Sr Business Analyst

IT Product Owner

This position serves as an IT Product Owner in the Information Technology division. The position serves as the primary point of contact and end-to-end support resource for an assigned portfolio of IT products, operating within a Scrum framework across the full product development life cycle (PDLC) — from discovery and requirements through iterative development, release, and post-launch support. This role blends business analysis, Agile product ownership, project coordination, and stakeholder communication into a single accountable position, with particular depth in Scrum ceremonies, backlog management, and shepherding features through each PDLC stage (ideation, definition, development, testing, deployment, and iteration). This position functions as the SME once product has reached M&O phase.

Job duties include:

• Strong grasp of Scrum theory and practice, with the judgment to adapt ceremonies to real team and agency constraints
• Comfort owning prioritization decisions and trade-offs across the product development life cycle
• Ownership mentality — comfortable being the single point of accountability
• Ability to translate between technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail in documentation
• Adaptability across shifting priorities and multiple concurrent initiatives
• Sound judgment in prioritization and escalation

Additional responsibilities include:

• Own and prioritize the product backlog for assigned portfolio items, ensuring alignment with business value and stakeholder priorities
• Write and refine user stories, epics, and acceptance criteria standards
• Plan and facilitate — or actively participate in — core Scrum ceremonies: sprint planning, daily stand-ups, backlog refinement, sprint review, and retrospectives
• Serve as the voice of the customer/business within the Scrum team, making in-sprint prioritization and scope decisions
• Partner with Scrum Masters and development teams to maintain sprint velocity, remove ambiguity, and unblock in-sprint work
• Define and communicate sprint goals and ensure delivered increments meet the definition of done
• Guide portfolio initiatives through each stage of the PDLC: discovery/ideation, requirements definition, design, iterative development, testing, deployment, and post-release iteration
• Conduct discovery and requirements-gathering activities to validate problem statements before committing work to the backlog
• Own release planning and roadmap sequencing, balancing new feature development with maintenance and technical debt
• Coordinate user acceptance testing (UAT) and validate that delivered increments meet documented acceptance criteria before release
• Monitor product performance and stakeholder feedback post-release to inform the next iteration of backlog priorities
• Gather, document, and validate business and functional requirements for assigned products/projects
• Facilitate requirements workshops and stakeholder interviews
• Map current-state and future-state business processes to inform backlog scope
• Build and maintain release timelines, sprint schedules, and cross-team dependencies
• Track and report sprint/release status, risks, and issues to leadership and stakeholders
• Maintain risk/issue logs and escalate blockers appropriately
• Serve as the primary liaison between business stakeholders and the Scrum/development team
• Develop and execute communication plans for new releases, features, or process changes
• Assess change impacts and support end-user readiness and adoption
• Develop training materials and documentation tied to each product release
• Maintain up-to-date, structured documentation for portfolio systems, backlog decisions, and PDLC artifacts
• Support ticketing/intake processes (e.g., ServiceDesk Plus) for assigned systems, including triage and escalation
• Contribute to agency-wide documentation standards and knowledge base content

Tools and systems include:

• Azure DevOps (or equivalent Agile work-tracking platform)
• ServiceDesk Plus (or equivalent ITSM/ticketing platform)
• Microsoft Office / Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, Visio, Teams)
• Process mapping and diagramming tools

Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) include:

• Knowledge of Scrum theory, roles, artifacts, and ceremonies (sprint planning, daily stand-up, backlog refinement, sprint review, retrospective)
• The full product development life cycle, including discovery, requirements definition, design, development, testing, deployment, and post-release iteration
• Agile estimation and prioritization techniques (e.g., story points, MoSCoW, weighted shortest job first)
• Business analysis techniques, including requirements elicitation, process mapping, and acceptance criteria development
• Project coordination fundamentals, including scheduling, dependency tracking, and risk/issue management
• Change management principles and stakeholder communication planning
• State or public-sector IT governance, procurement, and compliance considerations (preferred)
• Agile work-tracking platforms (e.g., Azure DevOps) and IT service management/ticketing platforms (e.g., ServiceDesk Plus)

Skills include:

• Writing clear, testable user stories, epics, and acceptance criteria
• Facilitating meetings and Agile ceremonies with both technical and non-technical participants
• Written and verbal communication, including status reporting and executive-level summaries
• Working and collaborating as part of a team
• Developing training materials, documentation, and knowledge base content
• Configuring and maintaining work-tracking and ticketing systems
• Structured documentation design (e.g., consistent formatting, version control, succession-ready documentation)

Abilities include:

• Excellent oral and written communication
• Excellent problem solving and analysis
• Give and receive as a coach, trainer, and mentor
• Manage multiple products or projects concurrently at different PDLC stages
• Build effective working relationships with developers, stakeholders, and leadership across organizational lines
• Identify and resolve ambiguity in requirements before it reaches the development team
• Exercise sound judgment
• Work effectively in a dynamic environment with shifting priorities and limited direct authority over cross-functional team members
• Be flexible with occasional after-hours and weekend work, when needed