(Remote) Senior Business Analyst - Information Technology Services

About the position

The Senior Business Analyst (BA) at West Virginia University serves as a crucial liaison between stakeholders and Information Technology Services (ITS). This role focuses on providing business process solutions and technical support to meet both departmental and institutional needs. The BA will work closely with domain experts to identify business requirements, address usability concerns, and document comprehensive solutions across multiple projects, ensuring effective communication and collaboration throughout the project lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Develops epics, user stories, and process flow documentation to facilitate the design and development of application solutions.
• Applies industry best practices for business analysis (BABOK) to improve, support, and refine BA processes and artifacts within the team.
• Provides support and acts as a subject matter expert for CRM systems such as Salesforce and WVU Portal, and third-party tools.
• Leads projects to success by creating use case surveys, business process descriptions, and task analyses necessary for developing effective solutions and designs.
• Designs and recommends alternative solutions through critical analysis and expert knowledge of the application and supporting technology.
• Facilitates efficient project progress by assigning/delegating appropriate tasks to team members.
• Shares knowledge and ideas with technical and functional staff to achieve project deliverables.
• Utilizes technical/application skills within functional/project areas and with stakeholders to identify and communicate opportunities for business process optimization.
• Independently leads efforts to analyze requirements against industry best practices to design and implement enterprise-level solutions that meet business needs and align with WVU's strategic and technical vision.
• Participates in initial project assessments, plans, and estimates.
• Utilizes standards in the delivery of plans, designs, program modification, testing, and installation of project work.
• Recommends design/system alternatives or approaches to meet WVU's systems requirements.
• Employs considerable analytical skills to assist in documenting diverse tasks such as requirements, design, development, testing, system setups, policies and procedures, and delivery of ITS projects.
• Identifies areas of weakness in WVU applications and technology and recommends alternatives and solutions through critical analysis and expert knowledge of the institution's business processes.
• Evaluates all possible solutions to a business problem and selects the most appropriate one.
• Challenges current business practices and proposes solutions to ensure the selection of the best alternative.
• Continuously evaluates, researches, develops, and maintains complex solutions using evolving methodologies to keep pace with new technologies.
• Performs multiple project tasks to ensure positive project quality and satisfaction.
• Anticipates and identifies project issues and collaborates with the BA team, Development team, and Functional Users to resolve them.
• Communicates information clearly and promptly to team members and stakeholders, exerting necessary efforts for project accomplishment.
• Dedicates time and effort to ongoing learning, staying current with the evolving technology and application landscape.
• Establishes positive and professional relationships with functional users and staff, creating effective communication channels with project and team members, and addressing concerns appropriately.
• Demonstrates understanding of and adherence to established project management protocols, including tasks such as following project work plans, providing status reports, and maintaining documentation.
• Exhibits leadership qualities to influence stakeholders, break down silos, and overcome resistance to change within and across organizations.
• Capable of leading change using positive and collaborative methods and generating excitement and engagement.
• Collaborates effectively with peers to achieve project deliverables, contributing through knowledge sharing and idea exchange.
• Adheres to WVU's confidentiality and security protocols, ensuring compliance with application requirements.
• Recognizes and actively works towards achieving WVU's strategic and operational objectives.
• Takes initiative to devise solutions for perceived gaps or deficiencies in organizational processes.
• Communicates in a concise and clear manner, both in written and oral communication.
• Fosters an environment of professionalism and teamwork.
• Demonstrates the ability to establish and maintain strong relationships with business partners.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems or related field.
• A minimum of five (5) years of combined experience in defining problems, collecting data, gathering requirements, and establishing structure and analysis for complex business issues.
• Experience in writing technical design/solution documents, and business process and improvement.
• Experience in facilitating UAT testing.
• Experience collaborating with business units to provide IT services.

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with PL/SQL and SQL.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the Software Development Life Cycle and agile/scrum development methodology.
• Broad knowledge of information security issues, trends, requirements and regulations, especially FERPA and HIPPA, and accepted industry best practices.

Benefits

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year
• 18 sick days per year
• Range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match
• Wellness programs