Senior Business Analyst

Senior Business Analyst

Job #: 042730
Location: Syracuse, NY
Pay Range: $65,000 - $95,000
Hours:
Standard University business hours
8:30am - 5:00pm (academic year)
8:00am - 4:30pm (summer)
Hours may vary based on operational needs.
Job Type: Full Time

Job Description:

The Senior Business Analyst at IVMF / Division of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation serves as the critical bridge between program operations and technology teams, owning the intake, prioritization, and translation of business needs across the organization. This role establishes standardized business processes and data collection practices, leads cross-functional requirements gathering, and serves as the single point of coordination for technology requests creating stability for technical teams while ensuring stakeholders receive responsive, well-planned solutions.

Education and Experience:

Required:

• Bachelors degree in business administration, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent work experience).
• 5+ years as a Business Analyst, Business Systems Analyst or similar role.
• Demonstrated experience standardizing business processes across multiple departments or programs.
• Experience with requirements gathering, documentation, and translating business needs into technical specifications.
• Experience facilitating cross-functional workshops and building stakeholder consensus.
• Strong background in data analysis, reporting requirements, and establishing data quality standards.
• Experience with enterprise CRM platforms (Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365 preferred) and working knowledge of system development lifecycle.
• Proficiency with collaboration tools such as JIRA, Confluence, Smartsheet, or similar Proven ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, distributed environment.

Preferred:

• Nonprofit, veteran-serving, higher education, or mission-driven organization experience. Knowledge of military-connected populations, veteran transitions, or workforce development programs.
• Experience leading organizational change management initiatives.
• Familiarity with evaluation frameworks and program impact measurement.

Skills and Knowledge:

Preferred Skills/Certifications:

• Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Fundamentals, or Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant.
• CBAP (Certified Business Analysis Professional) or similar Lean Six Sigma or process improvement certification Change management certification (Prosci, ACMP, or similar)
• Awareness of Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) applications in business processes, including AI-assisted data quality, document processing, or intelligent routing

Technical Knowledge/Skills:

• Expert facilitation and stakeholder management skills Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to translate between business and technical language Process mapping and documentation expertise
• Data analysis and quality assessment skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 suite, including Excel and Visio; familiarity with Power Platform tools (Power Automate, Power BI, Power Apps) a plus.
• Familiarity with integration platforms, workflow automation tools, and API-based system connectivity

Balance of Qualifications:

• Project management experience: PMP, Agile, or similar certifications

Responsibilities:

Requirements Coordination & Business Process Standardization

• Serve as the primary intake point for technology and system enhancement requests and modernization initiatives across all departments within the unit, triaging and prioritizing based on organizational strategy and resource capacity.
• Lead discovery sessions, workshops, and stakeholder interviews to document current-state business processes and identify improvement opportunities.
• Establish and maintain standardized business processes for data collection, workflow management, and program operations across geographically distributed teams.
• Develop and enforce requirements documentation standards, ensuring all requests include clear business justification, success criteria, and stakeholder sign-off before technical work begin.
• Create and maintain a centralized requirements backlog, providing visibility to leadership and technical teams on upcoming priorities and resource demands.
• Work with senior leadership team and data solutions team to inform prioritization decisions and align technology investments with organizational objectives.
• Translate business needs into clear user stories, functional specifications, and acceptance criteria for technical teams.

Stakeholder Engagement, Change Management & Documentation

• Build and maintain trusted advisor relationships with program directors, operations leaders, and evaluation staff to ensure ongoing alignment between business needs and technology capabilities.
• Lead change management initiatives for new processes, standards, and system implementations, ensuring stakeholders understand impacts and are prepared for transitions.
• Facilitate cross-functional working sessions to resolve conflicting requirements and build consensus on shared solutions.
• Develop and deliver training on business processes and system usage to drive adoption and capability building across departments.
• Communicate proactively with technical teams about upcoming requirements, timeline expectations, and priority shifts.
• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation including process flows, requirements specifications, workflow diagrams, and data flow maps.
• Document business requirements (BRD) and functional requirements (FRD) that provide technical teams with clear, stable specifications.
• Establish and continuously improve BA processes, templates, and documentation standards to ensure consistency and scalability.

Data Standards Implementation & System Quality

• Partner with Evaluation team to translate data standards and definitions into system configurations, ensuring the CRM and other platforms capture data consistently across programs.
• Create and maintain system-level documentation including field definitions, data dictionaries, and metadata that align with evaluation frameworks.
• Work with program teams to implement standardized data collection practices in technology platforms, closing gaps between intended standards and actual system usage.
• Monitor data quality within systems and coordinate with stakeholders to remediate issues at the point of entry.
• Support audit remediation efforts by documenting data flows, system controls, and integration points.

Solution Validation & Quality Assurance

• Lead user acceptance testing (UAT) planning and execution, ensuring solutions meet documented business requirements.
• Validate that implemented solutions align with acceptance criteria and business objectives before deployment.
• Gather and document user feedback to inform continuous improvement.
• Support troubleshooting by providing business context to technical team.
• Other duties as assigned.