Edward is available for hire
Hire EdwardEdward Kench
Verified Expert in Engineering
Data Architecture Developer
Clearwater, FL, United States
Toptal member since June 18, 2020
Bio
Edward is a data, BI, and AI architect and an expert in data lake, warehouse, lake house, and ML architectures. He is highly skilled in all areas of data platforms and is a data visualization and cloud expert across many sectors, like finance, insurance, media, retail, and market research. Edward is an industry thought leader and speaker for SQL Saturday on BI and analytics. He built Power BI courseware for Microsoft and has helped modernize data and analytics for several Fortune 500 companies.
Portfolio
Baldwin Insurance
Big Data Architecture, Database Modeling, Data Governance, Chatbots, Databricks...
Mindtree
Azure SQL, Azure Databricks, Python, Azure Data Lake, Microsoft Power BI...
Application Consulting Training Solutions
Azure Data Lake, Azure Machine Learning, Azure, Azure SQL, Databricks...
Experience
- Data Architecture - 18 years
- Data Warehouse Design - 15 years
- Business Intelligence Architecture - 15 years
- Big Data - 12 years
- Microsoft Power BI - 7 years
- Tableau - 7 years
- Azure - 6 years
- Azure PaaS - 4 years
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
Business Intelligence (BI), Azure, SQL, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Databricks, Spark, Python, Azure Synapse, Data Lakes
The most amazing...
...project I've built was for Microsoft, a CDM lake house for AI on top of commercial customer data for products like M365, LinkedIn, Azure, and Power Platform.
Work Experience
Senior Data Architect
2023 - PRESENT
Baldwin Insurance
- Completed a major redesign and migration of all business data from on-premises SQL to the Databricks lake house with a Power BI and Tableau front end and multiple custom AI applications.
- Modeled all tables in a lake house and designed all pipelines and transformations.
- Built the company's first data warehouse. Prior to my design, the company ran reports directly from the operational SQL tables and views.
- Contributed to a new design allowed for historical reporting for the first time in the company's history. This led to significant interaction with executive stakeholders to develop new analytics.
Technologies: Big Data Architecture, Database Modeling, Data Governance, Chatbots, Databricks, SQL, Python, Data Warehouse Design, Data Lakehouse
Senior Azure Architect
2022 - 2023
Mindtree
- Designed and implemented customer activity signals processing on cloud SaaS products, including Microsoft 365, Azure, LinkedIn, and Power BI. Collected signals from Cosmos DB and created an ADLS lake house for AI and analytics for the marketing team.
- Utilized Common Data Model lakes and warehouses on Synapse, ADLS Gen2, and Azure SQL. Designed Power BI reporting and feature stores for ML models used in Salesforce and other tools.
- Designed data structures to analyze user activities and optimize marketing strategies, campaigns, and core product features. This data model was also intended as a common data store for Microsoft teams to share their own or use data from other teams.
- Owned all product architecture and oversight of code and data quality, as well as system performance, application monitoring, and thought leadership. Built prototypes and POCs. Followed Agile Scrum methodologies using Azure DevOps.
Technologies: Azure SQL, Azure Databricks, Python, Azure Data Lake, Microsoft Power BI, Azure Synapse, Azure Event Hubs, Streaming Data, Real-time Data, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Data Factory (ADF), Data Pipelines, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Dedicated SQL Pool (formerly SQL DW), Dynamics CRM 365, Azure Cosmos DB, Apache Kafka, DevOps, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Security, CI/CD Pipelines, Machine Learning, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Chief Architect | Azure Data and AI
2018 - 2022
Application Consulting Training Solutions
- Designed Azure data and analytics platforms for retail, finance, and SaaS as the chief architect. Built data architectures and POCs as needed using Databricks, Python, Synapse, Power BI, Azure SQL, ADF, ADLS, Spark, and Azure Data Warehouse.
- Served as a senior architect at Microsoft; designed and implemented a return-to-school system during COVID-19 that used analytics to enable safe return. Utilized Power BI, Power Platform, Dynamics 365, ADLS, Cosmos DB, Databricks, ADF, and Synapse.
- Performed the migration of a major restaurant chain on-premises sales system to an ADLS, Databricks, ADF, Azure SQL, Azure Data Warehouse, and Power BI solution as a senior architect for Microsoft.
