About Me
I'm a Senior Data Engineering Consultant with 10+ years of experience spanning data engineering, analytics, and actuarial domains. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, I specialise in Microsoft Fabric, Azure, and modern medallion Lakehouse architectures.
My expertise lies in designing and delivering scalable, metadata-driven data platforms that optimise cloud performance and cost while driving measurable business impact. I write about what I build — from architecture trade-offs to undocumented platform behaviour.
Technical Stack
Platforms & Tools
Languages & Development
Data Architecture
Methodologies
AI & Development Tools
Experience
Senior Consultant & Capability Lead - Data Engineering
Promoted to Senior Consultant and Data Engineering Capability Lead in just over one year. Led the productisation of the Microsoft Fabric Accelerator, formalising patterns from client engagements into a reusable enterprise framework. Played a key role in winning a multi-million dollar banking tender, responding to 400+ requirements and presenting the Fabric Accelerator to CIO and executive leadership. Now technical lead on the engagement, pioneering and embedding human-directed, local AI agent engineering using Claude within VS Code on the client's codebase.
Consultant - Data Engineering
Built Microsoft Fabric data platforms implementing medallion Lakehouse architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold). Developed metadata-driven ELT/ETL pipelines with performance optimisation for large-scale workloads. Reduced ingestion costs by 50% through pipeline optimisation. Achieved 80% cost savings by right-sizing capacities and optimising job scheduling. Designed CI/CD processes including Git branching strategy and automated deployment. Collaborated with Microsoft engineers to resolve platform stability issues and product bugs.
Manager - Data & Analytics
Led development of greenfield data analytics platform. Implemented new stack: Fivetran, GitHub, Azure SQL, dbt, Power BI, and Jupyter. Built executive dashboards for revenue, pricing, and budget tracking. Delivered machine utilisation and capacity analytics across 200+ devices spanning all clinics. Automated government KPI and radiologist CPD reporting. Conducted data requirements workshops with executives and clinical stakeholders.
Senior Manager Business Intelligence
Developed and implemented BI strategies aligned with organisational goals. Led cross-functional teams to design and deliver advanced analytics, data warehousing, and data solutions. Streamlined data collection and analysis processes, reducing processing times and improving data accuracy. Implemented new technologies and methodologies to enhance BI capabilities. Built partnerships with business stakeholders to expand BI reach and foster a data-driven culture across the organisation.
Featured Projects
DataEngBytes Adelaide
Co-founded and organise Adelaide's only dedicated data engineering meetup, part of the DataEngBytes national community. First event held May 2026 with ~50 attendees. Responsible for speaker curation, venue, sponsorship, and event delivery.
Microsoft Fabric Accelerator
Production-grade, end-to-end data ecosystem featuring metadata-driven ELT, medallion Lakehouse architecture (Bronze/Silver/Gold), and built-in alerting, auditing, and logging. Built by productising patterns from client engagements into a reusable, enterprise-scale accelerator with cost optimisation and performance tuning capabilities.
Fabric Cost Optimisation Study
Led comprehensive analysis of Microsoft Fabric self-hosted data movement, identifying 10x cost discrepancy compared to Azure Data Factory. Provided actionable feedback to Microsoft PMs influencing product strategy. Achieved 50% cost reduction through pipeline optimisation and 80% savings through capacity right-sizing.
Healthcare Analytics Platform
Built greenfield analytics platform for Benson Radiology with 200+ medical devices. Implemented modern data stack with Fivetran, dbt, Azure SQL, and Power BI. Delivered executive dashboards for revenue tracking, machine utilisation analytics, and automated government KPI reporting.
Blog
Content has been referenced by Microsoft Engineering and shared across enterprise Microsoft Teams channels globally.
From Imperative to Declarative: How Data Engineering Found a Better Way
A decade of the declarative shift across the ELT stack — what it means in practice, how it played out historically, why every major platform converged on the same answer, and how to think about moving forward.
Microsoft Fabric Mirroring: Before You Commit
Connectors, limits, cost model, and the architectural questions that determine whether Fabric mirroring fits your use case. Includes a full capability matrix across all ten connectors.
Can You Actually Build a Production Fabric Platform with Private Links?
An honest assessment of Microsoft Fabric Private Links for enterprise deployments — what the limitations actually are, why most organisations land on Conditional Access instead, and when Private Links do make sense.
Follow me on LinkedIn — I write about Microsoft Fabric, real implementation gotchas, and what the docs don't tell you.
Certifications
Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate
Education & Awards
Graduate Certificate in Management
Actuarial Exams
Graduate Certificate in Commerce
Bachelor of Journalism
One Young World Delegate
FSC/Deloitte Future Leaders Award - Finalist
Get In Touch
I'm always interested in hearing about new opportunities, collaborations, or discussing data engineering challenges. Based in Adelaide, South Australia. Feel free to reach out!
Email: bradcoles@outlook.com.au
Phone: +61 423 237 043
Location: Aldgate, South Australia