Senior Business Analyst – AI Strategy & Digital Transformation

Zion Cloud Solutions; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Zion Cloud Solutions seeks a Senior Business Analyst to support a State Government AI Strategy and Digital Transformation initiative in a hybrid Chicago, IL setting. You will translate business priorities into actionable requirements and help shape AI roadmap and POC execution.

Responsibilities include stakeholder workshops, backlog grooming in Azure DevOps, and collaboration with AI architects and solution teams to deliver measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• 5+ years as a BA in state government or public sector tech.
• Strong requirements gathering, process analysis, stakeholder engagement, and documentation.
• Hands-on Azure DevOps (ADO) for backlog, epics, features, user stories, and acceptance.
• Experience with Agile teams, solution architects, developers, testers.
• Strong communication, analytical and facilitation skills.

Responsibilities

• Stakeholder engagement through workshops to understand needs and priorities.
• Document processes, functional requirements, user journeys, and acceptance criteria.
• Backlog management in Azure DevOps with epics, features, and user stories.
• Identify AI opportunities and prioritize use cases for AI, automation, Document AI, and LLMs.
• Translate business needs into AI initiatives, dependencies, and roadmaps.
• Define POC requirements, success criteria, test scenarios, and validation.
• Ensure solutions address real business problems and align business/tech teams.
• Maintain process flows, decisions, logs, and project documentation.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Requirements gathering

Backlog management (ADO)

AI use case discovery

Strategy & roadmap support

POC support

Customer advocacy

Documentation & communication

Tools

Azure DevOps (ADO)

Job description

Senior Business Analyst - AI Strategy & Digital Transformation

Location: Hybrid / Chicago, IL

Duration: Long-Term Contract With potential extension.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Business Analyst to support a State Government AI Strategy and Digital Transformation initiative. The role involves working closely with agency stakeholders, business leaders, and AI solution architects to identify AI opportunities, gather requirements, develop prioritized backlogs, and support AI roadmap development and proof-of-concept (POC) execution. The ideal candidate will act as the voice of the customer, ensuring business priorities are translated into actionable requirements and technology solutions that deliver measurable outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Stakeholder Engagement: Conduct discovery workshops and work with agency leadership, business users, and technical teams to understand business needs, challenges, and priorities.
• Requirements Gathering: Document business processes, functional requirements, user journeys, and acceptance criteria.
• Backlog Management: Create and maintain epics, features, user stories, and prioritized backlogs in Azure DevOps (ADO).
• AI Use Case Discovery: Collaborate with AI architects to identify, assess, and prioritize opportunities for AI, intelligent automation, Document AI, Knowledge AI, and conversational assistants.
• Strategy & Roadmap Support: Translate business needs into actionable AI initiatives, identifying dependencies, implementation priorities, and expected business outcomes.
• POC Support: Define POC requirements, success criteria, test scenarios, and coordinate stakeholder validation and feedback.
• Customer Advocacy: Ensure proposed solutions address actual business problems, manage stakeholder expectations, and facilitate alignment between business and technical teams.
• Documentation & Communication: Maintain process flows, requirements, decision logs, action items, and project documentation.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as a Business Analyst, preferably supporting State Government or public sector technology initiatives.
• Strong experience in requirements gathering, business process analysis, stakeholder engagement, and documentation.
• Hands‑on experience with Azure DevOps (ADO) for backlog management, epics, features, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience working with Agile teams, solution architects, developers, and testers.
• Strong communication, analytical, problem‑solving, and facilitation skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage competing stakeholder priorities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with State Government digital transformation, cloud modernization, or enterprise technology initiatives.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Azure and ServiceNow workflows / ITSM.
• Understanding of AI/ML, Generative AI, LLMs, Document AI, and intelligent automation.
• Experience supporting AI use case discovery, technology assessments, or POC initiatives.

Expected Deliverables

• Business requirements and process documentation
• AI use case inventory and prioritization
• ADO backlog with epics, features, and user stories
• POC requirements, acceptance criteria, and validation results
• Inputs to AI strategy and implementation roadmap
• Stakeholder feedback, decisions, and action tracking

Success Criteria

Translate agency business priorities into clear requirements, a well‑managed delivery backlog, and practical AI initiatives aligned with measurable business outcomes.