Business intelligence (BI) analyst

What does a business intelligence (BI) analyst do?

A business intelligence (BI) analyst turns company data into reports and dashboards that managers use to make decisions.

You pull data from source systems, shape it into clean tables, and present it in tools such as Power BI or Tableau.

In a Singapore organisation, the role usually sits in a data, analytics or finance team. Some firms place BI analysts inside business units such as retail, operations or marketing.

You work with business managers who ask the questions, data engineers who supply the data, and IT teams who run the systems. You often explain what a number means as well as how it was calculated.

What the work involves

• Write SQL queries to pull and check data from databases and data warehouses.
• Build and update dashboards in Power BI, Tableau or Looker Studio.
• Meet business users to find out what they need to measure and agree how each metric is defined.
• Check reports for errors and chase down the cause when two numbers do not match.
• Set up scheduled refreshes and manage who can see which reports.
• Present findings to managers and write short notes on what changed and why.

Pay in Singapore

Back to top

Skills a business intelligence (BI) analyst needs

Back to top

Business intelligence (BI) analyst job description

We are hiring a business intelligence analyst to build and maintain reports and dashboards for our business teams in Singapore.

You will turn raw data into clear, trusted figures and work with managers to define the right measures. You will also keep our reporting accurate and easy to use. You will join the data and analytics team and report to a BI or analytics manager.

Responsibilities

• Gather reporting needs from business users and turn them into clear specifications.
• Build, test and maintain dashboards and reports in Power BI, Tableau or similar tools.
• Write and tune SQL queries to extract and prepare data.
• Design data models that make reports fast and easy to maintain.
• Define and document KPIs and metric rules so teams use the same figures.
• Check data quality and fix or escalate errors at the source.
• Manage report refreshes, workspaces and user access.
• Train business users to use self-serve reports and answer their questions.
• Present insights and recommendations to managers.
• Handle personal and sensitive data in line with company policy and the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).

Requirements

• A diploma or degree in information systems, business analytics, statistics, computer science, business or a related field.
• Often 1 to 3 years of experience in reporting or analytics for mid-level roles. Entry roles may accept fresh graduates with projects or internships.
• Strong SQL for joins, aggregation and window functions.
• Hands-on experience with at least one BI tool, most often Power BI or Tableau.
• Working knowledge of data modelling, such as star schemas, and of Excel.
• Clear written and spoken communication, including the ability to explain figures to non-technical staff.

Back to top

Business intelligence (BI) analyst career path

Most BI analysts start in reporting or junior analyst roles and move toward ownership of metrics, then team leadership.

Titles vary by employer, so check the scope in each job ad.

1. Junior BI analyst

   Entry

   You maintain existing reports, write basic SQL and fix data issues under guidance.

2. BI analyst

   Mid

   You build dashboards and data models on your own and agree metric definitions with business teams.

3. Senior BI analyst

   Senior

   You lead complex reporting projects, set modelling standards and coach junior staff.

4. BI lead or BI manager

   Lead

   You manage a team, set the reporting plan with business heads and own tool choices and access rules.

5. Head of analytics or head of BI

   Head

   You set the data and reporting direction for the organisation and report to senior leaders.

The titles are ones commonly used in Singapore; employers may name the levels differently.

Related jobs and their pay

Back to top

Business intelligence (BI) analyst interview questions

We wrote these questions from the skills this job needs. They are not an official question bank.

1. Why would you use a star schema for a Power BI report instead of one large flat table?

   What a good answer covers

   • Separates facts such as sales from dimensions such as product, store and date
   • Reduces repeated data and keeps the file smaller and faster
   • Makes filters work cleanly across tables
   • Makes measures easier to write and check
   • Mentions when a flat table is acceptable, such as a small one-off report

2. Write a SQL query to show the top three products by revenue in each month. Explain your approach.

   What a good answer covers

   • Aggregates revenue by month and product first
   • Uses a window function such as RANK or ROW_NUMBER partitioned by month
   • Filters on the rank in an outer query or CTE
   • Explains how ties would be treated
   • Checks the result against a known month

