What is a Data Visualisation Specialist at Arthur J. Gallagher &?

As a Data Visualisation Specialist at Arthur J. Gallagher &, you are the critical bridge between complex, high-volume insurance data and actionable business intelligence. In the fast-paced world of global insurance brokerage and risk management, raw data is only as valuable as the insights it generates. Your role is to transform intricate datasets regarding claims, premiums, and market risks into intuitive, highly performant visual narratives that empower brokers, clients, and internal leadership to make strategic decisions.

The impact of this position resonates across the entire business. You will be directly contributing to products and reporting suites that help enterprise clients understand their risk exposure and optimize their insurance spend. Because Arthur J. Gallagher & deals with massive scale and highly sensitive financial data, the dashboards and visual tools you build must be not only visually compelling but also structurally robust, secure, and rigorously accurate.

This role is both technically demanding and highly strategic. You are not just building charts; you are architecting data models and designing user experiences that drive the core operations of a Fortune 500 company. Expect to tackle complex data architecture challenges, navigate nuanced business requirements, and deliver solutions that have a visible, immediate impact on the firm's bottom line and client satisfaction.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for the Data Visualisation Specialist interview requires a strategic balance of deep technical review and sharp business communication. You should approach your preparation by focusing on the core competencies that drive success in our data organization.

Technical Proficiency under Pressure – You must demonstrate an advanced command of Power BI and SQL. Interviewers will evaluate your ability to quickly identify correct functions, troubleshoot DAX formulas, and write efficient queries within strict time constraints. You can show strength here by practicing timed technical assessments and drilling core syntax until it becomes second nature.

Analytical Problem-Solving – This evaluates how you approach complex data scenarios and structure your solutions. In the context of Arthur J. Gallagher &, this means understanding how disparate data sources join together to tell a cohesive story. Strong candidates will clearly articulate their data modeling decisions and optimize for dashboard performance.

Business Acumen and Communication – We evaluate your ability to translate ambiguous business requirements into precise technical specifications. You must demonstrate how you manage stakeholder expectations, iterate on feedback, and ultimately deliver visualizations that directly answer core business questions.

Interview Process Overview

The interview loop for the Data Visualisation Specialist is designed to be efficient, focused, and rigorous. Arthur J. Gallagher & prioritizes candidates who not only understand the theory of data visualization but can execute flawlessly under pressure. The process is generally streamlined into two primary stages, moving rapidly from high-level behavioral alignment to deep technical validation.

First, you will begin with a behavioral and experience-based interview with the hiring manager. This conversation focuses heavily on your past projects, your approach to stakeholder management, and your alignment with the company's data philosophy. Following a successful hiring manager screen, you will face a highly structured, timed technical assessment. This process is distinctive for its strict time-boxing, designed to test your raw recall, technical accuracy, and ability to perform efficiently—mirroring the fast-paced demands of our reporting environment.

The visual timeline above outlines the typical progression from the initial hiring manager screen to the intensive technical assessment. You should use this to structure your preparation, dedicating early efforts to refining your project narratives before pivoting heavily into timed technical drills for Power BI and SQL.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you must understand exactly how the hiring team evaluates your technical depth and problem-solving capabilities. The technical screening is known to be difficult, primarily due to the strict time constraints applied to each question.

Power BI Mastery & DAX

Because Power BI is the primary visualization engine at Arthur J. Gallagher &, your expertise here will be heavily scrutinized. This area tests your understanding of the entire Power BI ecosystem, from data ingestion to front-end visualization. Strong performance means instantly recognizing the correct DAX functions, understanding filter context, and knowing how to optimize a data model for performance.

Be ready to go over:

• DAX Functions – Deep understanding of CALCULATE, FILTER, time intelligence functions, and context transition.
• Data Modeling – Star schema design, handling many-to-many relationships, and bidirectional cross-filtering.
• Power Query (M Code) – Data transformation best practices, query folding, and handling complex data types.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Row-Level Security (RLS) implementation, incremental refresh strategies, and performance analyzer usage.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Given a specific DAX formula with a CALCULATE and ALL function, identify the expected output from four multiple-choice options within 2 minutes."
• "Choose the most efficient data modeling approach to resolve a circular dependency in a provided schema."
• "Identify the correct Power Query transformation step to unpivot a specific dataset structure."

SQL Querying & Data Extraction

Before data can be visualized, it must be accurately extracted and transformed. Your SQL skills are evaluated based on your ability to write precise, efficient queries to pull the exact data needed for reporting. Interviewers look for candidates who can quickly read a schema and formulate complex logic without hesitation.

Be ready to go over:

• Advanced Joins & Aggregations – Understanding the nuances of LEFT, RIGHT, INNER, and FULL OUTER joins, alongside complex GROUP BY clauses.
• Window Functions – Using ROW_NUMBER(), RANK(), LEAD(), and LAG() to calculate running totals and period-over-period changes.
• Data Type Manipulation – Handling dates, strings, and null values effectively.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Query optimization, indexing strategies, and Common Table Expressions (CTEs) for recursive data.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a SQL query to calculate the rolling 30-day average of insurance premiums by client region, completed within 5-7 minutes."
• "Given two tables with a many-to-many relationship, write a query to find orphaned records."

Stakeholder Management & Requirements Gathering

Evaluated primarily during the hiring manager interview, this area focuses on your soft skills. Arthur J. Gallagher & values specialists who can push back constructively, guide business users toward better visual solutions, and manage project timelines effectively.

Be ready to go over:

• Requirement Translation – Moving from "I need a dashboard showing sales" to a defined set of metrics, dimensions, and user flows.
• Handling Ambiguity – Navigating situations where data is missing, dirty, or where stakeholders have conflicting requests.
• Adoption & Training – How you ensure that the tools you build are actually utilized by the business.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time a stakeholder requested a visualization that you knew was the wrong approach. How did you handle it?"
• "Describe your process for validating data accuracy before releasing a dashboard to production."

Key Responsibilities

As a Data Visualisation Specialist, your day-to-day work revolves around the end-to-end lifecycle of business intelligence reporting. You will partner closely with data engineers to ensure the data warehouse structures support optimal dashboard performance. A significant portion of your time will be spent writing optimized SQL queries to extract and shape raw risk and claims data, preparing it for ingestion into Power BI.

Once the data is modeled, you will design, develop, and deploy interactive dashboards. This requires not just technical implementation, but a strong eye for UI/UX design principles to ensure that complex financial data is easily digestible for non-technical brokers and executives. You will establish automated refresh schedules, implement Row-Level Security to protect sensitive client data, and monitor dashboard performance.

Beyond development, you will act as a consultant to the business. You will lead requirements-gathering workshops, present data prototypes to senior leadership, and continuously iterate on products based on user feedback. You will also be responsible for documenting your data models and establishing best practices for the broader analytics team at Arthur J. Gallagher &.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be highly competitive for this role, candidates must possess a blend of rigorous technical skills and strong business partnering abilities.

• Must-have skills – Expert-level proficiency in Power BI (including DAX and Power Query), strong SQL skills for data extraction and manipulation, and a deep understanding of relational data modeling (Star/Snowflake schemas).
• Experience level – Typically 3+ years of dedicated experience in data visualization, business intelligence, or data analytics, preferably within an enterprise environment.
• Soft skills – Excellent verbal and written communication, the ability to translate technical concepts to non-technical audiences, and strong project management capabilities.
• Nice-to-have skills – Prior experience in the insurance, brokerage, or financial services industry. Familiarity with Python or R for advanced statistical modeling, and experience with enterprise BI deployment and governance.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below represent the patterns and themes you will encounter during the process. Because the technical assessment is heavily timed, you should practice recognizing these concepts instantly.

