Senior Systems Analyst

Senior Systems Analyst

The Senior Systems Analyst is a senior-level, hands-on analyst who bridges business strategy and complex technology delivery. This role goes beyond traditional functional requirements gathering and is expected to operate comfortably across UI/UX, data, cybersecurity, system integrations, and AI-enabled solutions, partnering closely with business stakeholders, architects, engineers, and vendors. The Senior Systems Analyst defines clear, testable, and traceable requirements and translates business needs into end-to-end system, data, and integration designs across the full software development lifecycle (SDLC).

With Whom You Will Work

The position will report directly to the Senior Director - IT Transformation & DevOps as part of Farmer Mac's Information Technology team and will directly liaise with management and subject matter experts across the Business Development, Operations, and IT teams, as well as members of other functional areas.

Where and When You Will Work

The position may be based at Farmer Mac's headquarters, the Johnston, IA office, or remotely if outside of those two metropolitan areas. Core business hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. Work outside of these times may be required for planned and unplanned activities to complete time-sensitive projects or to attend off-site meetings or events. Periodic travel is expected of this position.

Primary Responsibilities and Duties

• Lead end-to-end systems analysis for complex initiatives, including current-state and future-state process, system, and data flows.
• Elicit, analyze, document, and manage business, functional, non-functional, and technical requirements using industry-standard techniques (use cases, user stories, process flows, data models, and decision tables).
• Collaborate with product owners, designers, and business users to define UI/UX requirements, user journeys, accessibility needs, and usability standards.
• Convert user experience needs into actionable requirements for developers to build and test.
• Act as a trusted liaison between business stakeholders and technical delivery teams, ensuring alignment between business objectives and technology solutions.
• Gather and document requirements for APIs, system integrations, and event-based data exchanges across internal and external platforms. Automation-enabled capabilities, including decision support, workflow automation, data-driven insights.
• Partner with technical teams to ensure AI solutions align with business goals, data readiness, governance, and ethical standards.
• Incorporate security, privacy, and compliance requirements into system designs, including authentication, authorization, data protection, auditability, and regulatory controls.
• Identify potential technology, data, and operational risks early and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Partner with Enterprise Data Architects and data teams to define data requirements, data flows, data integrations, data quality standards, and data conversion mappings.
• Collaborate with architects and engineers to ensure integrations are secure, scalable, auditable, and aligned with enterprise standards.
• Support data migration and integration efforts with enterprise systems and SaaS platforms (e.g., CRM and cloud-based solutions).
• Support analytics, reporting, and dashboard requirements by clearly defining data sourcing, transformations, and consumption needs.
• Ensure requirements traceability across design, development, testing, and deployment.
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences and influence consensus across cross-functional teams.
• Mentor early-career analysts and contractors, promoting best practices in systems and technical analysis.
• Collaborate with leadership to drive continuous improvement, innovation, and adoption of modern analysis practices and tools.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Strong experience in systems and technical business analysis across the SDLC.
• Demonstrated ability to work across UI/UX, data, integrations, APIs, security, and cloud-based platforms.
• Solid understanding of Agile and hybrid delivery methodologies.
• Proven ability to document complex requirements clearly and facilitate stakeholder alignment and sign-off.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 6–8 years of progressive experience in business analysis, systems analysis, or technical analysis roles.
• Experience working with enterprise platforms (e.g., CRM systems), cloud environments, and modern integration architectures is strongly preferred.
• Certifications in Business Analysis, Systems Analysis, Agile, or related disciplines.
• Experience with tools such as Azure DevOps, JIRA, or similar work management platforms.
• Exposure to AI, automation, or advanced analytics in an enterprise environment.

Our compensation philosophy is targeted pay positioning relative to peers, our industry, and external markets. Farmer Mac is committed to a compensation program that will enable the organization to attract, motivate, reward, and retain highly skilled and creative talent to maintain sustained long-term performance and achieve the organization's strategic business objectives. The typical starting salary range for this position is between $110,000–140,000, although wages can vary based on relevant experience and geography.