Senior Business Analyst - Data & Analytics

Data Elephant; Calgary; On-site; CAD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Data Elephant is seeking a Senior Technical Business Analyst to support a large-scale data and analytics transformation. You will bridge business experts and delivery teams, turning complex data needs into approved, delivery-ready requirements for engineers, architects and analytics developers.

The role focuses on structuring work into well-sized user stories, identifying dependencies and acceptance criteria, and ensuring the team builds what the business expects.

Qualifications

• Significant recent experience as a Senior/Technical/Data Business Analyst
• Strong understanding of modern cloud data platforms and analytics architectures
• Hands-on experience with data mapping, data analysis and transformation requirements
• Experience documenting source-to-target mappings and data definitions
• Ability to translate complex business requirements into technical work for engineers and architects
• Proven track record of writing high-quality epics, features and user stories with clear acceptance criteria

Responsibilities

• Lead requirements discovery sessions with business stakeholders and data teams
• Translate business needs into clear, complete, and technically actionable requirements
• Document current and future state data flows, rules and reporting requirements
• Develop detailed data mappings and transformation rules
• Create well-defined epics, features and user stories with acceptance criteria
• Break down initiatives into deliverable stories and manage dependencies and blockers
• Facilitate backlog refinement, sprint planning and requirements walkthroughs
• Maintain a delivery-ready backlog and support acceptance testing with stakeholders
• Establish standards and best practices for requirements and user-story development

Skills

Senior BA

Requirements management

Agile

Data analysis

Backlog management

User stories

Stakeholder management

Cloud data platforms

Job description

We are seeking a Senior Technical Business Analyst to support a large-scale data and analytics transformation for a client.

This role will bridge business subject matter experts and technical delivery teams. You will turn complex business and data needs into clear, approved and delivery-ready requirements that engineers, architects and analytics developers can confidently estimate and implement.

The successful candidate will bring strong technical data knowledge, excellent requirements-management discipline and deep experience structuring complex work into appropriately sized user stories. You will ensure the team builds what the business has requested, understands why it matters and can identify dependencies, blockers and acceptance criteria before work enters a sprint.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead requirements discovery sessions with business stakeholders, subject matter experts, data engineers, architects and analytics teams.
• Translate business needs and subject matter expertise into clear, complete and technically actionable requirements.
• Document current-state and future-state business processes, data flows, business rules and reporting requirements.
• Develop detailed source-to-target data mappings, transformation rules and data definitions.
• Analyze data to validate requirements, identify quality issues and clarify expected business outcomes.
• Create high-quality epics, features and user stories with clear acceptance criteria, technical context and measurable outcomes.
• Break complex initiatives into appropriately sized and sequenced stories that delivery teams can estimate and complete within a sprint.
• Identify and document dependencies, assumptions, risks, blockers and required decisions.
• Ensure requirements are reviewed, refined, approved and formally signed off before development begins.
• Facilitate backlog refinement, sprint planning and requirements walkthroughs with delivery teams.
• Maintain a delivery-ready backlog and help sequence work based on dependencies, priorities and team capacity.
• Support engineering and analytics teams throughout delivery by answering questions and resolving ambiguity quickly.
• Coordinate business validation, user acceptance testing and final stakeholder approval.
• Establish and promote consistent standards, templates and best practices for requirements and user-story development.
• Help business stakeholders understand the reasoning behind proposed approaches, sequencing and requirements decisions.

Required Experience

• Significant recent experience as a Senior Business Analyst, Technical Business Analyst or Data Business Analyst supporting modern data and analytics programs.
• Strong understanding of modern cloud data platforms and analytical architectures.
• Hands-on experience with data mapping, data analysis, data transformation requirements and source-to-target documentation.
• Working knowledge of medallion architecture, including bronze, silver and gold data layers.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex business requirements into technical work that data engineers, BI developers and architects can implement.
• Extensive experience developing complex user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows and requirements documentation.
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery, backlog management, story sizing, sprint readiness and dependency management.
• Experience identifying gaps, challenging unclear requirements and driving decisions to closure.
• Ability to provide recent, relevant examples of complex user stories and requirements templates that have contributed to successful delivery.
• Excellent facilitation, communication and stakeholder-management skills.
• Confidence working with senior stakeholders and highly experienced subject matter experts.

The successful candidate does not need to be a hands-on developer but must understand data and analytics technology well enough to communicate effectively with technical teams and produce implementation-ready requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting enterprise data transformations, cloud migrations or modern analytics implementations.
• Experience in construction, engineering, infrastructure or another asset-intensive industry.
• Familiarity with data governance, metadata management, data quality and business glossary practices.
• Experience working across data engineering, governance, BI and business workstreams.
• Relevant business analysis, Agile or product-management certification is an asset.

Candidates should be prepared to discuss or provide anonymized examples of complex user stories, acceptance criteria, data mappings or requirements templates they have successfully used. Examples should demonstrate how the candidate:

• Translated an ambiguous business request into delivery-ready requirements.
• Divided a complex data initiative into appropriately sized stories.
• Identified and managed dependencies or blockers.
• Established clear acceptance and sign-off criteria.
• Helped a technical team understand the business purpose behind the work.