3. What is the difference between a calculated column and a measure in Power BI, and when do you use each?

   What a good answer covers

   • A calculated column is computed per row and stored in the model
   • A measure is computed at query time and responds to filters
   • Measures suit totals, ratios and year-to-date figures
   • Columns suit values you need to slice or group by
   • Notes the effect on file size and speed

4. How do the Power BI Desktop file and the Power BI service work together in your process?

   What a good answer covers

   • Builds the model and report in Desktop
   • Publishes to a workspace in the service
   • Sets up scheduled refresh, with a gateway if the data is on-premises
   • Controls access through workspaces, apps and row-level security
   • Tests the published report as a typical user

5. A manager wants to compare sales across 12 regions over 24 months. Which chart would you choose and why?

   What a good answer covers

   • Considers a line chart or small multiples for trends over time
   • Avoids a crowded chart with too many lines
   • Uses a consistent scale so regions can be compared
   • Keeps colour and labels simple
   • Asks what decision the manager needs to make

6. A customer service head asks for KPIs for the team. Which would you propose and how would you define them?

   What a good answer covers

   • Asks about the team's goals first
   • Suggests a small set, such as first response time, resolution time and customer satisfaction
   • Writes exact definitions, including what counts and what is excluded
   • Separates outcome measures from activity measures
   • Agrees targets and review frequency with the owner

7. How would you set up self-serve reporting in a tool like Metabase so teams do not create conflicting numbers?

   What a good answer covers

   • Builds a small set of approved, documented tables or models
   • Defines shared metrics once and reuses them
   • Limits access to raw tables
   • Labels certified and unverified reports
   • Trains users and collects their questions

8. How do you use ChatGPT in your reporting work, and what do you avoid doing with it?

   What a good answer covers

   • Uses it to draft SQL, explain errors or suggest formulas
   • Tests every output on known data before using it
   • Does not paste customer data or confidential company data into public tools
   • Follows company policy on AI tools
   • Keeps responsibility for the final figures

1. A dashboard takes over a minute to load and users are complaining. What do you check?

   What a good answer covers

   • Finds which visual or query is slow
   • Reviews the data model for unneeded columns and tables
   • Checks for heavy calculations that could move upstream
   • Considers aggregated tables or incremental refresh
   • Confirms the fix with users

2. Finance and sales each report different revenue figures for last month. How do you resolve this?

   What a good answer covers

   • Compares the definitions, such as booked versus invoiced revenue
   • Checks filters, dates, currency and source tables
   • Traces both numbers back to source records
   • Gets the metric owner to agree one definition
   • Documents the rule and updates the reports

3. A stakeholder asks for a dashboard with 30 metrics on one page. What do you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Asks what decisions the dashboard should support
   • Proposes a short list of headline figures with drill-down pages
   • Shows a quick mock-up before building
   • Explains the cost of clutter without jargon
   • Agrees what can wait for a later version

1. Tell us about a time you found an error in a report after it had been shared. What did you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Told the affected people quickly and plainly
   • Found the root cause, not only the symptom
   • Fixed the report and checked related ones
   • Added a test or check to prevent a repeat
   • Describes the outcome honestly

2. Describe a time you disagreed with a business user about what a report should show.

   What a good answer covers

   • Listened to the reason for the request
   • Used data or a quick prototype to explain your view
   • Stayed respectful and focused on the decision
   • Reached a clear outcome
   • Shows what you learned

1. Your sales dashboard includes customer names, phone numbers and NRIC numbers. How would you handle this under the PDPA?

   What a good answer covers

   • Asks whether the dashboard needs personal data at all
   • Removes or masks identifiers such as NRIC numbers where not needed
   • Restricts access with roles and row-level security
   • Follows the company's data protection officer and policies
   • Avoids exporting personal data to unmanaged files or public tools

2. A retailer in Singapore wants to compare this year's sales with last year's across Chinese New Year and Hari Raya. How do you make the comparison fair?

   What a good answer covers

   • Notes that festive dates move each year in the calendar
   • Aligns periods by festival week, not only by calendar date
   • Considers public holiday and trading-day differences
   • Shows both aligned and calendar views if useful
   • Adds a clear note on the method

Common questions about a business intelligence (BI) analyst job

Sources