Operational Readiness Analyst

Location: Hybrid, Lake Forest, IL (onsite Tuesday‑Thursday); Start date: ASAP (target October 19); Duration: 12+ month contract; Visa sponsorship: Not eligible.

About the role

The Operational Readiness Analyst ensures that applications and technology initiatives are fully prepared for handoff to IT operations, supporting a multi-year program dedicated to redesigning, replacing, and retiring applications across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage a 26‑task operational readiness process that governs each application handoff to IT operations support.
• Track readiness milestones, collect required documentation and templates from technology owners, and follow up on outstanding items.
• Identify handoff risks and ensure funding and resource needs for supporting new applications are addressed before go‑live.
• Coordinate production support handoffs between project delivery teams and operations, verifying service acceptance criteria are met.
• Review and validate operational documentation, including runbooks, SOPs, knowledge articles, and service recovery procedures.
• Maintain ServiceNow dashboards, status reports, and readiness trackers, and provide stakeholder reporting on readiness status and risks.
• Participate in daily program meetings, communicate progress and blockers, and keep readiness work moving between meetings.

Requirements

• 3‑5 years of experience in IT operations, IT service management, operational readiness, or service transition.
• Hands‑on ServiceNow experience, including building service requests, knowledge articles, reports, charts, and dashboards independently.
• Demonstrated experience preparing applications for production handoff and understanding what an operations team needs to sustain ongoing support.
• Familiarity with ITIL‑based service management, particularly incident management and change management.
• Strong coordination and follow‑through skills, with the ability to gather materials from multiple owners, identify risks, and proactively close gaps without waiting for direction.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related field.

Qualifications

• ITIL Foundation certification.
• Project management or project coordination experience.
• Proficiency in Power BI and Excel for tracking and reporting.
• Experience with OnePlan or similar project management platforms.
• Background in the insurance or benefits industry, or experience in regulated, ITIL‑governed environments.

Benefits

• Health
• Dental
• Vision
• 401K

Pay

$46‑52 per hour