Business Analyst: Turn Data into Strategic Decisions

Ascend Learning; Burlington (MA); Hybrid; USD 73,000 - 104,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Company paid life Insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off and parental leave

Employee assistance program

Headspace and Airvet wellness programs

Charitable matching program

Job summary

Ascend Learning, a leading healthcare and learning technology company, seeks a Business Analyst to transform complex data into actionable insights. You will own intake, translate needs into user stories, and collaborate with BI, Engineering, and Architecture to deliver high-quality data products.

The role requires 3+ years of data experience, cloud BI tools, and strong communication skills to bridge technical and non-technical teams. Hybrid work from MA/KS sites; remote options may apply.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience researching, analyzing, and leveraging data from internal and external resources.
• 3+ years of experience using modern cloud data platforms and BI tools like Snowflake and Tableau; familiarity with AI-assisted analytics tools is a bonus
• A translator at heart: able to turn ambiguous business asks into clear requirements
• Naturally curious: asks good questions, surfaces hidden assumptions, and isn’t satisfied with "that’s just how it’s always worked"
• Comfortable reading SQL and digging into raw data to sanity-check assumptions
• Strong communicator who moves easily between technical and non-technical audiences
• Eager to learn self-starter who can work in a fast-paced environment with emphasis on independence, quality, and accuracy

Responsibilities

• Serve as a primary intake owner for incoming business asks, ensuring each request is presented as a clearly stated problem, not a pre-defined solution
• Translate business needs into clear, testable user stories and acceptance criteria
• Document business context and metric definitions in plain language, including grain, filters and exclusions, and source systems
• Reverse-engineer existing SQL queries, Tableau and Power BI workbooks, and Excel models to extract business logic and assumptions
• Profile raw source data in Snowflake to validate assumptions about structure, quality and completeness before handoff to Data Architect
• Synthesize findings into an inventory that gives Architecture, Data Engineers, Data Scientists, and Business Intelligence Analysts a clear set of rules to build against
• Develop early prototypes or wireframes to validate stakeholder understanding before development begins
• Partner with Business Intelligence, Engineering, and Architecture to confirm feasibility, usability, and readiness of features
• Support user acceptance testing and feedback loops before, during, and after delivery to confirm the solution solve the business problem
• Communicate with internal and external stakeholders in a professional and timely manner throughout the delivery cycle

Skills

Data analysis

Requirements gathering

Stakeholder communication

Problem solving

Adaptability

Decision making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business, or related field

Tools

Snowflake

Tableau

Excel

Power BI

Job description

Ascend Learning, a leading healthcare and learning technology company, seeks a Business Analyst to transform complex data into actionable insights. You will own intake, translate needs into user stories, and collaborate with BI, Engineering, and Architecture to deliver high-quality data products.

The role requires 3+ years of data experience, cloud BI tools, and strong communication skills to bridge technical and non-technical teams. Hybrid work from MA/KS sites; remote options may apply.