL-300, DP-900, DP-600, DP-700 or equivalent practical experience.

• CI/CD Framework awareness and experience with Azure DevOps and Git.

• Database Administration experience supporting Microsoft on-premise and Azure SQL environments.

• Understanding of SQL Server backup and recovery, maintenance plans, high availability and disaster recovery technologies.

• Experience with SQL Server performance monitoring, query tuning, indexing strategies and database health checks.

• Experience in a Managed Services Provider environment supporting multiple customer environments.

• Familiarity with SQL Server security, permissions management and operational database support.

• Exposure to automation, scripting or operational reporting improvements.

• Understanding of Microsoft licensing and governance considerations for Power BI, Fabric and the other Azure data service analytics components/services

About Us:
We are the tech company with people at heart. At Advania, we empower individuals to create sustainable value through innovative technology solutions. As one of Microsoft's leading partners in the UK specializing in Azure, Security, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365, we have a proven track record of delivering transformational IT services.

Our Selection Process:
We are committed to providing an equitable experience for all candidates, regardless of race, religion or belief, ethnicity, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the selection process, please highlight these in your application form.

As part of our commitment to our clients, we conduct background checks for all employment offers. If you have any unspent criminal convictions or questions regarding the screening process, please inform your recruiter after submitting your application.

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