IT Business Analyst Senior

About the role

This role serves as the strategic bridge between business stakeholders and the FaCTS development organization. Combining traditional business analysis responsibilities with Product Owner accountability, the Senior Business Analyst ensures technology investments deliver measurable business value. The position acts as the voice of the business while partnering closely with Software Engineering, Operations, Accounting, Trust, Sales and Marketing, and corporate stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Prioritizes enhancements, defects, and technical improvements based on business value, revenue impact, operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, risk mitigation, customer impact, and field user feedback.
• Owns and maintains the FaCTS product backlog.
• Facilitates prioritization discussions with executive leadership and business stakeholders.
• Establishes product roadmaps aligned with company objectives.
• Ensures development efforts focus on delivering the highest return on investment.
• Balances competing stakeholder requests while maintaining strategic platform direction.
• Participates in sprint planning, backlog refinement, and release planning activities.
• Conducts stakeholder interviews, workshops, and discovery sessions.
• Translates business needs into user stories, functional requirements, process flows, acceptance criteria, and business rules.
• Analyzes current business processes and identifies opportunities for improvement.
• Documents end-to-end processes and system interactions.
• Identifies impacts to downstream systems, integrations, reporting, and workflows.
• Ensures requirements are complete, actionable, and understood by development teams.
• Acts as the primary liaison between the business and technical teams.
• Collaborates with VP, Application & Data Management, developers, and QA resources to design scalable solutions.
• Evaluates alternatives and recommends solutions that maximize business outcomes.
• Drives process standardization and automation initiatives.
• Ensures solutions align with enterprise architecture and operational goals.
• Supports integration initiatives involving Accounting, HR, Sales and Marketing, and external vendor systems.
• Validates that delivered functionality meets documented requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Participates in system testing, user acceptance testing, and release validation activities.
• Approves or rejects completed development work based on business readiness and quality standards.
• Makes go/no-go recommendations for production deployments.
• Ensures defects, risks, and outstanding issues are appropriately addressed before release.
• Maintains accountability for business acceptance of delivered functionality.
• Prepares and publishes release notes for all production releases.
• Translates technical changes into business-friendly language.
• Communicates new functionality, enhancements, fixes, and known issues to stakeholders.
• Coordinates deployment readiness activities with development, QA, and business teams.
• Creates training materials, knowledge articles, and release communications when necessary.
• Partners with leadership to ensure organizational readiness for significant feature releases.
• Builds trusted relationships across field Operations, Accounting, HR, Trust, Sales, and executive leadership.
• Serves as the primary point of contact for business questions regarding FaCTS functionality and roadmap direction.
• Facilitates decision-making among competing priorities.
• Presents feature recommendations, business cases, and roadmap updates to leadership teams.
• Actively participates in Agile ceremonies.
• Leads backlog refinement sessions.
• Collaborates with developers and QA analysts to ensure requirements clarity.
• Assists in defining sprint objectives and release goals.
• Monitors delivery progress and proactively resolves requirement or scope issues.
• Supports continuous improvement initiatives within the software development lifecycle.
• Monitors product health and quality metrics.
• Measures value realization from completed initiatives.
• Develops and maintains reporting and dashboards used to guide roadmap decisions.
• Presents KPI performance and product progress to leadership.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field.
• Minimum of seven (7) years of experience in Business Analysis, Product Ownership, Product Management, or related roles.
• Minimum of three (3) years working within Agile software development environments.
• Experience writing user stories, acceptance criteria, process documentation, and functional specifications.
• Experience managing product backlogs and feature prioritization.
• Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience leading user acceptance testing and business validation activities.
• Proven ability to translate complex business processes into technology solutions.
• Valid state-issued driver's license in good standing and acceptable driving record.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), PSPO, CBAP, PMI-PBA, or equivalent certification.
• Experience with Azure DevOps or similar Agile lifecycle management tools.
• Experience supporting enterprise operational platforms.
• Knowledge of cemetery, funeral home, accounting, trust, CRM, or operational management systems.
• Experience with data integrations, APIs, reporting platforms, and workflow automation.

Skills

• Organization
• Detail Orientation
• Communication Proficiency
• Teamwork Orientation
• Customer Service Orientation
• Time Management
• Ability to read, write, and speak English fluently (bilingual is a plus).
• Effective and professional communication skills, with an emphasis on verbal skills.
• Knowledge of Microsoft software products.
• Experience supporting multiple locations.
• Ability to analyze and troubleshoot technical and computer-related issues.
• Experience with ticketing systems, asset management tools, or inventory tracking systems (e.g., Zoho Desk).
• Ability to maintain structured documentation and accurate records.
• Familiarity with basic procurement and accounting concepts.
• Ability to manage multiple assignments at once, multi-task across projects, and effectively prioritize each.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities to identify and fix infrastructure incidents and risks.
• Working knowledge of O365 capabilities and configuration.
• Working knowledge of server and PC hardware.

Benefits

• Financial assistance programs encouraging employees through education and development in industry-related subjects.
• Robust Health and Welfare Plans, and savings account options, designed to support personal needs, enhance well-being, and help navigate life's challenges.
• Rich 401k and Roth Retirement Plan options available for both Full-Time and Part-Time employees along with a Company Match.
• Variety of Vacation, Personal Days, and Sick Days based on role, emphasizing the importance of physical and emotional replenishment.
• Employee Discounts on services, merchandise, and property to help team members in their time of need.

Culture

We value honesty, courage, integrity, ethical behavior, and the development of personal growth. We are rooted in the communities to provide a personal touch to every family we serve. We believe in the value of funeral and cemetery service, drawing on decades of experience to create the best experience for our families.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The duties associated with this position are generally performed in an indoor office setting. Employees in this role are regularly required to climb, sit, stand, bend, kneel, and frequently lift to 25 pounds. This position may also require reaching, pushing, and pulling. Employee may be required to drive a vehicle while on Company business, maintain a good driving record, and be insurable under Company vehicle insurance. This position may also be exposed to chemicals and/or bloodborne pathogens (exposure risk is considered low).

Equipment used includes, but is not limited to, computer, fax, copier, merchant terminal, multi-line phone system, and personal or Company-owned vehicle. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint) is required.

Travel

This position may require up to 10 percent out-of-area and overnight travel. Travel is primarily local during the business day only.

Supervisory Responsibility

This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities.