About this BI & Analytics Engineer role at University of the Cumberlands
Get Set for Cumberlands!
Join our team of student-focused individuals working together in order to encourage intellectual and spiritual growth, leadership and service.
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The University of the Cumberlands is building a new Data Engineering team within IT, and we're looking for a BI & Analytics Engineer to own business intelligence and reporting across the University.
You'll work directly with stakeholders to understand the decisions they need to make, build trusted data models in Snowflake using dbt, and deliver clear, focused reports in Power BI. You'll also help define the shared metrics, definitions, and business context that allow AI tools and agents to answer questions about University data accurately and safely.
Our Power BI footprint is still small, so you'll have real influence: setting standards, taking ownership of existing reports, and building a foundation that grows with the platform. As the University's primary BI resource, working closely with the Lead Data Engineer, you'll manage your own priorities and move work forward independently.
Key Responsibilities
Reporting & Power BI Ownership
- Own the University's Power BI environment, including workspaces, permissions, publishing, and the lifecycle of existing reports.
- Build and maintain accurate, accessible, and performant dashboards and reports for operational and leadership audiences in areas such as admissions, enrollment, retention, and finance.
- Review existing reports and recommend which to rebuild, consolidate, or retire.
Data Modeling & Semantics
- Build and maintain dbt models in Snowflake that turn source data into clean, documented, and tested datasets.
- Build business logic in dbt so reports stay simple and consistent and metrics mean the same thing everywhere they appear.
- Define and document shared metrics, business definitions, and semantic models that support both reporting and AI agents querying University data.
- Validate data and reports, and investigate and clearly explain discrepancies.
Stakeholder Partnership
- Scope requests directly with stakeholders by clarifying the underlying question, the metrics and definitions involved, and how the report will be used.
- Push back constructively on unclear requirements and help stakeholders get to a better question.
- Explain report logic and data limitations in plain language, and support adoption through training and documentation.
Standards & Governance
- Help establish practices for data modeling, report design, documentation, and version control, and contribute to the University's emerging data governance standards.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's degree in a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 4+ years of experience in business intelligence, analytics, reporting, or a related data role.
- Strong SQL skills, including joins, aggregations, CTEs, and troubleshooting data issues.
- Experience building reports or dashboards in a BI tool such as Power BI, Tableau, Looker, Sigma, or Omni.
- Solid understanding of data modeling concepts such as fact and dimension tables and star schemas.
- Demonstrated ability to gather requirements from non-technical stakeholders and turn them into useful reports.
- Track record of working independently: managing your own priorities and owning work from request to delivery.
- Strong attention to data accuracy and sound judgment around data privacy and access.
- Clear written and verbal communication.
Preferred
- Power BI experience, including DAX, row-level security, and workspace administration. Candidates with strong experience in another BI tool and a willingness to learn Power BI quickly are encouraged to apply.
- Experience with dbt or a similar SQL-based transformation tool.
- Experience with Snowflake or another cloud data warehouse.
- Familiarity with Git or other version control.
- Experience building semantic layers or metric definitions for self-service analytics or AI tools (e.g., Snowflake semantic views, dbt Semantic Layer, LookML).
- Higher education experience, or familiarity with systems such as Workday Student, Slate, or Blackboard.
- Exposure to data governance practices such as metric certification, data quality, documentation, or lineage.
Why Join Us
- Be a founding member of a new Data Engineering team, with real ownership of BI across the University.
- Work remotely on a modern data stack: Snowflake, dbt, and Power BI.
Help shape how the University uses data and AI to make decisions
Cumberlands is different by design. Our employees exemplify our motto in the pursuit of a
“life-more-abundant.”