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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Tableau Developer

💰 $85,000 - $145,000

Data & AnalyticsBusiness IntelligenceInformation TechnologyData Visualization

🎯 Role Definition

At its heart, the Tableau Developer is a creative technologist and a data storyteller. This role is pivotal in bridging the gap between raw, complex datasets and clear, actionable business insights. You are the architect and artist behind the dashboards and reports that empower leaders and teams to make smarter, data-driven decisions. A Tableau Developer doesn't just build charts; they craft compelling visual narratives, design intuitive user experiences, and ensure the data presented is both accurate and impactful. Success in this role means becoming a trusted advisor who enables the organization to see and understand its data in new and powerful ways.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Professionals in this role often have a clear and rewarding career trajectory, moving from technical execution to strategic leadership within the data and analytics domain.

Entry Point From:

  • Data Analyst / Business Analyst
  • BI Analyst / Reporting Analyst
  • SQL Developer / Database Analyst

Advancement To:

  • Senior Tableau Developer / Lead BI Developer
  • Business Intelligence (BI) Manager / Analytics Manager
  • Data Architect

Lateral Moves:

  • Data Scientist
  • Data Engineer
  • Analytics Consultant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, develop, and deploy innovative and interactive Tableau dashboards and reports to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and provide actionable insights for business stakeholders.
  • Translate complex business requirements into technical specifications and sustainable, high-performance Tableau solutions.
  • Conduct comprehensive data analysis to identify trends, anomalies, and opportunities, presenting findings through clear and effective visualizations.
  • Develop and maintain optimized, complex SQL queries, stored procedures, and data extracts to support dashboard development and ensure data accuracy.
  • Manage and curate Tableau data sources, including the creation of robust data models, hierarchies, and custom calculations to support a wide range of analytical needs.
  • Take full ownership of the entire BI development lifecycle, from initial requirements gathering and data discovery to user acceptance testing (UAT) and final deployment.
  • Implement best practices for data visualization and user experience (UX) design to create dashboards that are intuitive, easy to navigate, and visually appealing.
  • Perform rigorous performance tuning and optimization of Tableau workbooks and data sources to ensure fast load times and an efficient user experience, even with large datasets.
  • Collaborate closely with data engineers and database administrators to establish and maintain reliable data pipelines and ensure data integrity.
  • Administer the Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud environment, including managing user permissions, content publishing, and server health monitoring.
  • Develop and enforce data governance standards and documentation for BI assets to ensure consistency and maintain a single source of truth.
  • Provide expert-level technical support and troubleshooting for Tableau-related issues, acting as the subject matter expert for the business.
  • Lead training sessions and workshops to upskill business users, promoting data literacy and encouraging self-service analytics across the organization.
  • Stay current with new Tableau features, industry trends, and emerging technologies in the data visualization and business intelligence space.
  • Engage with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to present dashboard findings, gather feedback, and drive the adoption of data-driven decision-making.
  • Create and maintain detailed technical documentation for all developed dashboards, data sources, and related processes.
  • Perform thorough data validation and quality assurance checks to ensure the accuracy and reliability of all reporting outputs.
  • Automate and schedule the refreshing of Tableau data extracts and reporting subscriptions to provide timely information to end-users.
  • Develop and implement row-level security mechanisms to ensure that users only have access to the data they are authorized to see.
  • Participate in peer reviews of code and dashboards to maintain high standards of quality, consistency, and performance.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to answer urgent business questions.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and long-term analytics roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate high-level data needs into specific engineering and BI requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and other agile ceremonies within the data and analytics team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced Tableau Proficiency: Mastery of Tableau Desktop for creating complex visualizations, including level-of-detail (LOD) expressions, parameters, sets, and advanced chart types.
  • Expert SQL Skills: The ability to write efficient, complex SQL queries to extract and manipulate data from various relational databases (e.g., SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle).
  • Data Modeling & Warehousing: Strong understanding of data warehousing concepts, ETL/ELT processes, and star/snowflake schema designs.
  • Tableau Server/Cloud Administration: Experience with publishing content, managing permissions, scheduling tasks, and monitoring performance on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.
  • Dashboard Performance Tuning: Proven ability to diagnose and resolve performance issues in Tableau workbooks by optimizing data extracts, queries, and calculations.
  • Data Source Integration: Experience connecting Tableau to a wide variety of data sources, including flat files, relational databases, and cloud data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery).
  • Data Preparation Tools: Familiarity with tools like Tableau Prep, Alteryx, or custom scripting (Python) for data cleaning and transformation.

Soft Skills

  • Data Storytelling: The ability to craft a compelling narrative around the data to make it understandable and impactful for a non-technical audience.
  • Analytical & Critical Thinking: A strong aptitude for identifying problems, analyzing complex datasets, and drawing logical, actionable conclusions.
  • Stakeholder Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively gather requirements, present findings, and manage expectations with business partners at all levels.
  • Attention to Detail: Meticulous and thorough in all aspects of work, from validating data accuracy to ensuring pixel-perfect dashboard design.
  • Problem-Solving: A resourceful and proactive approach to troubleshooting technical challenges and finding creative solutions to analytical problems.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in a quantitative or technical field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in a relevant field or a Tableau Desktop Certified Professional certification.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science / Information Systems
  • Business Analytics / Data Science
  • Statistics / Mathematics
  • Economics / Finance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3-7 years of hands-on experience in a dedicated Business Intelligence, data visualization, or analytics role with a strong focus on Tableau development.

Preferred:

  • Experience working in an enterprise-level environment with large, complex datasets.
  • Prior experience with cloud-based data platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and modern data stack technologies.
  • A strong portfolio of Tableau projects and dashboards that demonstrates both technical skill and design acumen.
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