Technical Product Analyst (Information Systems/Business Analyst III) - 61150787

Job Responsibilities

The mission of the South Carolina Department of Education is to serve students, support teachers, empower parents, and engage the community so that every student graduates prepared to reach their full potential.

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) seeks a mission-driven Technical Product Analyst to support the delivery of technology solutions that serve students, educators, and school districts across South Carolina. This role sits within the SCDE Office of Information Technology and serves as a key liaison between program stakeholders and technology delivery teams.

• Maintain and prioritize the product backlog for assigned SCDE technology platforms, ensuring backlog items are clearly defined, properly sized, and positioned to deliver value each sprint.
• Translate program requirements, regulatory mandates (FERPA, IDEA, Title I, EDFacts), and stakeholder feedback into well-defined epics, features, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Define and maintain the product roadmap, aligning short-term sprint goals with SCDE’s multi-year IT modernization strategy and managing OKRs in collaboration with IT leadership.
• Serve as the primary liaison between SCDE program divisions and the technology delivery team; facilitate requirements workshops, process mapping sessions, and gap analyses.
• Conduct user research and feedback sessions with teachers, district administrators, and SCDE staff to inform product decisions and prioritization; communicate status, decisions, and tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Lead or actively participate in all Agile/Scrum ceremonies — sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives — and coordinate with the SCDE PMO, OIT architects, and vendor partners to manage dependencies.
• Support UAT planning and execution; validate that delivered features meet acceptance criteria and agency requirements before release; monitor sprint performance and work with the Scrum Master to resolve blockers.
• Uphold data governance, privacy, and security standards across all product decisions; maintain awareness of platform release cycles and evaluate new features for agency applicability.
• Aid IT leadership with budget planning, tool procurement, and vendor SLA monitoring; evaluate vendor proposals and change orders against product scope; track burn rate relative to sprint velocity and flag risks.

Minimum And Additional Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in computer science or a related area and experience in computer system development and modification. Relevant experience may substitute for the bachelor’s degree on a year-for-year basis.
• One to three (1–3) years of experience in a product analyst, IT business analyst, project management, or closely related technical role, with demonstrated experience owning and managing a product backlog in an Agile or Scrum delivery environment.
• Proven ability to translate policy, regulatory, or program requirements into technical specifications and user stories; experience with requirements documentation, process mapping, and gap analysis methodologies.
• A bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, Public Administration, Education, or a related field. Equivalent work experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Agile & Delivery

• Agile or Scrum certification (CSPO, PSPO I, SAFe POPM, or PMI-ACP); candidates without certification may be considered if they can demonstrate equivalent practical experience.
• Proficiency with Jira or Azure DevOps for backlog management and sprint tracking.
• Experience with Power BI, Tableau, or similar tools for product metrics and reporting.

Domain & Sector Experience

• Experience working in government, education, healthcare, or another regulated public sector environment.
• Familiarity with K–12 education data, federal reporting requirements (EDFacts, IDEA, Title I), or student information systems is a plus — but not required.
• Prior South Carolina state government IT experience.

Platform Familiarity

• Familiarity with enterprise CRM or case management platforms (e.g., Salesforce, ServiceNow, or similar); hands-on BA or admin experience on a Salesforce implementation is a plus.
• Comfort working alongside integration or architecture teams; prior exposure to API-driven platforms or data integration concepts is helpful but not required.