Business System Analyst (Temporary)

University of Washington • Seattle, WA

19h

About The Position

The University of Washington’s Office of Research is hiring a Business System Analyst for a one-year temporary term appointment, with an opportunity to renew. Reporting to the Technology Project Manager, this role supports Office of Research Information Services (ORIS) projects from requirements gathering and needs assessment through design and implementation. The analyst works with stakeholders and project teams to design and develop applications that improve how researchers and administrators procure and manage research grants, contributing technical systems design and development expertise within a diverse team of campus and administrative partners.

The role conducts user-centered business analysis, facilitates stakeholder discussions and collaborative design, documents requirements and systems, supports testing and validation, and helps communicate system and process changes. Specialty work may involve technical systems analysis, data and reporting, or business process analysis. The analyst also builds relationships with business partners, supports onboarding and presentations for new products and features, and advises business units on clarifying needs in relation to product strategy.

The position is based in a collaborative shared-space environment, primarily working standard hours aligned with Pacific Time. Inflexible deadlines are common, and non-standard hours may be necessary for go-lives, incidents, and deployments. The position is first shift and full-time equivalent at 100%. The annual pay range is $114,000 to $117,660. Benefits information is available through the University’s temporary-position benefits page.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, business administration, information science, or another technical area.
• At least 4 years of experience performing progressively more complex and responsible tasks.
• Knowledge and experience applying user-centered design practices to understand business needs and translate them into system-implementation documentation.
• Demonstrated diagnostic and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a cooperative team effort.
• Strong customer focus and client-expectation management, with the ability to establish and maintain user trust and confidence.
• Fluent knowledge of diagramming and whiteboarding tools such as Lucidchart and Visio, Microsoft Office Suite, and Google G Suite.
• Strong working knowledge of business analysis tools and techniques for requirements elicitation, analysis, documentation, modeling, and validation.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, including requirements alignment, conflict resolution, group facilitation, and status reporting.
• Deep knowledge and experience developing and implementing desktop and distributed software systems involving web-based user interfaces, relational databases (transactional and data warehouses), and SQL for administrative applications.
• Competency in business analysis planning and requirements management.
• In-depth knowledge of software development processes beyond business analysis, including quality assurance, data modeling, and database design.
• Experience working on multiple project types, including COTS, new product development, and maintenance, and across multiple business areas.
• High competency in at least one specialty area: business process analysis, data and systems analysis, or project management.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in a university and/or consensus-driven environment.
• Knowledge of lean/agile software development practices, including Kanban and Scrum.
• Knowledge and experience analyzing and implementing enterprise system solutions such as portals, workflow, content management, and/or data warehouses.

Responsibilities

• Research and analyze end-user needs using user-centered design practices and elicitation methods such as interviews, surveys, site visits, and focus groups.
• Use agile methodologies to break complex feature requirements into manageable work that delivers value to end users.
• Create business process diagrams, use cases, scenarios, and task and workflow analyses to communicate business needs.
• Create and maintain system documentation in collaboration with technical contributors.
• Facilitate discussions with stakeholders and subject matter experts to build shared understanding, consensus, priorities, and inclusive solutions.
• Develop and maintain analysis plans for opportunity analysis and discovery on new projects.
• Evaluate and reconcile information from multiple sources, abstracting or decomposing it to represent underlying needs for audiences with different levels of understanding.
• Document functional and non-functional requirements, user interaction requirements, specifications, and acceptance criteria to support development, quality assurance, support, and learning materials.
• Participate in testing and validation to help ensure delivery of a quality product.
• Collaborate with ORIS staff and business partners on communications about system and process changes and upcoming releases.
• Design and facilitate requirements workshops, user research sessions, and collaborative design sessions.
• Perform enterprise-level analysis to identify business needs and capability gaps, create business cases, and determine high-level solution approach and scope.
• For technical systems analysis, develop artifacts such as data dictionaries, mapping documents, entity relationship diagrams, and conceptual diagrams for integration, migration, and reporting.
• Translate business requirements into reporting frameworks and technical definitions for data collection and management development and enhancement.
• Use querying tools and languages such as T-SQL to analyze data, inform decisions, validate system behavior, and support data quality assurance.
• Partner with team members to develop test cases for data and reporting.
• For business process analysis, define current- and future-state processes using process modeling tools and techniques.
• Facilitate stakeholder consensus on new business process designs and assess process-change impacts across people, systems, operations, and management.
• Use root-cause analysis and value-stream mapping to focus on issues that can enable positive change and business value.
• Establish and maintain working relationships through ongoing communication and check-ins during design and implementation.
• Provide onboarding walkthroughs and presentations for new products or features, as needed, and assist training development staff with documentation and review.
• Advocate for and advise business units to help clarify and articulate needs within the broader product strategy and vision.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• The posting refers applicants to the University’s temporary-position benefits information page but does not enumerate specific benefits.
• The University describes opportunities for professional growth and an environment known for its diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level