- Built a system for tracking global shipments of COVID-19 vaccines as a senior architect for Microsoft. This was a project for a worldwide shipping company where I used Power BI, Synapse, Databricks, Python, ADX, Event Hubs, and Kafka.
- Designed and implemented multiple anomaly detection systems for Azure consumption, VM performance, and data anomalies at the data layer using Azure Cognitive Services and ADX. Visualized through Power BI.
Technologies: Azure Data Lake, Azure Machine Learning, Azure, Azure SQL, Databricks, Microsoft Power BI, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Agile, Python, Spark, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, SQL Server BI, ETL, Scrum, NoSQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure IaaS, Software as a Service (SaaS), C#, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Neo4j, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Cloud, DAX, Financial Data, Tableau Server, Distribution Channel Performance, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Azure Data Factory (ADF), Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SSAS Tabular, Kanban, Azure PaaS, Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, M, Azure Blobs, Geospatial Data, Geospatial Analytics, Startups, Google APIs, C#.NET, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Dedicated SQL Pool (formerly SQL DW), Customer Analysis, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Financial Systems, Predictive Analytics, Blob Storage, Apache Kafka, Big Data, Node.js, Apps, Data Visualization, Data Engineering, DevOps, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Security, Machine Learning, CI/CD Pipelines
Vice President of Data and Analytics
2017 - 2018
Neptune Flood
- Designed and developed the core operational and analytics platform for a disruptive web-based insurance startup. Used Azure SQL Server, SSIS, C#.NET, Azure Data Factory, MongoDB, and Power BI.
- Built and designed a data warehouse for sales and risk analytics with Azure SQL Server and Azure Data Factory.
- Designed AI for risk analysis, dependent on geospatial analytics with geocodes, topographical, elevation, statistical modeling of risk features and characteristics, and LIDAR data.
- Constructed a sales forecast tool using R language libraries, SQL Server, and Power BI. This tool was used daily to manage decisions around aggregation and exposure to financial risk.
- Built mobile real-time analytics that propelled the sales process.
- Managed onshore and offshore direct reports, including data scientists and engineers, GIS developers, web developers, and testers.
Technologies: PostgreSQL, Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, C#, MongoDB, SQL, Azure, Azure SQL, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, SQL Server BI, ETL, Scrum, NoSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure IaaS, Software as a Service (SaaS), jQuery, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Cloud, DAX, Financial Data, Distribution Channel Performance, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Azure Data Factory (ADF), Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SSAS Tabular, Kanban, Azure PaaS, Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, M, Azure Blobs, Geospatial Data, Geospatial Analytics, Startups, Google APIs, C#.NET, Technical Leadership, Customer Analysis, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Financial Systems, Predictive Analytics, Blob Storage, Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Big Data, Node.js, Apps, Data Visualization, Data Engineering, DevOps, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Security, Machine Learning, CI/CD Pipelines
Manager of Business Intelligence
2012 - 2017
Bankers Financial Corporation
- Led the delivery of One-click Homeowners, an award-winning predictive analytics tool that used SQL Server and R libraries to predict insurance risks. This system outperformed human underwriters in the profitability of selected risks.
- Replaced legacy reporting systems with a cloud-based Azure SQL enterprise data warehouse and Power BI. This system became the primary trusted source in the entire enterprise for business, operational, and financial data.
- Worked with the corporate leadership—as a senior analytics resource—to guide sales and marketing strategy through data-driven insights with SQL, R, and Power BI.
- Created data-driven market segmentation insights that allowed for measurable revenue gains and cost savings.
- Constructed operational BI dashboards with Power BI, Cognos, and Tableau for daily management of business processes for product management.
- Managed a team of direct reports including offshore and onshore SQL and BI developers, ETL developers, testers, and data scientists.
Technologies: IBM Cognos, Tableau, IBM Db2, Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, SQL Server BI, ETL, Scrum, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), NoSQL, Azure SQL, Software as a Service (SaaS), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), C#, jQuery, Neo4j, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Cloud, DAX, Financial Data, Tableau Server, Distribution Channel Performance, Platform as a Service (PaaS), IBM Watson Analytics, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SSAS Tabular, Kanban, Azure PaaS, Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, M, Google APIs, C#.NET, Technical Leadership, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Financial Systems, Predictive Analytics, Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Big Data, Apps, Sybase, Data Visualization, Data Engineering, Security, Machine Learning, CI/CD Pipelines
Director of Business Intelligence
2011 - 2012
Princeton Information Systems
- Managed direct reports, including onshore and offshore developers, testers, architects, and business analysts in BI, OLAP, data warehouse, and ETL roles.
- Architected a SQL, Vertica, and Tableau BI solution for managing high-volume cell phone metadata calls from major carriers.
- Established the BI Center of Excellence and BI Competency Center to centralize, socialize, and continuously improve analytics and insights across the company.
- Architected and designed data-driven workflow, pipelines, and analytics for a startup company that builts web-based financial workflows.
Technologies: MicroStrategy, Azure, Tableau, Vertica, SQL, C#.NET, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, SQL Server BI, ETL, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Scrum, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), C#, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, DAX, Tableau Server, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), Kanban, SSAS, Technical Leadership, Customer Analysis, Data Visualization, Data Engineering
Research Platform Leader
2006 - 2011
Nielsen
- Managed a global onshore and offshore team of 40 to build market and media research analytics applications for all domestic box office and overseas film studios in 18 countries.
- Delivered localized, multilingual BI systems for reporting on box office numbers for over 50,000 theatres worldwide.
- Delivered analytics solutions that were hailed by film executives as game-changing and which were used by top executives in all major Hollywood studios.
- Delivered AI that tapped into Nielsen's deep big data stores to combine demographic, box office attendance, exit polling, and online sentiment analysis data to provide vast green fields for data exploration and self-service film industry reporting.
- Delivered the first Hollywood analytics system for 3D movies for Avatar.
- Delivered predictive systems such as the box office estimator, which predicts the grosses for major film releases over upcoming weekends.
Technologies: Sybase, SSAS, Netezza, C#, MicroStrategy, IBM Cognos, Informatica, SQL, Artificial Intelligence (AI), MATLAB, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence Architecture, Big Data Architecture, Business Intelligence (BI), UML, SQL Server DBA, Agile, SQL Server BI, ETL, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Scrum, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), NoSQL, Software as a Service (SaaS), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, Dashboards, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), IT Project Management, User Self-service, Market Research & Analysis, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, BizTalk, Technical Leadership, Customer Analysis, Budget Management, Project Budget Management, Film & Television, Predictive Analytics, Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Big Data, Data Visualization, Data Engineering
Trainer and Consultant
2001 - 2006
TechSherpas
- Helped measurably increase profitability for a major grocer's bakery by designing an SQL data warehouse and a touch-screen system.
- Worked as an architect on the Nielsen TV rating team during a custom app development project with SQL, C#, and ASP.NET.
- Taught—as a Microsoft certified trainer—SQL, OLAP, BizTalk, .NET, distributed apps, COM and COM+, SOA, OOP, OOAD, Microsoft solutions, and Microsoft Operations Frameworks.
- Taught courses in Java and J2EE, WebLogic, WebSphere, JavaScript, OOP and OOAD, and UML.
Technologies: Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), UML, Java, BizTalk, C#, SQL, Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), Microsoft SQL Server, Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, IT Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Database Administration (DBA), Object-oriented Design (OOD), Database Modeling, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, SSAS
Experience
LAUSD COVID-19 Dashboard
https://achieve.lausd.net/dailypassI was the lead cloud data architect on the Los Angeles Unified School District's Return-to-School initiative.
This system provides dashboards that allow schools to open safely using a daily pass model based on testing and tracing in school cohorts.
This system provides dashboards that allow schools to open safely using a daily pass model based on testing and tracing in school cohorts.
CIO Magazine | Top 100 Award for Data Analytics
https://www.cio.com/article/2456293/business-intelligence/cio-100-winners-turn-analytics-into-money-making-new-products.html?page=2I led the analytics team, which delivered the One-Click Homeowners insurance predictive analytics application for Bankers Financial Corp., which was included in the CIO Magazine Top 100. This link shows the winners list for that year.
Box Office Estimator
Whenever the TV or news report on how many millions of dollars a major film is expected to make over the weekend, there is a good chance the data you are seeing came from the Nielsen Box Office Estimator.
I managed the team which built this predictive tool.
I managed the team which built this predictive tool.
Nielsen Film Cube
I led the team that designed a new Hollywood box office reporting system from scratch, replacing a legacy system to report film box office grosses. This system—called Film Cube—supplied film sales data for Nielsen's Hollywood Reporter magazine and all Hollywood studios and media outlets.
