Lead Business Analyst; ServiceNow

Position: Lead Business Analyst (ServiceNow)
Are you looking for an exciting job where you can put your skills and talents to work at a company you can feel proud to be a part of? Do you want a workplace that will challenge you and offer you opportunities to learn and grow? A position at Xcel Energy could be just what you're looking for.

Position Summary

The Lead Business Analyst (Service Now) is responsible for leading work within or across end-to-end solution lifecycle. They hold accountability for meeting business needs, supporting business strategy, and ensuring IT solutions have sound operation. They provide in-depth knowledge of the business needs, business processes, and corresponding solutions. They provide technical guidance in partnership with cross-organizational team members to ensure solutions align with architecture and IT strategy.

They are a key contact to business, customer and stakeholder groups for their respective domain, helping ensure business needs and corresponding value and risk are well represented.

Essential Responsibilities

Strategic Business Partnership

* Develop and maintain trusted relationships with business stakeholders, process owners, and technology partners.

* Collaborate with leadership teams to align business priorities with platform strategy and roadmap objectives.

Requirements Management & Business Analysis Leadership

* Lead discovery workshops, stakeholder interviews, and requirements gathering activities.

* Translate complex business needs into well-defined:

* Epics

* Features

* User Stories

* Functional Requirements

* Process Flows

* Acceptance Criteria

* Ensure requirements are complete, clear, testable, traceable, and aligned with business value objectives.

* Drive consistent requirements management practices across projects and product teams.

* Establish and maintain standards for documentation quality and delivery readiness.

Service Now Advisory & Platform Consultation

Provide consultative guidance across the Service Now platform including:

* IT Service Management (ITSM)

* HR Service Delivery (HRSD)

* IT Operations Management (ITOM)

* CMDB & Service Mapping

* Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM)

* Security Operations (Sec Ops)

* Employee Center

* Service Catalog

* Knowledge Management

* Automation & Integration Capabilities

* AI / Now Assist Solutions

Agile Product Delivery Support

* Support Product Owners and platform leadership in backlog management and prioritization activities.

* Ensure stories meet Definition of Ready standards before entering development.

* Participate in sprint planning, demonstrations, retrospectives, and release readiness activities.

* Collaborate with development teams throughout delivery to ensure business intent is preserved and outcomes are achieved.

BA Practice Leadership & Mentorship

* Serve as a leader within the Business Analysis community supporting the Service Now platform.

* Develop and maintain standardized onboarding practices for Business Analysts.

* Mentor and coach junior and mid-level Business Analysts.

* Promote knowledge sharing, best practices, and continuous improvement.

* Establish consistent BA methodologies, templates, governance practices, and stakeholder engagement models.

* Foster collaboration across product teams and delivery organizations.

Minimum Requirements

* Bachelor's degree in Technology, Science, Business or related field, or 4 years of experience equivalent to the position.

* Seven years of related functional experience.

* Experience with project or product delivery practices, including SDLC, Agile, and Waterfall.

* Demonstrated ability to recommend innovative solutions to meet business needs.

* Ability to drive continuous improvement through lean and agile practices.

* Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of end-to-end process and system capabilities, as well as industry standards and emerging technologies and methods.

* Strong understanding of technical, functional, and operational details of respective solutions.

* Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.

* Demonstrated ability to build functional and technical subject matter expertise, as well as process and tools expertise, and drive consistency in processes.

* In-depth knowledge or the ability to quickly attain expertise on core IT components within the respective domain.

* Excellent communication skills, effective with varying organizational levels and skill sets, and able to translate between technical and non-technical concepts.

* Excellent relationship management and collaboration skills, with a track record of working cross-organizationally to drive innovation and business results.

Preferred Requirements

* Business Analyst Certification

* ITIL Foundation Certification

* Service Now Business Analyst Certification

* Agile or Scrum Certification

As a leading combination electricity and natural gas energy company, Xcel Energy offers a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.4 million electricity and 1.9 million natural gas customers across eight Western and Midwestern states. At Xcel Energy, we strive to be the…