Lead Business Analyst in Wimborne Minster

We are currently looking for a skilled individual to join our IT team as a Lead BI Analyst. We are offering this position on a full-time basis, working hybrid between home and 2 days per week in our Head office in Wimborne, Dorset.

Farrow & Ball are a luxury British lifestyle brand that prides itself in creating richly pigmented paint and handcrafted wallpaper, using print methods dating back 300 years and the finest quality ingredients. The unique Farrow & Ball look transforms modern and traditional homes, large and small, inside and out. Established in Dorset in 1946, we have grown over the last 75 years and now proudly have 60 showrooms worldwide with a global network of stockists.

The key to our success is the people behind the paint: from the team handcrafting each tin to showroom staff to support functions, our shared passion ensures customers have a positive, engaging experience at every stage of their journey with us.

This is a senior, hands-on delivery and operations role responsible for the day-to-day running and continuous improvement of the central reporting and analytics estate. You will build, maintain, and support data pipelines and a SQL Server-based reporting warehouse. You will work cross-functionally to deliver trusted management information and KPI definitions, partnering closely with Commercial Finance to provide reliable datasets. This role has no people management responsibilities and forms part of a small BI team sharing operational support and delivery.

Environment and Scope

The reporting estate integrates data from multiple business systems into a central SQL Server warehouse and the Power BI Service. Data sources include ERP (IFS Cloud), enterprise applications, and operational and commercial systems. Data ingestion methods include scheduled extracts, file feeds, APIs, and managed integrations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Operate and Support Reporting Estate
  • Monitor and maintain ETL processes, SQL Server Agent jobs, warehouse loads, and Power BI refreshes.
  • Troubleshoot issues, perform root cause analysis, and implement permanent fixes.
  • Improve monitoring, alerting, incident response, release scheduling, and Power BI refresh reliability and performance.
• Data Engineering and Warehouse Development
  • Develop and maintain SSIS-based ETL solutions with robust logging, error handling, and performance tuning.
  • Build and maintain dimensional warehouse structures (facts and dimensions) following modelling standards.
  • Implement auditable, repeatable load strategies (incremental and full).
  • Develop and optimise SQL Server objects, including tables, views, stored procedures, indexing, and query tuning.
  • Work with upstream system owners and third parties to deliver reliable integrations.
• Power BI Semantic Models and Reporting
  • Develop and maintain governed, reusable enterprise semantic models (shared datasets).
  • Build measures using DAX and shape data with Power Query (M) following best practices.
  • Create consistent, performant reports and dashboards.
  • Implement security and access controls, including role-based security.
  • Follow established model-report separation and controlled deployment practices.
• Intake, Prioritisation, and Delivery
  • Help manage the reporting backlog: capture requests, clarify requirements, estimate effort, prioritise, and deliver predictably.
  • Balance ad-hoc requests with longer-term improvements, reducing repeat queries through reusable datasets.
  • Partner with stakeholders to agree KPI definitions and ensure correct data interpretation.
• Standards, Governance, and Documentation
  • Contribute to BI governance, workspace organisation, monitoring, performance tuning, and change control.
  • Maintain documentation for pipelines, models, KPI logic, refresh schedules, and support procedures.

Key Attributes

• Hands-on SSIS and traditional ETL experience with scheduling, monitoring, and incident resolution.
• Strong data warehousing fundamentals, business/surrogate keys, and historical change handling.
• Strong SQL performance tuning and troubleshooting skills.
• Enterprise Power BI development experience, including semantic models, DAX, Power Query, and security controls.
• Experience with model-report separation and controlled release practices.
• Ability to manage backlog, prioritise, and deliver work; strong communication and documentation skills.
• Reporting from IFS Cloud or other ERP systems.
• Familiarity with modern data tooling (Azure Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric, dbt, CI/CD).
• Experience integrating data via APIs, files, middleware, or managed methods.

Behaviours

• Strong ownership of operational reliability and data quality.
• Collaborative and service-oriented in a small team.
• Comfortable bridging technical detail and business outcomes.

What you can expect from us

• 25 days’ annual leave (increasing with length of service) plus bank holidays.
• Annual salary reviews, based on individual performance.
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity pay.
• Generous staff discount on F&B products.
• Access to our retail discounts platform.
• Employee Assistance Programme with 24/7 support.