Power BI & DAX (Timed Multiple Choice)

These questions test your immediate recall of Power BI mechanics and DAX behavior. Expect strict time limits of roughly 2-3 minutes per question.

• What is the difference between SUM and SUMX, and in what scenario must you use the iterator function?
• Given a specific data model, how will a bidirectional cross-filter impact the results of this DAX measure?
• Which Power Query transformation is most efficient for pivoting a table with dynamic columns?
• How does the USERELATIONSHIP function alter the active filter context in a data model with multiple date paths?
• Identify the error in the provided DAX snippet that is causing a blank result.

SQL Querying (Timed Execution)

These questions require you to write functional SQL code quickly, usually allowing only 5-7 minutes per problem.

• Write a query to find the top 3 highest-grossing policies per region using a window function.
• How would you write a query to identify all clients who renewed a policy this year but dropped a specific coverage type from last year?
• Write a query to pivot hierarchical data into a flattened reporting structure.

Behavioral & Process (Hiring Manager Screen)

These questions explore your methodology and culture fit.

• Walk me through a complex dashboard you built from scratch. What were the biggest data modeling challenges?
• How do you handle a situation where the underlying data source changes and breaks your production Power BI report?
• Describe a time you had to present complex data findings to a non-technical executive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How difficult is the technical assessment? The technical assessment is widely considered difficult, primarily due to the aggressive time constraints. You will have only 2-3 minutes for complex Power BI multiple-choice questions and 5-7 minutes to write SQL queries. Speed and accuracy are paramount.

Q: Will I need to write DAX from scratch during the test? While the Power BI portion is primarily multiple-choice, the options often consist of highly similar DAX formulas. You must be able to mentally parse DAX syntax quickly to identify the correct logic without an IDE to test it.

Q: What is the culture like within the data teams at Arthur J. Gallagher &? The culture is highly collaborative but fast-paced. Because the company operates in the risk management space, there is a massive emphasis on data accuracy and compliance. Teams value individuals who are meticulous and proactive in catching data anomalies.

Q: How long does the interview process typically take? The process moves relatively quickly. You can generally expect to complete the hiring manager screen and the technical assessment within a 2-to-3-week window, depending on scheduling availability.

Other General Tips

• Master DAX Contexts: The most common pitfall in the Power BI assessment is misunderstanding filter context versus row context. Review how CALCULATE modifies filter context thoroughly before your test.
• Practice Under the Clock: Do not just practice writing SQL; practice writing it with a 5-minute timer. The pressure of the ticking clock is the hardest part of the technical screen at Arthur J. Gallagher &.

• Brush up on Insurance Terminology: While not strictly required, understanding basic insurance concepts (premiums, claims, brokerage fees, renewals) will help you communicate much more effectively during the hiring manager interview.
• Think Out Loud During the HM Round: When discussing past projects, clearly articulate the why behind your design choices. Arthur J. Gallagher & wants to see that your visualizations are driven by business logic, not just aesthetics.

Summary & Next Steps

Securing a Data Visualisation Specialist role at Arthur J. Gallagher & is a fantastic opportunity to influence a massive, data-rich enterprise. The work you do here will directly shape how global risk is understood and managed, offering high visibility and profound business impact.

Your preparation should be laser-focused on speed and accuracy. The hiring team is looking for candidates who possess an undeniable mastery of Power BI and SQL, and who can execute flawlessly under time pressure. Spend the coming days drilling DAX formulas, optimizing your SQL syntax, and refining your narratives around stakeholder management and data modeling.

The salary data above provides a benchmark for compensation expectations for data roles at this level. Use this information to understand the market rate and to approach any future offer conversations with confidence, keeping in mind that total compensation may include bonuses tied to company performance.

Approach this process with confidence. You have the skills to succeed, and by familiarizing yourself with the strict timing and specific technical expectations of the Arthur J. Gallagher & process, you are already ahead of the curve. Continue to practice, utilize the resources available on Dataford to dive deeper into specific interview scenarios, and step into your interviews ready to showcase your expertise.