Associate, Data Initiatives and Solutions

AB Car Val's Data Initiatives and Solutions (DIS) team connects business needs with data and technology capabilities to accelerate the delivery of business solutions. The Associate partners closely with investment professionals, operations teams, Private Alternatives Product, and Private Alternatives Infrastructure (PAI), including Data Analytics, Data Engineering, and Software Engineering. The role is business-facing and focused on translating problems into practical, scalable solutions rather than serving as a project-coordination function.

This position will report to the Director, Data Initiatives and Solutions (DIS) and is located in Minneapolis, MN.

Partner with business stakeholders to understand problems, objectives, and desired outcomes, and challenge pre-defined solutions to clarify the underlying "what" and "why".

Identify opportunities to simplify processes, improve efficiency, and recommend solution approaches aligned with the organization’s technology strategy.

Help stakeholders understand available capabilities before work enters the delivery pipeline.

Translate business needs into clear requirements and actionable work for technology teams, including user stories, process flows, business rules, and acceptance criteria.

Validate that proposed solutions address the underlying business problem, reduce ambiguity, and support efficient execution by development teams.

Support testing strategy and user acceptance testing.

Perform exploratory analysis to answer business questions and validate requirements using the firm’s data and analytics tools.

Build simple reports, dashboards, or Sigma prototypes to facilitate stakeholder discussions and help business users get started with self-service.

Resolve common friction points such as access requests, basic how-to questions, and getting-started support before escalating to a technology team.

Determine when a request can be addressed through self-service versus when specialized technical expertise is required, and engage PAI for more complex design and implementation work.

Ensure business requirements are technically feasible and align with the organization’s data architecture.

Drive initiatives from intake through implementation, monitoring progress, risks, dependencies, outstanding decisions, and delivery quality.

Follow up proactively to remove roadblocks, maintain momentum, and elevate issues at the appropriate time.

Coordinate across business and technology teams and provide clear status updates to leadership.

Partner with Private Alternatives Product and PAI teams to scope and plan work, resource needs, and delivery to business stakeholders.

Evaluate opportunities to improve work using AI-enabled tools, identify automation opportunities, and support responsible adoption of AI capabilities.

Independently drive day-to-day execution while keeping the Director informed of active work, emerging issues, and recommendations before finalizing solution direction or strategic decisions.

Continuously seek more efficient ways of working and strengthen communication between business, data, and technology teams.

Required Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Analytics, Finance, Engineering, or a related discipline.

2+ years of relevant experience in Business Analysis, Product Ownership, Project Management, Data Analytics, Consulting, or a related area.

Ability to translate business needs into requirements, process flows, business rules, and acceptance criteria.

Working knowledge of data and analytics platforms and the ability to perform exploratory analysis, create simple reports or prototypes, and collaborate effectively with technical teams.

Strong communication…