Business Analyst 3

Title: Business Analyst 3

Location: Chicago, IL; Des Moines, IA; Fargo, ND or Sioux Falls, SD

Job Summary: Responsible for investigating and identifying options to improve business systems, connecting the needs of the business with the use of IT. Perform analysis activities consistent with business analysis techniques. Work as a liaison among stakeholders across business units in achieving business objectives within different project methodologies in a concise and streamlined manner. Accountable for initiatives that involve multiple business functions with a moderate level of business risk.

Essential Functions:

• Act as a liaison to project team, agile team, product owner and stakeholders on initiatives, enhancements, technical capabilities and production support with moderate supervision. Efforts may cross multiple agile teams, impact multiple business units and functions and are time critical to the organization.
• Develop business analysis plan approach, create lean business cases, gather requirements and create user stories with diagrams and acceptance criteria. Communicate plan for each work assignment. This process requires complete transparency and collaboration with all parties, including business teams and IT.
• Define the organization's goals in relationship to assigned work. Use collaboration and investigative analysis to identify accurate requirements.
• Analyze Current State Processes and Systems using a variety of techniques including Data-flow Diagrams, Functional Decomposition, Interviews and Analysis of Metrics and Key Performance Indicators.
• Define the future state of initiatives for both internal and external Stakeholders and advocate on behalf of all stakeholders.
• Highly skilled in using a variety of techniques like User Stories, Use Cases, and Diagrams in requirements documentation.
• Work closely with Business Partners and Product Owners at all levels in the organization to proactively define business requirements, complete backlog refinement define acceptance criteria and collaborate with other stakeholders related to requirements.
• Facilitate creation and documentation of abstract models depicting enterprise capability maturity and structured process improvement events, such as Value Stream Mapping.
• Display critical, quality-oriented and skeptical thinking at an initiative level with the ability to clearly define Business, Stakeholder solutions Functional and Non-Functional stakeholder solutions and transition requirements.
• Act as the subject matter expert in using different elicitation and documentation techniques. Mentor less experienced team members on all Business Analysis activities and in using different techniques.
• Manage initiative scope and risks by negotiating solutions and effectively communicating with the Project Manager, Scrum Master and Product Owner in a timely manner; make recommendations for product enhancements.
• Identify risks and coordinate with the teams and stakeholders to mitigate effectively.
• Participate in initiatives utilizing external consultants while being cognizant of the need for different communication styles and processes.
• Manage customer-facing issues and oversee the successful escalation and assignment of issues related to business requirements delivery.
• Partner with technical development staff and Quality Assurance to confirm understanding related to requirements. Collaborate with other team members during technical design and test planning to insure overall coverage and understanding.
• Act as a liaison between Business Users and IT to ensure constant communication cycle with stakeholders throughout the life of the initiative.
• Manage initiatives from ideation to implementation with proactive follow-up with stakeholders to confirm objectives were met, remaining flexible and adjusting to multiple tasks and circumstances.
• Ensure that appropriate documentation is kept current and meets all internal controls requirements related to content and approval.
• Proactively manage change throughout the lifecycle of the initiative by communicating with team, evaluating impact, updating documentation and negotiating alternatives.
• Develop business analysis standards by reviewing and editing standard operating procedures for SFG member companies.
• Embrace, adapt and lead through change, fostering effective partnerships and driving effective collaboration with peers and vendor resources.
• Establish and cultivate relationships with key business partners, team members, industry contacts, and vendors.
• Support key working relationships with others and promote effective development of those relationships long-term.
• Actively pursue career development planning and seek learning opportunities.
• Identify and participate in industry, technology and job related educational opportunities. Increase knowledge of insurance industry and business processes through training or reading material and present information to peers and manager. Enhance and continuously upgrade technology skills and apply to daily work.
• Seek out best practices in areas of analysis and technology; improve efficiency and quality within initiatives and in the business analysis discipline.
• Commitment to embrace Sammons Financial Group Companies shared values (Respect, Accountability, Integrity, and Openness)
• As stated within the Company Attendance and Punctuality policy, regular attendance is required and expected in order to meet the business service levels and workflow demands.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business or related field from a four-year accredited university is preferred; consideration will be given to past Business Analysis experience, certifications, and Financial Services background
• 4 years previous appropriate work experience required
• Minimum 2 years' Experience facilitating formal process improvement activities preferred
• Previous Business Analysis experience or leadership experience in the financial services industry preferred
• Knowledge of the Business Analyst skills, techniques and competencies, with preference towards industry certifications
• Previous Agile framework working experience preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills including strong questioning and listening skills and the ability to look beyond obvious answers to understand the impact across the organization
• Ability to quickly obtain and apply the knowledge of Sammons Financial Group systems, the business and related technology processes
• Ability to handle complex situations holistically
• Confidence in problem solving and decision making
• Ability to work on large scale strategic initiatives that cross business units, sometimes serving as the key Business Analyst on a team of many analysts
• Understanding of complex life and/or annuity products, processes and methodologies preferred
• Familiarity with Agile frameworks and regression testing is a plus
• Proven problem solving, decision making and process thinking skills
• Strong analytical skills and the desire to research and formulate appropriate analytical technology or resolve problem situations
• Ability to independently perform data mining and apply analysis techniques to assigned initiatives
• Proven teamwork skills and ability to interact well with others, including the ability to work with and communicate to a variety of personalities and locations
• Self-motivated and able to work independently and effectively under deadline pressures
• Organized and detail oriented
• Deep understanding of concepts and techniques such as work simplification, workflow and process analysis, etc.
• Proficient use of the Microsoft suite of products and other business analysis tools as necessary
• Ability to lead teams and resolve conflicts in problem solving and decision making using emotional intelligence to move the initiative forward
• Ability and willingness to change in support of the best possible results for the organization
• Ability to diagram with appropriate tools for the situation and present to the team and stakeholders
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, Aha! and Azure DevOps preferred
• Flexible and able to adjust to multiple tasks and circumstances
• Ability to work with a variety of people at all levels in the organization
• Criminal background check required.