What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Business Analyst position at Syracuse University?
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
Preferred Skills/Certifications
Requirements Coordination & Business Process Standardization
Not Applicable
Tools/Equipment
Not Applicable
Application Instructions
In addition to completing an online application, please attach a resume and cover letter.
About Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private, international research university with distinctive academics, diversely unique offerings, and an undeniable spirit. Located in the geographic heart of New York State, with a global footprint, and over 150 years of history, Syracuse University offers a quintessential college experience.
The scope of Syracuse University is a testament to its strengths: a pioneering history dating back to 1870; a choice of more than 200 majors, 100 minors, and 200 advanced degree programs offered across the University’s 13 schools and colleges; over 15,000 undergraduates and over 6,000 graduate students; more than a quarter of a million alumni in 160 countries; and a student population from all 50 U.S. states and 123 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.syracuse.edu.
About The Syracuse Area
Syracuse is a medium-sized city situated in the geographic center of New York State approximately 250 miles northwest of New York City. The metro-area population totals approximately 500,000. The area offers a low cost of living and provides many social, cultural, and recreational options, including parks, museums, festivals, professional regional theater, and premier shopping venues. Syracuse and Central New York present a wide range of seasonal recreation and attractions ranging from water skiing and snow skiing, hiking in the Adirondacks, touring the historic sites, visiting wineries along the Finger Lakes, and biking on trails along the Erie Canal.
EEO Statement
Syracuse University is an equal-opportunity institution. The University prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender, national origin, citizenship, ethnicity, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law to the extent prohibited by law. This nondiscrimination policy covers admissions, employment, and access to and treatment in University programs, services, and activities.
Commitment to Supporting and Hiring Veterans
Syracuse University has a long history of engaging veterans and the military-connected community through its educational programs, community outreach, and employment programs. After World War II, Syracuse University welcomed more than 10,000 returning veterans to our campus, and those veterans literally transformed Syracuse University into the national research institution it is today. The University’s contemporary commitment to veterans builds on this historical legacy, and extends to both class-leading initiatives focused on making an SU degree accessible and affordable to the post-9/11 generation of veterans, and also programs designed to position Syracuse University as the employer of choice for military veterans, members of the Guard and Reserve, and military family members.
Commitment to a Respectful and Welcoming Community
Syracuse University fosters a welcoming learning environment where students, faculty, administrators, staff, curriculum, social activities, governance, and all aspects of campus life reflect a broad range of perspectives and experiences. The University community values the many similarities and differences among individuals and groups. At Syracuse, we are committed to preparing students to engage with and appreciate the richness of backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences that shape our society. To achieve this, we strive to cultivate a community that respects and encourages open dialogue, understanding, and mutual respect.
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
- Bachelor’s 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.
- 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.
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
- 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
- Project management experience: PMP, Agile, or similar certifications
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Not Applicable
Tools/Equipment
Not Applicable
Application Instructions
In addition to completing an online application, please attach a resume and cover letter.
About Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private, international research university with distinctive academics, diversely unique offerings, and an undeniable spirit. Located in the geographic heart of New York State, with a global footprint, and over 150 years of history, Syracuse University offers a quintessential college experience.
The scope of Syracuse University is a testament to its strengths: a pioneering history dating back to 1870; a choice of more than 200 majors, 100 minors, and 200 advanced degree programs offered across the University’s 13 schools and colleges; over 15,000 undergraduates and over 6,000 graduate students; more than a quarter of a million alumni in 160 countries; and a student population from all 50 U.S. states and 123 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.syracuse.edu.
About The Syracuse Area
Syracuse is a medium-sized city situated in the geographic center of New York State approximately 250 miles northwest of New York City. The metro-area population totals approximately 500,000. The area offers a low cost of living and provides many social, cultural, and recreational options, including parks, museums, festivals, professional regional theater, and premier shopping venues. Syracuse and Central New York present a wide range of seasonal recreation and attractions ranging from water skiing and snow skiing, hiking in the Adirondacks, touring the historic sites, visiting wineries along the Finger Lakes, and biking on trails along the Erie Canal.
EEO Statement
Syracuse University is an equal-opportunity institution. The University prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender, national origin, citizenship, ethnicity, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law to the extent prohibited by law. This nondiscrimination policy covers admissions, employment, and access to and treatment in University programs, services, and activities.
Commitment to Supporting and Hiring Veterans
Syracuse University has a long history of engaging veterans and the military-connected community through its educational programs, community outreach, and employment programs. After World War II, Syracuse University welcomed more than 10,000 returning veterans to our campus, and those veterans literally transformed Syracuse University into the national research institution it is today. The University’s contemporary commitment to veterans builds on this historical legacy, and extends to both class-leading initiatives focused on making an SU degree accessible and affordable to the post-9/11 generation of veterans, and also programs designed to position Syracuse University as the employer of choice for military veterans, members of the Guard and Reserve, and military family members.
Commitment to a Respectful and Welcoming Community
Syracuse University fosters a welcoming learning environment where students, faculty, administrators, staff, curriculum, social activities, governance, and all aspects of campus life reflect a broad range of perspectives and experiences. The University community values the many similarities and differences among individuals and groups. At Syracuse, we are committed to preparing students to engage with and appreciate the richness of backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences that shape our society. To achieve this, we strive to cultivate a community that respects and encourages open dialogue, understanding, and mutual respect.