Senior Business/Functional Analyst

Syms Strategic Group, LLC; Grand Rapids (MI); Remote; USD 78,000 - 104,000; Full time

Job summary

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) seeks a Senior Functional Analyst for a remote, U.S.-based opportunity supporting Veterans Affairs. The role emphasizes Agile/SAFe, requirements management, and collaboration with business users, IT, and leadership using ALM tools like JIRA.

You will lead elicitation, document complex requirements, mentor junior analysts, coordinate with stakeholders, ensure traceability, and drive backlog refinement in a government-facing environment.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience with Agile/SAFe methodologies.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills for complex technical topics.
• Strong attention to detail, customer service, and problem-solving abilities.
• Experience conducting independent research to support resolution of complex questions.
• Advanced experience with MS Office, including Excel.
• Expertise with JIRA and large Agile software projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead the capture of business requirements for software development teams.
• Collaborate with business users, IT, and leadership to elaborate and document requirements in an ALM tool.
• Manage requirements in an ALM tool.
• Perform Agile requirement management activities for a product team.
• Analyze user needs to determine functional, cross-functional, and technical requirements.
• Conduct user interviews and facilitate sessions; develop business process models and specifications.
• Gather and document business, functional, technical, and non-technical requirements from stakeholders.
• Elaborate user stories and decompose into backlog items with acceptance criteria.
• Use JIRA for requirements management, testing, and defect management; manage epics, stories.
• Track system and business requirements; validate and integrate them.
• Conduct backlog refinement sessions; coordinate with Systems Engineers on impact.
• Manage requirements for multiple projects; deliver project documents to the client.
• Identify and manage risks and issues; develop and maintain backlogs.
• Own change control and develop Change Requests; ensure configuration management.
• Identify, document, verify, and track traceability among requirements, test cases, and risks/impediments.
• Collect, analyze, manage, and report execution status and metrics across SAFe lifecycle.
• Develop SME knowledge; mentor junior analysts; establish strong relationships with product owners.
• Support development team in understanding requirement details; follow Scrum and remove impediments.
• Provide clear qualitative and quantitative information to teams and stakeholders.

Skills

Agile/SAFe methodologies

Requirements management

Effective communication

JIRA

MS Excel

Stakeholder collaboration

Problem solving

Technical requirements elicitation

Education

Master’s degree in Engineering

Tools

JIRA

Job description

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is seeking a talented Senior Functional Analyst

Location: Remote

Department: Veterans Affairs

Type: Full Time

Min. Experience: Experienced

Security Clearance Level: Public Trust (MBI)

Salary Range: $78,167 - $103,855

If you have previously applied to Syms Strategic Group (SSG), there is no need to reapply. Applications are still under review.

Military Veterans are highly encouraged to apply!

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Previous Federal Government experience and Security Clearance highly desired!

• Lead the capture of business requirements for software development teams
• Collaborate with business users, Information Technology (IT), and leadership to elaborate and document requirements in an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tool
• Manage requirements in an ALM tool
• Perform Agile requirement management activities for a product team
• Perform the analysis of user needs to determine functional, cross-functional, and technical requirements
• Conduct user interviews, lead and facilitate sessions, and develop business process models and formal specifications
• Work with customers, team members, stakeholder users, and other contractors to gather and document business, functional, technical, and non-technical requirements
• Perform elaboration of user stories and decomposition of stories into backlog items and determine acceptance criteria
• Use an ALM tool (JIRA) for Requirements Management, Testing, and Defect Management to create and manage requirements, epics, sub-epics, and user stories
• Perform the collection, tracking, and monitoring of system and business requirements
• Validate requirements and integration
• Conduct backlog refinement sessions
• Coordinate with Systems Engineers to assess impact on technical solutions
• Manage and coordinate requirements for various projects
• Write and deliver project documents to the client
• Identify and manage risks and issues impacting the progress and outcome of the project
• Develop and maintain the scheduled project/product backlog(s)
• Own and manage requirements change control
• Develop Change Requests per established policies and procedures
• Facilitate accurate configuration management for project-related artifacts
• Identify, document, verify, and track traceability amongst requirements, test cases, and potential risks and impediments
• Collect, analyze, manage, and report key Program and Product Team execution status and metrics across all aspects of the Agile product development lifecycle using SAFe
• Perform analysis to identify required tasks and their interrelationships to establish well-documented stories
• Become a product functional Subject Matter Expert (SME)
• Lead and mentor junior analysts in accordance with strategy and direction established by the Team Lead
• Establish strong relationships with product and business owners
• Support development team as needed to help everyone understand the requirements’ details
• Follow Agile methodology (Scrum) and deliver requirements/specifications for Sprint teams
• Remove impediments from team members to achieve successful completion of Sprints
• Provide clear qualitative and quantitative information to teams and stakeholders
• Support change control processes established to monitor and control project scope

Required Skills and Experience

• Must possess a strong background in software development and Agile/Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodologies
• Must possess excellent oral and written communication skills with the demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical topics to the customer, management, and non-technical audiences
• Must possess excellent attention to detail, customer service skills, and problem-solving abilities
• Past experience conducting independent research to support the resolution of complex questions
• Must possess advanced experience with Microsoft (MS) Office, including Excel
• Must possess excellent analytical skills, including integrating information from several sources
• Expertise with JIRA tools
• Experience in large, Agile software development or data integration projects

Professional Certifications

None required

Years of Professional Experience

10 years of professional (an additional 10 years of experience may be substituted for education)

Desired experience

• Experience working in an Agile environment
• Working knowledge of VA’s Veterans Independence Program (VIP)
• VA SQA Testing experience
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or Professional Scrum Master (PSM)
• Experience working for a Federal Health Agency (VA, DHA, HHS, etc.)
• Healthcare billing and claims processing application knowledge

Formal Education

Master’s degree in Engineering or a related scientific or technical discipline

Citizenship Requirement

U.S. Citizenship required for this specific opportunity

Security Clearance Requirements

Must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI)

CRITICAL NOTES

1. SSG will not make assumptions regarding your qualifications. Your answers to the mandatory screening questions must be supported by the information on your resume. Applications with inconsistencies will not be considered.
2. Recruiters or Third parties will not be considered.
3. This is a 100% U.S. based remote position. However, candidates from CA, CO, IL, MN, NJ, NY, OR, or WA will not be considered.

U.S Citizenship is required for this specific opportunity. Applicants selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information and be able to obtain a government-granted security clearance. Individuals may also be subject to a background investigation including, but not limited to criminal history, employment and education verification, drug testing, and creditworthiness.

Syms Strategic Group, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or genetic information.