Principal Business Systems Analyst

Principal Business Analyst - Retail Operations

The Principal Business Analyst for Retail Operations is the senior BA accountable for the business-analysis discipline across the multiple brand's operational technology portfolio. The role pairs with Business Process Owners (BPOs) to shape what gets built, set the operating standards for how it gets validated, and ensure every release lands cleanly across a high-volume, multi-site retail service network.

The Principal BA at this level owns BA accountability across the full operational portfolio, including shop systems, fleet and pricing, integration requirements, store technology, training systems, and customer service systems, and is trusted by Operations leadership to make the business-analysis call on high-risk operational changes.

This is a leadership IC role: standards-setting, cross-functional facilitation, and high-judgment work, not a people-management role. The Principal BA influences through reusable artifacts, peer review, and earned trust with Operations, Finance, Marketing, and IT leadership.

What You'll Drive :

• Requirements and Process Architecture
• Own Business Analyst Standards - Define and maintain the requirements, traceability, and acceptance-criteria standards used by all BAs working on the brand; review high-risk requirements for cross-system or financially material work before development commits.
• Document and Build Operational Architecture - Maintain the authoritative current-state and future-state process maps for operational workflows such as returns, discounts, loyalty, fleet, pricing, cash handling, and SKU management. Act as the internal process architect for the brand.
• Translate Business Strategy into Actionable Requirements - Partner with BPOs and the Senior Technical PM to convert operational strategy and field-leadership priorities into clear, testable, traceable requirements that the build team can act on.
• Govern Project Scope - Surface scope and dependency risks early; resolve conflicting business asks before they reach development. Defend scope decisions during change with documented rationale.
• Testing, Release Readiness, and Operational Evidence
• Define UAT Standards and Practices - Define the UAT standard, including scope, scenarios, named testers, defect process, and signoff evidence, that every release follows. Review UAT readiness for high-risk releases before go/no-go.
• Lead UAT Process - Personally lead or oversee UAT for major releases (system migrations, vendor swaps, pricing changes, payment changes, regulatory-driven work). Manage defect triage and resolution with vendors through to closure.
• Own Release Readiness - Confirm release scope, training readiness, support handoff, rollback awareness, and field readiness for every major release; surface and escalate readiness risks before launch.
• Validate Downstream Impacts - Ensure systems and operational data flow correctly into ERP, BI, finance close, marketing, and inventory after every release. Coordinate with Finance and BI to confirm sales, tax, margin, and operational metrics remain accurate.
• Cross-Functional Partnership and Stakeholder Facilitation
• Trusted Partner for Operations Leadership - Engage Ops, Marketing, and Finance leadership directly on operational technology decisions. Translate technical trade-offs into operational and financial language; bring evidence, not opinion.
• Manage Vendor Accountability - Partner with business and technical leaders on vendor scope, releases, and escalations. Hold vendors accountable to scope, SLA, and release quality from the BA side.
• Partner with Field Operations - Maintain working relationships with field operations, including district managers, training, and ops support, so the BA work reflects how shops actually run.
• Support Compliance & Audit - Gather process evidence, documentation, and data samples required for SOX and other regulatory audits related to operations if required.
• Standards Leadership and Mentoring
• Business Analyst Leadership - Mentor other BAs working on the brand; review their artifacts; coach them through complex stakeholder situations and high-risk releases.
• Contribute to the Business Analyst Center of Excellence - Feed reusable patterns, templates, and lessons learned into the broader BA Center of Excellence. Pilot new standards on the brand before they go enterprise-wide.
• Identify Cross Brand Opportunities - Build reusable cross-brand patterns (POS migration playbook, vendor-led release playbook, downstream-validation patterns) that can be adopted by other brands.

What You'll Bring :

• 8+ years of business-analysis experience, with at least 4 years in retail operations, POS, or multi-site field-services environments.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex, cross-system business analysis, not just feature-level work, but portfolio-level scope, dependencies, and trade-offs.
• Hands-on track record leading UAT for major releases, including defect triage, vendor coordination, and business signoff.
• Strong process-architecture skills: current/future-state mapping, dependency analysis, control points, and audit-grade documentation.
• Experience working directly with senior business leadership (Ops, Finance, Marketing) and external vendors as the IT-side BA point of contact.
• Proven mentoring of more junior BAs; ability to coach through complex stakeholder situations, not just review artifacts.

Added Fuel if You Have:

• Familiarity with multi-brand or franchise operating models; understanding the difference between corporate-owned and franchised store delivery.
• Working knowledge of downstream financial and reporting impacts of POS changes (ERP integration, tax, sales reporting, margin).
• Exposure to SOX or regulatory audit support for retail-systems processes.
• Experience using AI tools (Copilot or similar) for requirements drafting, UAT scripting, and process documentation.
• CBAP, PMI-PBA, or equivalent senior BA credential.

Applicants for our positions are considered without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, religion, military or veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by law.