Business Analyst II

Overview:

At ACT, Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power – a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for equity in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we’ve never been more sure of our purpose. 

ACT team members are part of an organization dedicated to a mission that has never been more important:  Helping people achieve education and workplace success.  Advancing that mission within our organization, by helping our team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment in which every team member has an opportunity to grow.

We want our team members to have the well-being and confidence they need to do their best work, in an environment where both they and ACT thrive.   To support this, our total rewards include company paid life insurance, medical, dental, vision, flexible health and dependent spending accounts, 401(k) retirement savings with company match, paid holidays, paid time off, and so much more.  You can find a comprehensive list of our benefits here.

We are seeking a Business Analyst II with passion and experience for creating high impact solutions that make a real difference for the educators we serve through our ACT Now administration platform. This Business Analyst role supports the innovation, development, and deployment of ACT Now and the ecosystem of its products and systems, soon to be utilized by thousands of schools across the country.

This role is responsible for gathering requirements to deliver on the ACT Now roadmap, working with cross-functional matrixed teams, and creating incredible solutions for all internal and external customers, always keeping students and teachers at the heart of our efforts. The ideal candidate will be a detail-oriented, self-starter with expert communication skills who is wholly committed to the discovery and development of innovative solutions in an ever-changing digital landscape.

The finalist will be hired at the salary and level commensurate with their qualifications.  For this position, we anticipate offering an annual salary in the range of  to $70,000 - $85,000, depending on the experience.  ACT manages salaries within the range based on relevant factors including, skills, experience, and internal equity. 

***This is a Project Based/Fixed-Term position that has an end date of August 31, 2026***

Location : Remote (can also be onsite or hybrid if in Iowa City, Iowa area)

What you will be working on:

• Partner with the initiative owner, Senior Product Manager, and other stakeholders to align dependencies and execute on a unified vision for the ACT Now product roadmap.
• Develop and evaluate user requirements and feature solutions with a focus on business process improvement, automation, and innovation and that align to strategic goals and investment priorities, market demands and opportunities, and technical and financial resources.
• Support User Acceptance Testing through crafting success criteria and testing criteria upon release .
• Build data insights into system requirements and leverage data to inform new enhancements.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders, customers, and influencers to explore, identify, and assess their needs, opportunities, and problems to solve that will provide them with maximum value and positive impact.
• Efficiently facilitate meetings and work with dedicated cross-functional matrixed teams to prepare and implement initiatives, features, and requirements from the product’s strategic roadmap to enter the active development and release cycle.
• Communicate with marketing, sales, and relationship management teams on the creation and execution of successful market development, user documentation, release notes, and go-to-market plans for new features, iterations, and products involved with ACT Now.
• Partner closely with product managers to coordinate on building requirements and rolling out functionality across multiple platforms and markets.

 Role Progression

• Within 1 month you will have a high-level understanding of ACT's State and District Test Administration Systems and will be getting to know the cross functional team and the work you will do together. You also will have started to develop relationships with individuals across the organization who you will be partnering with on a regular basis.
• Within 3 months you will be leading discussions about requirements, process documents, and user flows. You also will also have delivered requirements for features that are being developed by the technical team and created success criteria for product and UAT sign-off.
• Within 6 months you will have an established cadence for receiving customer feedback, generating and delivering requirements, and supporting testing through release. You also will be positioned to suggest improvements to some of the processes supported by the systems to increase the efficiency of our workflows and improve customer satisfaction.

  This could be the job for you if you have (minimum requirements):

• Minimum of 3 years of business or systems analysis experience working on medium to large complex technology efforts or comparable work that includes:
• Eliciting, documenting and refining business and technical requirements
• Implementing complex technology solutions
• Understanding of Agile methodologies and ideally some experience working in an Agile environment
• Ability to work collaboratively and effectively communicate, and build relationships and trust with internal stakeholders and technical architects.
• Ability to translate business needs into solutions, requirements and actions, using tools such as process modeling, creation of other visual models, business rule capture, user flows and stories, use cases, and test cases.
• Manages change and navigate positively in an environment experiencing change at a fast pace.
• Acts decisively with sound judgement; uses data to analyze options and form opinions.
• Uses subject matter knowledge and skills to effectively acquire and apply information.
• Actively seeks and engages with diverse perspectives and invites a sense of belonging.
• Applies continuous improvement to existing processes and programs and develop ideas that are new, better, or unique.
• Uses self-starter approach, ability to multi-task, proactively anticipates and acts on information and details needed, completes tasks with little to no direction.
• Remains current in area of expertise, seeks opportunities to expand and grow skills.
• Takes responsibility and follows through on commitments; acknowledges and learns from mistakes without blaming others; recognizes the impact of one's behavior.
• Skills and knowledge required for success in this position attained through experience and education (Bachelor’s degree in Technology, Business, Education, or related area of study), or a combination of both.

It’s a plus if you have:

• Prior assessment product or technical experience
• Product experience in the K12 market.
• Experience specifically in the High School testing space.
• Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP).

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it.  By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry—helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life’s transitions. 

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We’re doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we’re all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That’s why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!