Power BI Architect

Job Title: Power BI Architect Position Type: Contract Location: Detroit, MI (Onsite from Day 1, Hybrid Model – 3 Days Onsite) Job Description: Our client a leading Detroit-based automotive manufacturer is launching a new production facility and needs a visionary Power BI Architect to design the end-to-end analytics architecture that will power plant-floor decision making from Day 1. This is a rare opportunity to build a greenfield BI platform from scratch in a mission-critical manufacturing environment. Why This Role Stands Out • Architect, Don't Maintain: Design future-state data pipelines • Real Manufacturing Impact: Your architecture will directly influence OEE, quality yields, and throughput on the shop floor • Cross-Functional Influence: Partner with plant engineering, IT, MES teams, and operations leadership • Hybrid Flexibility: 3 days/week onsite at Detroit facility (no fully remote) Who You Are You're likely an ex-industrial engineer, manufacturing engineer, or plant systems specialist who discovered a passion for data and now bridges the gap between physical production and digital analytics. You speak both "plant floor" and "data platform." Key Responsibilities • Define the future-state BI architecture balancing corporate IT standards with plant-floor realities (latency, reliability, usability) • Map manufacturing KPIs (OEE, First Pass Yield, Downtime Tracking, Takt Time) to source systems (MES, PLCs, SCADA, ERP, quality systems) • Design scalable data models supporting both real-time shop-floor dashboards and historical trend analysis • Establish governance for metrics definitions across engineering, quality, maintenance, and production teams • Mentor BI developers on manufacturing context and data modeling best practices • Collaborate with data engineers on ingestion strategies from operational technology (OT) systems Required Qualifications • 8+ years in BI/analytics with 3+ years in manufacturing operations (automotive preferred) • Proven architecture experience with Power BI ecosystem (Premium capacity, XMLA endpoints, deployment pipelines) • Hands-on understanding of manufacturing data sources: MES (e.g., Plex, Siemens Opcenter), PLC historians, ERP (SAP/Oracle) • Ability to translate plant-floor concepts (e.g., "line stoppage," "changeover time") into robust data models • Strong stakeholder management—comfortable presenting architecture tradeoffs to plant managers and IT leadership • Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field strongly preferred Nice-to-Haves • Experience with Azure Data Factory, Synapse, or Fabric for manufacturing data pipelines • Knowledge of ISA-95 hierarchy and manufacturing information models • Prior involvement in greenfield plant launches or major manufacturing transformations