Technical Business Analyst (BA)

Job Type:

Technical Business Analyst (BA)

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. For over 75 years, decision makers in the public and private sectors have turned to RAND for objective analysis and effective solutions that address the issues that matter most, such as health, education, national security, international affairs, law and business, and the environment.

Our research is commissioned by a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, RAND has approximately 1,700 people from more than 50 countries working in offices in North America, Europe, and the Middle East, with research organized across ten units and annual revenues of more than $250 million.

• RAND seeks a Technical Business Analyst (BA) to join our team and help define, test, and launch quality digital products for RAND.org. As a BA/QA analyst, you should be a strong problem solver who can identify and document the relevant details of system design, from requirements gathering to final product testing. This will require the ability to think critically and have a thorough understanding of the web application development process, including daily collaboration with front- and back-end developers and designers. You should be an advocate for user-centered solutions and expect to proactively lead BA/QA work throughout a project's lifecycle.
  
• The Technical Business Analyst (BA) is a key member of the Application Delivery Department in RAND's Information Services organization and reports to the Web Application Manager. The Application Delivery Department is responsible for managing a broad portfolio of web applications and commercial off-the-shelf applications that are used throughout RAND, including Workday, Salesforce, Adobe Experience Manager, and Workfront.
  
• The candidate has strong analytical and technical skills along with demonstrated ability to not only get things done as an individual but also to help lead projects in a customer-driven, fast-paced, and collaborative team environment.
  

Business Analysis responsibilities

• Work with key project stakeholders to analyze the feasibility of, and develop requirements for, new systems and enhancements to existing systems; ensure the system design fits the needs of the users
• Lead project and application planning activities including meetings, communications and documentation
• Identify and document business requirements
• Identify opportunities for improving business processes

Quality Assurance responsibilities

• Work closely with developers, project managers, and operations team members on testing and deployment activities
• Create and execute test plans/cases based on evolving project requirements
• Test web applications and off-the-shelf applications
• Identify and document application issues
• Lead UAT activities including writing User Acceptance Test (UAT) cases
• Participate in application deployment activities

Requirements

• A foundational understanding of web design and key technologies, including web analytics, search engines, content management systems, and programming languages like HTML and JavaScript. The ability to evaluate and test various components of major applications, including the user interface, middleware, database, and backend infrastructure -to include analysis, evaluation and integration of business processes and procedures
• Ability to adapt to changing business priorities
• Strong analytical & troubleshooting skills and attention to detail - ability to quickly analyze problems, get things done, and "figure it out" with minimal requirements and guidance.
• Experience in major areas of testing cycle - gathering, documenting, and analyzing requirements, providing estimates, creating test plans/cases, creating process diagrams, logging bugs, coordinating UAT, change management, deployment support -along with testing and/or use development tools such as Jira, Git, Selenium, etc.
• Proven ability to lead project team activities in an Agile/Scrum/Lean team environment - familiar with best practices
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively with a wide variety of technical and non-technical stakeholders
• The ability to perform duties independently under minimal supervision within specific assignments to include the ability to utilize time management skills and multi-tasking capabilities with ability to handle multiple and parallel projects

Education Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited degree granting college/university or equivalent work experience

Experience

• 2, ideally 3 plus, years, of experience of demonstrable Business Analysis and Quality Assurance accomplishment

Location(s)

• Pittsburgh, Santa Monica, Washington D.C.
  This position that offers a Hybrid work arrangement.

Pay Range: $88,000 to - $130,900

RAND considers a variety of factors when formulating an offer, including but not limited to, the specific role and associated responsibilities; a candidate's work experience, education/training, skills, expertise; and internal equity. Successful candidates will be offered employment in a specific title, as determined by the candidate's education and experience. In addition, RAND provides strong benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, paid time-off and more.

Equal Opportunity Employer: race/color/religion/sex/sexual orientation/gender identity/national origin/disability/vet