Business Analyst and Product Owner

Job Description

Hours: 40 hours per week; CST

Position Summary:

The Business Analyst & Product Owner plays a critical role in shaping, delivering, and evolving technological solutions that align with client business objectives. This role goes beyond traditional requirements gathering or task coordination and serves as a solution owner and strategic advisor for client-facing initiatives, primarily in custom software development and web-based business applications.

This position combines business analysis, product ownership, and project leadership to ensure solutions are clearly defined, prioritized based on business value, and successfully delivered. The Business Analyst & Product Owner leads business-level discovery conversations, translates outcomes into actionable solution roadmaps, and guides delivery teams to execute with clarity and purpose. In a small team environment, this role also performs hands-on functional quality assurance for select web application projects to ensure solutions meet defined acceptance criteria and business expectations prior to release.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Solution Ownership & Business Alignment

• Lead discovery conversations with clients to understand business goals, challenges, constraints, and success criteria.
• Act as a strategic advisor to clients, helping define and prioritize solutions that deliver measurable business value.
• Own the solution vision and direction throughout the lifecycle, ensuring alignment between business objectives and delivered outcomes.
• Develop solution roadmaps that balance short-term needs with long-term scalability.
• Act as the final quality gate for assigned web application solutions prior to client delivery.

Requirement Gathering and Analysis

• Translate business objectives into clear, actionable functional and technical requirements.
• Document and communicate requirements with emphasis on business intent and measurable outcomes.
• Design workflows and process improvements to enhance operational efficiency.
• Maintain alignment between evolving requirements and original business objectives.

Project Planning and Scope Management

• Partner with delivery teams to develop project plans including scope, deliverables, timelines, and budgets.
• Create Statements of Work (SOWs) that clearly define solution scope and success criteria.
• Evaluate and manage scope changes through business impact analysis and tradeoff discussions.

Data Analysis and SQL Querying

• Conduct data analysis to support solution design and decision-making.
• Write and optimize SQL queries to extract, validate, and analyze data.
• Use data insights to support prioritization and post-implementation evaluation.

Solution Validation & Quality Assurance (Web Applications)

• Define acceptance criteria for web application features based on business requirements.
• Perform hands-on functional testing for web applications.
• Identify and prioritize defects based on business impact.
• Collaborate with developers to validate fixes and confirm release readiness.
• Participate in post-release reviews to improve solution quality.

Communication and Stakeholder Management

• Serve as primary contact for solution-related discussions with stakeholders.
• Provide clear communication regarding direction, progress, risks, and decisions.
• Facilitate meetings that align stakeholders around objectives and priorities.

Documentation and Reporting

• Maintain solution and project documentation, including requirements, roadmaps, and decision logs.
• Ensure documentation reflects business intent and delivered outcomes.
• Prepare post-project summaries outlining results and recommendations.

Support and Troubleshooting

• Support clients post-implementation by assisting with issue analysis and solution refinement.
• Collaborate with technical teams to reproduce and resolve issues.

Project Types

• Own and guide custom software development and web-based business application projects.
• Support infrastructure initiatives when they intersect with broader business solutions.

Internal Projects, Integrations, and Reporting

• Support internal software integrations and workflow initiatives.
• Contribute to KPI reporting and dashboard development.

Requirements

Education

• Associate’s Degree (AA) or equivalent in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business, or related field.

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Business Analysis, Product Ownership, or IT Project Management.
• Experience leading discovery and translating business needs into delivered solutions.
• Experience performing functional QA testing for web-based applications.
• Familiarity with SDLC and Agile-based delivery environments.

Certifications

• Product Owner, PMP, PRINCE2, or similar certifications are a plus.

Technical Skills

• Working knowledge of SQL and data analysis concepts.
• Ability to engage with development and infrastructure teams at a technical level.
• Strong understanding of modern business applications and IT systems.

Soft Skills

• Strong business acumen and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to lead executive-level conversations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfort managing ambiguity and guiding tradeoffs.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team.

Key Performance Indicators for this position:

• Accuracy of Solution Definition
• Solution Value Realization
• Project Delivery Timeliness
• Quality of Deliverables
• Scope Stability
• Stakeholder Confidence
• Release Quality (Post Release Defects)
• Documentation Accuracy