Senior Software Business Analyst (35858)

The Senior Software Business Analyst facilitates the complete and accurate capture of business requirements for complex initiatives and the responsible integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the requirements elicitation phase of the software development life cycle (SDLC). This role assists with aligning business and technical objectives, resolves

dependencies, and mentors other analysts with the goal of ensuring system functionality meets customer expectations. The senior analyst adheres to standards for AI-assisted analysis, source quality, and traceability, and ensures requirements are human-validated and client-approved before development.

Essential Functions

Requirements Discovery

• Lead discovery for complex, cross-functional, or high-impact initiatives.
• Navigate competing priorities and significant ambiguity.
• Identify strategic needs and opportunities beyond stated requests.
• Coach others on effective elicitation techniques.
• Evaluate AI-assisted discovery approaches for complex initiatives and establish human-review expectations.
• Facilitate discovery and knowledge-based inputs for complex initiatives by resolving source conflicts, setting source-quality and versioning expectations, and ensuring unresolved technical questions are routed to appropriate subject-matter experts.

Requirements Analysis & Documentation

• Adhere to the established analysis approach and documentation standards for complex initiatives.
• Review critical requirements for quality, feasibility, and alignment.
• Resolve complex requirement conflicts and dependencies.
• Promote consistent, outcome-focused requirements practices.
• Adhere to guardrails for AI-assisted requirements practices and review high-impact outputs for quality, bias, security, and business alignment.
• Establish requirements quality gates for complex initiatives, including source traceability, testability, dependency management, and review of unsupported conclusions, assumptions, and misinterpretations.
• Ensure only human-validated, client-approved requirements become the development baseline.

Business Process Analysis & Improvement

• Lead enterprise or cross-functional process improvement efforts.
• Identify systemic issues and transformational opportunities.
• Assess organizational impacts and implementation risks.
• Influence leaders on process strategy and operating model changes.
• Assess AI-enabled process opportunities and related operational, governance, adoption, and implementation risks.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Communication

• Influence senior stakeholders and facilitate complex decisions.
• Resolve cross-functional conflicts and competing priorities.
• Present complex analysis and recommendations to leadership.
• Serve as a trusted advisor between business and technology teams.
• Set expectations for responsible AI-assisted communication and ensure sensitive or high-impact messages receive appropriate human review.
• Facilitate high-impact client and leadership decisions, establish decision-management practices, and ensure final accountability and approval remain with authorized people rather than AI tools.

Solution Design & Technical Collaboration

• Guide solution analysis for complex architectures and interconnected systems.
• Challenge assumptions and assess long-term solution impacts.
• Influence design decisions to align business strategy and product direction.
• Connect business outcomes to technical investment decisions.
• Guide analysis of AI-enabled solutions, including responsible-use, governance, data, security, and long-term operational considerations.
• Govern fit-gap and solution analysis for complex products and architectures, ensuring AI-supported findings are evidence-based, technically reviewed where needed, and aligned with approved business outcomes.

Scope, Backlog & Change Management

• Lead scope and change analysis across programs or product areas.
• Resolve high-impact priority and dependency conflicts.
• Advise leadership on tradeoffs and change implications.
• Establish effective backlog and requirements governance practices.
• Establish governance for requirement baselines and change control so development proceeds only from human validated, client-approved requirements and requirement questions return to the BA/client approval process.

Data Analysis & Reporting

• Lead complex data analysis and define information requirements across solutions.
• Evaluate data governance, quality, integration, and reporting risks.
• Use evidence to challenge assumptions and guide strategic decisions.
• Promote consistent data analysis and measurement practices.
• Evaluate AI-assisted analytics for accuracy, bias, explainability, data governance, and decision-making risk.
• Define knowledge-management and evidence standards for AI-assisted analysis, including source authority,

versioning, completeness, traceability, and controls for client or product distinctions.

Validation, Testing & Acceptance

• Establish validation strategies for complex or high-risk solutions.
• Assess solution readiness and advise stakeholders on acceptance risks.
• Resolve critical requirement and validation issues.
• Promote early and continuous validation across the lifecycle.
• Establish review standards for AI-assisted validation and assess risk when AI-generated outputs support high impact acceptance decisions.
• Define and enforce lifecycle quality gates: no AI analysis advances without human validation, no AI-generated requirement goes directly to the client, and only human-validated, client-approved requirements proceed to development.

Implementation, Training & Adoption Support

• Lead business readiness and adoption planning for major changes.
• Advise leaders on organizational impacts and mitigation strategies.
• Coordinate change activities across affected groups.
• Evaluate adoption outcomes and drive corrective action when needed.
• Guide responsible use of AI in change, training, and adoption activities and monitor impacts on affected groups.

Standards, Leadership & Continuous Improvement

• Adhere to business analysis standards and quality expectations.
• Mentor analysts and lead professional development efforts.
• Measure practice effectiveness and drive continuous improvement.
• Promote a culture of collaboration, accountability, and business value.
• Adhere to responsible AI practices for business analysis, mentor others, and assess the effectiveness and risk of AI-assisted methods.
• Facilitate the human-in-the-loop process from source curation through client approval.
• Set standards for prompt design, AI context management, output validation, traceability, escalation, and final human accountability.

Other Duties

• Complete any other duties and tasks as assigned by management.
• Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
• This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field required.
• Practical business experience and/or certification(s) in technology, project management, or business administration that are equal to or greater in value than the required degree may be considered.

Experience

• 7 or more years of experience in business analysis, with a proven history of leading complex projects in a software development environment.
• Additionally, the ideal candidate will have knowledge of and experience with ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) programs at the state level.

Certifications

• Certified Business Analysis Professional (ECBA, CCBA, CBAP), PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA), or equivalent certifications required within 6 months of hire if not currently held

Location:

Remote-On-Site Hybrid Candidate should be able to work onsite in the metropolitan Indianapolis area 3 days per week.

Work Environment

This position operates in a professional office or remote-work environment and routinely uses computers, telephones, video conferencing, collaboration platforms, and other standard business technology.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to communicate and exchange information. The employee frequently is required to sit, stand, walk, use hands to handle or operate equipment, and reach with hands and arms.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time position. Some flexibility in hours is allowed, but the employee must be available during the core work hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and must work 40 hours each week to maintain full-time status. Occasional evening or weekend work may be required as job duties demand.

Travel

Occasional travel may be required.

Work Authorization and Security Clearance

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification documentation upon hire. Criminal, civil, employment, and education background checks are required. Drug screening is required in accordance with drug-free workplace standards.