Business Analyst​/Business Systems Analyst

Our client has a need for a contractor Business Analyst / Business Systems Analyst, ideally starting asap (they can wait a little for the right person, but they don’t want to wait until the new year). The role is more technical than a standard Business Analyst role, but less technical than a standard Business Systems Analyst role, so the right blend of skills is important.

• Duration – through June 30, 2026 initially, but possible extension if things are working out.
• This person will be back filling a couple of our client’s existing Business Systems Analysts who will be working ~50% each on a new project.
• Our client requires contractors to be in the office 3 days a week, which can be split into multiple days, and is flexible from week to week, as long as they’re taking customer needs into consideration (they can come in more often if they like).
• Location – mostly in SE Portland, but some work from Downtown Portland.

• Project intake – Our client’s business partners come to them with requests to solve problems and introduce new capabilities. Sometimes that involves a new product or service, sometimes it’s enhancing or upgrading something that they already have. A BSA works with the business partner and their IT colleagues to (a) understand and quantify the problem or opportunity, (b) identify potential approaches/solutions, estimate cost and resource needs, and compare the alternatives, and (c) develop business cases to enable the Exec team to decide whether it’s a project that is a priority for the agency and that they should invest in.
• Side note – business cases are often seen as a tool to advocate for a project. They do not see it that way – they see a business case as a document that provides objective decision support material for the Execs. Their job is to produce well-written business cases, not strong business cases.
• Performing BA/BSA functions on projects – e.g. gathering and documenting use cases, business and technical requirements, documenting current state and future state business processes, leading UAT testing (developing UAT test scripts and data, and managing UAT). For this role, this will be a smaller % of time.
• Benefits Realization work – identifying benefits that the project will deliver, and how they will be measured, doing baseline measurements before or during the planning phase of a project, and then re-measuring post-project and reporting out on those to business partners and their Exec team.
• Follow Project Management Office (PMO) practices and processes.

• Strong analytical skills – in the sense of being able to take in a lot of information, understand what’s important and what’s not, understand how the pieces fit together (from both the business and technical perspectives) and identify the solution(s) that best meet everyone’s needs.
• Strong business writing skills – ability to write for different audiences, and can write clearly and succinctly.
• Able to translate business needs into technical terminology and explain technical concepts to business partners.
• Ability to work with leaders across the organization and be a partner rather than an order-taker.
• Continuous improvement mindset and energy – they are still maturing as a BSA team, and as they mature their practices and processes, they need to bring their business partners along with them.
• Enterprise mindset – being able to make connections between disparate requests, and see the bigger picture.
• Able to juggle multiple projects / work efforts – this is not a role where someone is working on a single project.
• Public sector experience is preferred but not essential.

• Our client has 5 BSAs, who support 11 divisions across the organization. They’re a strong team with a continuous improvement and learning mindset, who work well together and support each other. They all come from different backgrounds, and recognize each others’ strengths. They will be welcoming and supportive of a new team member!