Senior Scientific Business Systems Analyst

Locations

Locations: Boston, MA;
North Chicago, IL;
San Diego, CA

This role will require regular on-site presence (3 - 4 days / week) at client site(s)

Zifo is a leading global scientific informatics and digital solutions provider focused on transforming research and development for life sciences organizations. We partner with pharmaceutical, biotech, and agritech companies to drive R&D efficiency, ensure data integrity, and enable scientific innovation through process excellence and technology enablement.

Zifo North America is seeking a Senior Scientific Business Systems Analyst (Senior BSA) to support strategic R&D initiatives for pharmaceutical, biotech, and related life sciences customers. This role is responsible for independently leading low-to-medium-complexity business analysis engagements while collaborating closely with customer stakeholders and Zifo’s global delivery teams.

The Senior BSA plays a critical role in driving project success by translating scientific and business needs into actionable requirements, guiding informatics and data-driven solutions, and ensuring high-quality delivery across complex R&D environments. This position requires strong scientific domain expertise, consulting acumen, and hands-on experience delivering informatics and data projects in regulated and non-regulated research settings.

• Lead and execute business analysis activities across R&D-focused projects with minimal supervision.
• Review and analyze existing business processes, systems, and data flows to identify gaps, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Conduct voice-of-the-customer sessions, stakeholder interviews, and workshops to elicit and prioritize requirements.
• Perform gap analysis and define future-state process workflows, data models, and system interactions.
• Develop and review core deliverables including User Requirements Specifications (URS), Functional Requirements Specifications (FRS), workflows, implementation roadmaps, gap analysis reports, and training materials.
• Evaluate industry trends and leading practices in scientific informatics to recommend optimized future-state solutions.
• Support vendor evaluations and contribute to implementation strategies for small to mid-size life sciences organizations.
• Contribute to regulatory and data integrity assessments (including GxP where applicable) and support remediation of compliance gaps.
• Manage one or more small projects or modules within larger programs, ensuring delivery on scope, schedule, and quality.
• Perform project management activities including effort estimation, task planning, scheduling, and risk assessment.
• Identify, track, and mitigate project risks; proactively address issues and escalate concerns when appropriate.
• Monitor project progress and communicate clear, timely status updates to internal teams and customers.
• Support and mentor junior Business Analysts by guiding deliverable development, planning, and execution.
• Collaborate effectively with global team members (India, EU and Lat Am) to deliver on project goals.
• Serve as a key point of contact with customers for delivery on assigned engagements, managing expectations related to process, quality, timelines, and outcomes.
• Build strong working relationships with customer stakeholders, including manager-level contacts.
• Proactively sense and address customer concerns before they escalate; collaborate with Solution and Delivery Managers on corrective actions.
• Participate in and support project and client meetings as appropriate
• Plan, track, and report billable effort accurately and on time.
• Identify opportunities for Zifo to add value within customer organizations and surface potential follow-on engagements.
• Support proposal development and contribute content for presentations, white papers, and thought leadership initiatives.
• Demonstrate continuous learning in scientific domains, informatics platforms, and consulting methodologies.
• Assist with internal training development and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Mentor other analysts within global team, fostering collaboration and high performance.
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives, including CAPA…