Senior Cognos BI Developer

Job Summary

We are looking for an experienced Senior Cognos Developer  with 7-9 years of hands-on experience  in IBM Cognos BI to support a large-scale Cognos report enhancement and consolidation initiative . The role involves analyzing, optimizing, and consolidating Cognos reports used across key business areas such as Underwriting, Claims, Finance, Risk, and Operations.

The ideal candidate should have strong technical expertise in IBM Cognos, Framework Manager, and SQL , with the ability to work independently on report analysis, development, performance tuning, and testing while collaborating closely with business stakeholders and technical leads.

Project Scope

• Work on consolidation and optimization of a large Cognos reporting landscape.
• Identify duplicate, overlapping, or underutilized reports and support their consolidation.
• Improve report performance, maintainability, and usability.
• Handle reports of low, medium, and high complexity , running at different frequencies (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly).

Key Responsibilities

• Analyze existing Cognos reports and queries to understand business logic and data usage.
• Identify report overlaps and support consolidation under guidance from the Technical Lead.
• Modify and develop Cognos reports using Framework Manager packages and SQL .
• Optimize queries and report logic for better performance and maintainability.
• Implement prompt logic, filters, calculations, and performance best practices.
• Perform unit testing, regression testing , and support UAT  activities.
• Fix defects, data issues, and performance bottlenecks identified during testing.
• Prepare and maintain technical documentation for report changes and validations.
• Support deployment activities and post-production support as required.
• Follow established reporting standards, naming conventions, and governance practices.

Mandatory Skills & Requirements

• 7-9 years of hands-on experience  with IBM Cognos BI  (Report Studio, Framework Manager).
• Strong expertise in SQL  and relational databases.
• Solid understanding of data modelling, joins, filters, prompts, and performance tuning .
• Experience working on report enhancement, optimization, or consolidation  projects.
• Ability to understand complex business logic and translate it into efficient Cognos reports.
• Good analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Clear communication skills to interact with business users and team members.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in Agile/Scrum  environments.
• Exposure to report usage analysis, report cleanup, or rationalization initiatives.
• Basic understanding of BI governance, documentation standards , and best practices.
• Familiarity with cloud or migration-related BI projects is a plus.

Key Deliverables

• Enhanced and consolidated Cognos reports with improved performance.
• Updated report logic and optimized SQL where applicable.
• Unit test and validation results.
• Clean, well-documented report changes.
• Support in retiring redundant or obsolete reports.

Requirements

Education & Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Analytics, or a related field.

• Relevant certifications in Cognos BI or similar technologies (preferred but not mandatory).

Technical Skills:

• Cognos BI Tools:

  • Strong hands-on experience with Cognos Report Studio, Query Studio , and Workspace Advanced .

  • Proficiency in Cognos Framework Manager (FM) – building and modifying models/packages.

• SQL & Database:

  • Advanced skills in SQL development and optimization .

  • Ability to understand and work with complex queries and stored procedures.

  • Experience working with relational databases (e.g., Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, or similar).

• Report Optimization & Consolidation:

  • Demonstrated experience in analyzing and consolidating reports in large reporting environments (900+ reports or similar scale).

  • Ability to identify and eliminate redundancy in reporting logic and design.

• Data & Reporting Concepts:

  • Solid understanding of data modeling , ETL workflows , and data warehousing concepts.

  • Familiarity with report categorization based on complexity (simple, medium, complex).

• Testing & Validation:

  • Experience in unit testing, QA, regression testing , and user acceptance testing (UAT) support.

  • Strong data validation and troubleshooting skills.

Soft Skills:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Excellent documentation skills – able to clearly articulate report changes, logic, and findings.

• Effective communication and stakeholder management abilities.

• Ability to work independently and manage tasks with minimal supervision.

• Team-oriented, collaborative, and proactive approach.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience working in insurance, finance, or regulated industries is a plus.

• Familiarity with report usage analysis and business impact assessments .

• Exposure to agile methodologies or similar iterative development environments.