Principal - Technical Business Analyst, Data Products & Platforms
At a glance
Senior Data Analysis & BI role at Simple Machines. Sydney · no salary stated · we estimate A$127,605–A$140,147 across Australia.
Simple Machines has not published a salary for this role. The figure below is our estimate, not theirs.
dataroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Represent the customer in delivery, building a deep view of their data problem and defending your recommended direction
- Shape data solutions with the technical lead, then document requirements that help engagements progress
- Explore, profile and check data yourself, using SQL alongside models and source-to-target mappings
- Elicit and prioritise requirements through workshops, and define acceptance criteria, backlog items and RAID
- Where needed, bring a product perspective to decisions about outcomes, priorities and value
What you bring
- You are fluent in SQL and can independently inspect, profile and validate data
- You understand data structure, movement, origins and business meaning, and can work through models and mappings
- You have a data-focused BA, engagement analyst or consulting background, or have moved from engineering or analysis into this work
- You can elicit and prioritise requirements and produce clear specifications, status reports or proposals
Who this fits
This senior consulting role suits a data specialist who can bridge customer needs and technical delivery across platform, product and governance work. It is based on-site in Sydney. It is not suited to software, process or ERP BAs, or to user-story-only analysts without SQL.
From the employer
We are looking for a senior, technically credible analyst-advocate on data platform and data product engagements, acting as the customer’s proxy inside delivery. This is a data specialist, not a software or process BA: the person understands how data moves, how it is structured, where it comes from and what it means in business terms, reads data models and source-to-target mappings, and gets into the data to verify it. SQL fluency is essential. You will understand the client’s problem more deeply than anyone in the room, form and defend a clear point of view, shape the solution alongside the tech lead, and turn that into the requirements and documentation that keep engagements moving. Because this is a consulting role, you can also step beyond requirements into a data product lens, thinking in outcomes, prioritisation and value when an engagement calls for it. It flexes across data platform, data product and governance initiatives.
Requirements
Required background:
- A data-focused technical BA, engagement analyst or consultant, or an engineer / analyst who moved into the analyst seat, or wants to
- Deep data understanding: how data moves, is structured, where it
- comes from and what it means in business terms
- SQL-fluent (must-have): explores, profiles and validates data independently
- Reads and reasons about data models and source-to-target mappings; knows a modern cloud data stack and ETL / ELT
- Strong requirements craft: elicitation, workshops, acceptance criteria, backlog, RAID
- Not a software, process or ERP BA; user-story-only BAs without SQL are not a fit
Core capabilities:
- Data fluency: how data moves, is structured, sourced, and what it means in business terms
- Requirements elicitation, analysis and prioritisation
- Customer advocacy and stakeholder proxy
- Critical thinking, problem solving and logical reasoning
- Translation between business intent and technical delivery
- Workshop facilitation, acceptance criteria, validation and UAT
Technologies and ecosystems, exposure to – not mandatory:
- SQL (must-have, fluent: explore, profile, validate)
- Data modelling and source-to-target mapping
- Modern stack: Databricks / Snowflake / BigQuery, dbt, Azure / AWS / GCP
- Pipelines and ETL / ELT; Jira / Confluence
- Written and communication capabilities:
- Strong, structured written craft: status reports, proposals, specs
- Clear executive communication; produces high-quality material independently
About Simple Machines
Simple Machines is a global, independent technology consultancy operating across Sydney, New Zealand, London, Poland and San Francisco. We design and build modern data platforms, intelligent systems, and bespoke software at the intersection of Data Engineering, Software Engineering and AI.
We help enterprises, scale-ups, and government turn complex, high-value data into products, platforms, and decisions that drive real impact.
We don't do generic. We build things that matter - We engineer data to life™.
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