Business Intelligence Architect

Aprio•Atlanta, GA

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

Join Aprio's Information Technology team and you will help clients maximize their opportunities. Aprio Advisory Group, LLC is a progressive, fast-growing firm looking for a Business Intelligence Architect to join their dynamic team. Aprio’s Insights & Analytics team is expanding its Microsoft Fabric platform capabilities and is seeking a skilled Power BI & Fabric Semantic Model Architect to lead the design, development, and governance of enterprise-grade semantic models. This role bridges the gap between raw data and business insight—translating complex stakeholder requirements into well-structured, performant data models that power decision-making across the firm. The ideal candidate is both technically deep and interpersonally strong—someone who can lead and coach a team of report developers, facilitate requirements sessions with business stakeholders, and architect scalable solutions within Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. As Aprio accelerates its AI strategy, this role will play a central part in enabling natural language query (NLQ) capabilities, AI-powered analytics, and Copilot integration across the firm’s reporting ecosystem.

Requirements

5–8 years of experience designing and publishing Power BI semantic models in enterprise environments
Proficiency in DAX, Power Query (M), and data modeling concepts (star schema, relationships, cardinality)
Hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric (OneLake, Lakehouses, Dataflows Gen2, Direct Lake mode)
Demonstrated experience with Power BI Q&A, linguistic schema authoring, and synonym configuration for natural language query
Familiarity with Power BI Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, or Azure OpenAI Service integrations with Fabric data sources
Demonstrated ability to gather, document, and translate business requirements into data models and AI-readiness roadmaps
Experience coaching or mentoring junior analysts or developers
Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts—including AI capabilities and limitations—to non-technical audiences
Familiarity with data governance, RLS, dataset certification, and Power BI deployment pipelines
Understanding of responsible AI principles, data privacy considerations, and AI output auditability in enterprise analytics contexts

Nice To Haves

Microsoft certifications: PL-300 (Power BI Data Analyst), DP-600 (Fabric Analytics Engineer), or DP-100 (Azure Data Scientist)
Experience with Azure OpenAI Service, Semantic Kernel, or LangChain in analytics or data product contexts
Exposure to Copilot Studio or Power Automate AI flows for automating insight delivery
Experience in a professional services or accounting firm environment
Familiarity with Microsoft Purview for data cataloging, lineage, and AI governance

Responsibilities

Design and build enterprise semantic models in Microsoft Fabric using Direct Lake mode, Power BI Datasets, and Dataflows Gen2
Develop well-structured star and snowflake schemas optimized for Power BI performance, NLQ discoverability, and Copilot compatibility
Author complex DAX measures, calculated columns, and KPI logic following organizational standards; ensure measure naming and descriptions support AI-assisted querying
Establish and maintain a governed, reusable semantic layer across reporting domains (finance, operations, marketing, HR, growth)
Evaluate and implement incremental refresh, aggregations, and query reduction strategies
Architect semantic models to support natural language query (Q&A, Power BI Copilot, Azure OpenAI integration) by enforcing descriptive field names, synonyms, and measure annotations
Define and maintain Q&A synonyms, linguistic schemas, and field-level descriptions that enable accurate AI-driven query interpretation
Lead Aprio’s adoption of Power BI Copilot and Microsoft Fabric AI features, including AI-generated report summaries, smart narratives, and anomaly detection
Design semantic models and data products with AI-readiness in mind—ensuring metadata quality, field descriptions, and schema consistency support large language model (LLM) integrations
Collaborate with IT and data engineering to evaluate and implement natural language query interfaces, including Power BI Q&A, Copilot for Microsoft 365, and Azure OpenAI Service connections to Fabric data
Develop prompting strategies and governance guardrails for AI-generated insights to ensure accuracy, auditability, and alignment with firm standards
Evaluate emerging Microsoft AI capabilities (Fabric Workload Hub, Copilot Studio, OneLake AI catalog) and provide architectural recommendations for phased adoption
Partner with business stakeholders to identify high-value use cases for AI-assisted analytics, self-service insights, and conversational BI
Educate and upskill team members and business users on responsible use of AI tools within the BI ecosystem
Mentor and coach a team of 4+ report developers, providing technical guidance on best practices, model design, DAX, and AI-era BI patterns
Conduct code and model reviews, establishing a culture of quality and continuous improvement
Create internal documentation, standards guides, and reusable component libraries for the team
Support onboarding of new team members and facilitate skill development in Power BI, Fabric, and emerging AI analytics tools
Lead requirements-gathering sessions with business stakeholders, translating needs into data model specifications and AI-assisted analytics roadmaps
Serve as a trusted advisor, clearly communicating model design decisions, tradeoffs, and AI capability opportunities to executive and non-technical audiences
Collaborate with data engineers, DevOps, and business analysts to ensure analytical models support downstream use cases including Copilot and self-service BI
Champion data literacy and responsible AI use across the organization in collaboration with the data governance manager and data governance committee
Own the semantic model layer within the Aprio Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse architecture (OneLake, Lakehouse, Notebooks)
Define and enforce naming conventions, model governance standards, certification processes, and AI metadata standards for published datasets
Coordinate with the data engineering team to ensure clean, well-documented source data is available for modeling and AI consumption
Monitor model health, performance, and usage via Power BI Admin portal and Fabric Monitoring Hub
Ensure compliance with data security, row-level security (RLS), and data privacy requirements across all published models and AI-accessible data products
Establish AI governance practices including prompt auditability, output validation standards, and acceptable use policies for AI-generated content within BI workflows

Benefits

Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance on the first day of employment
Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Care Account
401k with Profit Sharing
9+ holidays and discretionary time off structure
Parental Leave – coverage for both primary and secondary caregivers
Tuition Assistance Program and CPA support program with cash incentive upon completion
Discretionary incentive compensation based on firm, group and individual performance
Incentive compensation related to origination of new client sales
Top rated wellness program
Flexible working environment including remote and hybrid options