Business Analyst

The Opportunity:
Onvia’s Technology Team is currently organized into an applications development team, a platform services development team, a sustained engineering team, a user experience team, an operations team, and a QA team. The Technology Team includes onshore staff located in Seattle and an offshore team located in Bangalore. Within the Technology Team, the Program Management Office (PMO) is responsible for all program and project management, including all onshore and offshore product development; sustenance engineering; and quality assurance. As a key member of the PMO, the Business Analyst will:

• Gather and formulate user and business requirements for a variety of new products and services that are part of the Onvia product roadmap
• Organize product requirements in the form of a Product Backlog using the Agile/Scrum methodology
• Work with product managers and product teams, including onshore and offshore developers and QA, to create Sprint Backlogs
• Provide tactical leadership and a true sense of product ownership

Core Deliverables and Responsibilities:

• Gather user and business requirements for a variety of new technology initiatives, including areas such as search engine optimization, visualization and graphics, metrics and analytics, APIs, etc:
  • Create and manage Product Backlogs
  • Create and manage Sprint Backlogs
  • Lead Sprint planning
• Ensure that requirements are captured at a suitable level of detail for onshore and offshore teams to deliver successfully
• Work closely with product development teams to ensure successful delivery; work close with (internal) business owners to ensure that product functionality is tracking to the company’s strategic plans and vision
• Take initiative and work independently to flesh out product plans; brainstorm to generate new ideas and rethink old solutions
  • This is a job that requires active thinking and active participation in the entire product development cycle; this is not a position for an “order taker”

Essential Position Requirements:

• Experience working with the Agile/Scrum methodology
• At least 2-3 years experience as a Business Analyst, Program Manager or Project Manager, working with Use Cases, User Stories, Personas, etc.
  • Background as a Data Analyst would not be directly relevant for this position, which is more focused around user and business requirements than on data mining or data analysis
• In addition, at least 2-3 years software development experience: the candidate should be able to gain the respect of developers and successfully (i.e. intelligently, and on an informed basis) challenge proposed solutions or estimates when necessary
• Experience with web services projects (software-as-a-service or “Web 2.0” products) is essential
• Ability to work on multiple projects/products and effectively multi-task and manage conflicting priorities and schedules is essential
• Excellent written communication skills:
  • Succinct, persuasive written reports and presentations
  • Effective, not excessive, use of email and other electronic communications
  • Conciseness and precision are more important than sheer volume of documentation
• Excellent verbal communication skills:
  • Persuasive speaker who is excellent with smaller groups, e.g. customer meetings; very good at facilitating brainstorming and innovation meetings; very comfortable speaking to audiences of 20-30 people at a time (both prepared presentations and impromptu)
• Passion for great user experience: good understanding of all aspects of the user experience, and how the different elements interact with each other
• Ability to thrive in environments with fast turnarounds and rapid change
• Ability to stay calm and focused under pressure; good sense of humor and ability to fit in with existing teams; ambitious and keen to make their mark on the world
• Ability to rapidly come up speed on new technologies and product areas
• Bachelors Degree, preferably with a science or engineering major

Desirable Position Requirements:

• The successful candidate will likely have worked in a small company (including startups) in addition to a larger company
• Candidates have spent some time within a software products company or a consulting company, as opposed to having spent their careers exclusively within an IT/MIS department of a large company
• Experience in dealing with offshore teams, preferably teams located in India
  • Solid understanding of cultural issues (e.g. risks, barriers to communication, work styles, etc.) that are critical success factors in dealing with multi-cultural teams
• Certification as a Scrum Master is not essential, but some formal training in the Scrum methodology would be highly desirable
• Experience using Team Foundation System (VSTS) is highly desirable

To apply directly, send your resume to jobs@onvia.com.