Business Analyst

About FirstClose:

FirstClose is an innovative, dynamic and leading finance technology provider that designs, develops, and delivers best-in-class nationwide property & borrower data intelligence and settlement services to financial institutions in real estate and mortgage lending. Our innovative platform (a proprietary Sofware-as-a-Service application (SaaS)) has streamlined the loan process for over 400 lending institutions by directly integrating with existing loan origination systems to deliver instant property data, valuation, title, and settlement services, all in one place efficiently. Our mission is to empower lenders and their borrowers with cutting-edge solutions, enhance efficiency and drive success in the ever-evolving mortgage industry. We are continually growing and evolving. FirstClose operates on five core values: 1) Clients First - Focus on the market and needs of our clients. 2) Accountability - Be the change you seek, 3) Passion - Develop new ways to do things. 4) Respect - Build a culture of trust and transparency. 5) Engagement - Foster inclusion and collaboration.

Role Overview

As the Business Analyst, Loan Origination & Engagement Platforms, you will join a team building our end-to-end lending ecosystem that plugs into the lenders loan origination system—where borrowers self-drive applications, loan officers and processors manage intake, closers shepherd documents through to recording, and lenders place service orders (valuations, flood, title, PCRs, etc.) with third-party providers. You’ll drive user-centered, persona-driven design across both our borrower/lender “point-of-sale” flows and our Order Management System across both our lender/providers (OMS/Gateway), ensuring clear, compliant, and delightful experiences for all stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Persona & Journey Development
  1. Define and validate personas: borrowers, loan officers, processors, closers, recording specialist, and external service providers.
  2. Craft journey maps for both the lending flow (intake → disclosures → closing → recording) and the order-management flow (request → provider fulfillment → delivery).
• User-Centered Requirements
  1. Translate persona insights into clear user stories and acceptance criteria for lending and OMS modules.
  2. Work with UX to prototype both borrower/LO screens and provider portals, then validate through usability sessions.
• Order-Management Workflows
  1. Model and optimize the “place order → track status → receive deliverables” lifecycle for valuations, flood certificates, title searches, PCRs, and revisions.
  2. Define notifications and exception handling to keep lenders and providers in sync.
• Agile Backlog Management
  1. Prioritize and refine features for both POS and OMS in Jira, ensuring small, testable stories with SMART criteria.
  2. Collaborate with engineering to de-risk API integrations with LOS (Loan Origination Systems) and external vendors.
• Process & Compliance Modeling
  1. Map and document all critical flows (e.g., e-consent, disclosure timing, order-fulfillment routing, recording hand-off).
  2. Author persona-driven UAT scenarios covering regulatory deadlines, provider fallbacks, and audit trails.
• Documentation & Release Notes
  1. Maintain up-to-date customer facing guides, process docs, and release notes for both lending and order management features.
  2. Ensure internal teams and third-party partners have clear, versioned documentation.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  1. Bridge Product, UX, Engineering, Compliance, Operations, and Provider Partners—advocating for user feedback and rapid learn-build-measure cycles.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s in business, Finance, HCI/UX, Information Systems, or related field.
• 2–4 years’ experience as a Business Analyst or UX/Process Analyst—ideally in lending, e-commerce, or order management.
• Proven track record in user-centered design and persona-driven journey mapping.
• Strong familiarity with Agile/Scrum and tools like Jira, Confluence, Lucidchart.
• Excellent communicator—able to simplify complex, regulated workflows for diverse teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on with e-signature, borrower-portal, or OMS workflows.
• Basic data analysis (SQL, Python, Excel) to surface customer insights.
• Experience coordinating with external vendors or service providers in a SaaS environment.
• Home-equity and mortgage lending experience — familiarity with HELOC, refinance, or purchase workflows is a big plus.

Core Competencies

• Human-Centered: Deep empathy for borrowers, LOs, processors, closers, and providers.
• Detail-Oriented: Turn compliance and business rules into clear, testable requirements.
• Collaborative: Build consensus across Product, UX, Tech, Legal, and Partners.
• Adaptive: Thrive in a fast-paced, feedback-driven, regulated environment.
• Communicative: Create documentation that’s as clear to a third-party vendor as to a senior exec.

Why This Role Matters

You’ll connect every step of the loan journey—from the borrower’s first click through order fulfillment and recording—into a cohesive, user-friendly system that reduces friction, drives adoption, and ensures compliance from origination to close.

What We Offer:

• Competitive Salary
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
• STD, LTD, Life Insurance
• Paid Holidays
• PTO
• 401k