BUSINESS ANALYST/USER EXPERIENCE MANAGER - University of Washington

Req #: 238993 Department: OFFICE OF RESEARCH INFORMATION SERVICES Appointing Department Web Address: https://www.washington.edu/research/oris/ Job Location Detail: telework/hybrid/remote available Posting Date: 09/19/2024 Closing Info: Open Until Filled Salary: $10,835 - $11,335 per month Shift: First Shift Notes: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-staff-20230119\_a11y.pdf) As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world. UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. The Business Analyst and User Experience (BA/UX) Manager will foster the development of standards of practice for the Business Analyst and User Experience functional groups and will manage and mentor staff to expand skills and expertise that supports the delivery of high-quality software products. The position will contribute to building a strong community of practice for Business Analysts and User Experience staff and will take part in initiatives to advance ORIS' ways of working and a positive work culture. This position is charged with collaborating closely with other managers and functional leads to ensure project processes run smoothly, collaboration is optimized, product quality is maintained, and communications are well coordinated. The role works closely with Product Management during the discovery phase to ensure the highest value candidates are put forward for roadmap consideration, and that business and user needs are well balanced in the portfolio. The role oversees the BA and UX efforts to ensure that requirements, design and user research/testing support a viable solution to meet the intended goals and outcomes. Successful candidates must interface productively with executive stakeholders, business-oriented clients, system end-users, and a technically oriented project team. The successful candidate must have strong business relationship and project management skills and be able to contribute to process improvements for complex project teams. The person in this position must be able to create consensus within leadership of the research community which may share the same general goals but also have individual unit/school goals which need to be integrated into project timelines. This role will manage a team of individuals with a diverse set of skills in business analysis, data and system analysis, and user experience research and design. The BA/UX Manager contributes to the effective management and delivery of ORIS business projects, which integrate technology for improved efficiency and lessens administrative burden for research administration. This position is a key point of contact for customers, partners, and other members of the project team. It plays a pivotal role in the success of projects via relationships with our partners, identification of the partner needs, and ensuring that approaches and solutions are linked to objectives and future needs. Consensus must be negotiated and developed within a complex, distributed governance structure. **Responsibilities:** **Product Planning & Strategy** - Maintain deep understanding of the research life cycle, research team experience, and systems involved, including other applications in the research administration space, in order to inform requirements analysis, design and high-level solution approach and scope - Collaborate with product managers to bring forward research insights to inform business case development, product visioning, and roadmaps - Ensure that project implementation plans align with product vision and strategy - Own the user experience strategy that provides strategic design thinking for shaping the product roadmaps and influencing backlog prioritization - Contribute toward solutions for tracking and managing the high volume of user input, for actionable use in identifying themes, opportunities, and backlog items - Advise on the impact of novel, developing, and mature applications of IT solutions as they relate to research at the University of Washington - Advance and champion the use of data analytics in product planning to expand understanding of the user behavior and experience to inform feature prioritization **Team Management Duties** - Manage, mentor and train other Program Team members, and guide their efforts to maintain alignment with organizational, team and UW goals - Promote best practices and standards for assigned area(s) of focus in program work, and encourage involvement in communities of practice within ORIS and broader UW for BA/UX work - Work closely with other ORIS' functional leads and managers in implementing and maintaining standard SDLC and agile scrum practices, and in promoting a positive and supportive work culture - Partner with the Customer Experience Manager to ensure help desk reports, volumes, and suggestions are incorporated into the repository of customer input, that data analytics are advanced across disciplines, and all inputs are informing product planning - Ensure project teams have adequate resources, skills and support to successfully deliver on prioritized efforts - Implement continuous improvement processes with the functional team - Keep team members informed and in adherence to ORIS policies and procedures, and contribute to clear and open channels of communication across the organization - Advocate for growth and necessary training for members of the team - Escalate issues, risks, and concerns to leadership, on behalf of the functional unit or as part of the broader Leads Team **Analysis and Design** - Directly contribute in 1-2 of the following areas, based on expertise and defined team needs, to support the flow of work and a healthy work-life balance for team members: Business Analysis - Facilitate discussions with stakeholders and subject matter experts to develop a shared understanding of needs and build consensus on priorities and requirements - Analyze problems and risks, formulate conclusions and recommendations for high value features User Interface Design - Create prototypes to support requirements gathering, concept validation, and usability testing. - Build, manage and synthesize multiple channels of feedback to inform the design process User Research - Utilize a variety of research methodologies to better understand user needs, behavior, and preferences - Synthesize and communicate research findings for use in product planning and prioritization - Collect and analyze quantitative data to inform product planning **Other Duties as Assigned** **Experience Required:** - Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Human Centered Design, Computer Science, Information Science, or related field - Minimum 4 years' experience managing, leading and participating in progressively more complex projects/product development - Demonstrated experience with business analysis and user experience methodologies and best practices - Background in Scrum/Agile practice and techniques - Ability to balance execution (unblocking efforts) with diplomacy (fostering collaboration) - Background in product planning and prioritization techniques - Experience recruiting passionate and competent individuals, and supporting their professional development - Excellent verbal, written, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills - Demonstrated ability to work with and support cross-functional project teams - Strong customer focus and excellence in relationship management with key partners - Creative problem-solver with the ability to work with a blank slate - Ability to work collaboratively with technical and non-technical staff to elicit requirements and appropriate solutions - Ability to excel and adapt to a demanding, constantly changing environment - Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team in a cooperative effort - Strong knowledge and experience in Microsoft products including Word, Excel, Visio, PowerPoint **Experience Desired:** - Experience managing organizational change in coordination with implementing technical improvements - Experience in higher education especially with a large, complex research university - Program Management experience **Working Conditions:** This position contributes to a collaborative teamwork environment. Collaboration among ORIS staff is supported through online and in-person working sessions, ad hoc meetings focused on problem-solving, and the use of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools. Inflexible deadlines and non-standard working hours are required on occasion. The Office of Research shares President Cauce's commitment to combat inequities and racism. The values of diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to the success of our research enterprise and are embedded in the culture of who we are as an institution and employer. We will honor different and unique identities and nurture an accessible, welcoming and respectful environment for all staff, students and faculty in the Office of Research and for all members of the UW research community. We will regularly review our services and systems and adapt them to reflect the evolving environments and work styles of our employees and those we serve. We are ALL responsible for confronting bias and inequities, both individual and institutional, that persist here and throughout our society. Our call is to remove barriers and promote access, opportunity, and justice for all. We all must commit to this ongoing work. Recognizing and valuing diversity will make the Office of Research and the University stronger, and enrich the stellar research carried out at the UW. **Application Process:** The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed. University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.