When the film Avatar was released, Fox Studios requested a redesign to the platform to allow the breakout of 3D viewing statistics, leading to changes on the system that allowed any Hollywood Studio to view, for the first time, 3D grosses vs. regular screen grosses across 50,000 theatres, domestic and international.
When the film Avatar was released, Fox Studios requested a redesign to the platform to allow the breakout of 3D viewing statistics, leading to changes on the system that allowed any Hollywood Studio to view, for the first time, 3D grosses vs. regular screen grosses across 50,000 theatres, domestic and international.
Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings
For this project, Nielsen and Facebook partnered to combine Nielsen's deep repository of demographic and market habits data with Facebook's user data to provide advertisers with enhanced marketing insights.
I delivered this tool, which was used by major brands such as Coke and Procter & Gamble, and followed a similar model to Google Ads in how it tracked user web habits.
I delivered this tool, which was used by major brands such as Coke and Procter & Gamble, and followed a similar model to Google Ads in how it tracked user web habits.
Bankers Financial Enterprise Data Warehouse
Coming into a legacy AS/400 environment, my role was to create a brand-new data, BI, and analytics platform across multiple verticals, including insurance, surety, and finance.
The system I delivered replaced multiple legacy AS/400 systems, thousands of reports, and increased self-service BI adoption across the company by 1900%!
Senior management began to treat data in the warehouse as the de-facto-trusted standard, resulting in it being used to produce corporate income statements and financial reports. It also led to multiple revenue and savings opportunities by becoming a single unified data platform used for strategic initiatives across all business units.
The system I delivered replaced multiple legacy AS/400 systems, thousands of reports, and increased self-service BI adoption across the company by 1900%!
Senior management began to treat data in the warehouse as the de-facto-trusted standard, resulting in it being used to produce corporate income statements and financial reports. It also led to multiple revenue and savings opportunities by becoming a single unified data platform used for strategic initiatives across all business units.
Certifications
MAY 2021 - MAY 2023
Microsoft Certified Solutions Architect Expert
Microsoft
APRIL 2021 - APRIL 2023
Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate
Microsoft
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Google Analytics API, Google APIs, jQuery, Node.js
Tools
SSAS, SQL Server BI, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, IBM Cognos, Azure Machine Learning, MATLAB
Languages
M, UML, Python, SQL, Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), C#, JavaScript, C#.NET, Java, R
Frameworks
Spark, Django, Bootstrap, Data Lakehouse
Paradigms
Object-oriented Analysis & Design (OOAD), Requirements Analysis, Kanban, Dimensional Modeling, Kimball Methodology, OLAP, Agile, Scrum, Business Intelligence (BI), Object-oriented Design (OOD), ETL, DevOps
Platforms
Databricks, Azure, Azure PaaS, Azure IaaS, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Synapse, Dedicated SQL Pool (formerly SQL DW), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache Kafka, Salesforce, Azure Event Hubs
Storage
Microsoft SQL Server, NoSQL, Database Administration (DBA), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Azure SQL, SSAS Tabular, MongoDB, SQL Server DBA, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), Database Modeling, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Data Lake Design, Data Lakes, Azure Blobs, Vertica, Netezza, Sybase, PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Neo4j, IBM Db2, Oracle SQL, Data Pipelines
Industry Expertise
Insurance, Retail & Wholesale
Other
Analytics, Blob Storage, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Solution Architecture, User Self-service, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Dashboards, Distribution Channel Performance, Market Research & Analysis, Customer Analysis, Budget Management, Financial Systems, Financial Data, Film & Television, Project Budget Management, Azure Data Lake, Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD), Entity-relationships Model (ERM), Big Data, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, Excel Reporting, IT Project Management, Big Data Architecture, IBM Watson Analytics, DAX, SQL Design & Reporting, Data Warehouse Design, Business Intelligence Architecture, Data Analytics, Data Architecture, Azure Data Factory (ADF), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Technical Leadership, Data Visualization, Data Engineering, BizTalk, Apps, Geospatial Data, Geospatial Analytics, SAP BusinessObjects (BO), Startups, MicroStrategy, Tableau Server, Predictive Analytics, Azure Stream Analytics, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Security, CI/CD Pipelines, Machine Learning, Informatica, Azure Databricks, Streaming Data, Real-time Data, Dynamics CRM 365, Data Governance, Chatbots
Collaboration That Works
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
1
Share your needs
Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2
Choose your talent
Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3
Start your risk-free talent trial
Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring