The Senior Business Analyst for the Retention Value Stream is a strategic partner who drives transformational change by leading various high-impact projects across core academic operations within the institution. This role is responsible for the end-to-end analysis, design, and optimization of complex business processes, focusing on areas such as curriculum management, enrollment, student lifecycle, and academic resource planning.

You will act as the principal liaison between academic units, administrative stakeholders, and technical teams, translating strategic institutional goals into clear, actionable requirements and robust, compliant solutions. The ideal candidate possesses deep expertise in business analysis methodologies, significant experience within a higher education environment, and a proven ability to guide project teams and senior leadership toward data-informed decisions that enhance academic efficiency, student success, and institutional effectiveness.

Responsibilities:

The Senior Business Analyst will apply advanced analytical skills and deep domain knowledge to achieve the following:

• Academic Process Optimization & Project Leadership
  • Lead various complex projects focused on the analysis and redesign of cross-functional academic projects (e.g., degree planning, course scheduling, student advising) to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and risks.
  • Design and propose comprehensive process, procedural, and technical solutions that result in measurable improvements in efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and service delivery to students and faculty.
  • Guide senior academic and administrative leadership in prioritizing project scope and objectives by presenting clear, data-driven insights and proposed solution roadmaps that align with the institution's strategic plan.
• Advanced Business Analysis & Solution Delivery
  • Spearhead the full lifecycle of requirements management, employing advanced techniques (e.g., use cases, process mapping, data modeling) to document business, functional, and non-functional requirements.
  • Serve as the primary Subject Matter Expert (SME), collaborating closely with technical teams to ensure proposed enterprise application configurations and integrated system solutions (e.g., SIS, LMS, CRM) accurately meet documented academic business needs.
  • Develop clear business cases, project charters, and comprehensive documentation to secure project approval and ensure successful solution implementation and adoption.
• Stakeholder Management & Governance
  • Facilitate governance, communication, and expectation management between academic department heads, administrative leaders, and IT teams throughout the project lifecycle.
  • Champion data integrity, regulatory compliance, and security standards across all academic systems and processes.
  • Provide leadership and expertise in the selection, configuration, and continuous improvement of critical enterprise applications that underpin academic operations.
• Quality Assurance & Support
  • Oversee quality assurance and user acceptance testing (UAT) to ensure delivered solutions are accurate, scalable, and fully meet the defined business requirements.
  • Deliver high-quality training materials, support documentation, and consultation to internal stakeholders, fostering self-service and high user adoption.
• Utilization of AI
  • Identify and evaluate opportunities to integrate AI agents and tools into retention value stream activities.
  • Collaborate with IT teams to define the business requirements for AI-driven solutions, ensuring ethical use, data governance, and relevance to educational outcomes.
  • Leverage AI-powered tools for enhanced business analysis, including rapid document summarization, complex data pattern identification, and sophisticated process simulation modeling to accelerate project delivery.

Required Qualifications/Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field required or equivalent experience.
• Broadly knowledgeable about professional discipline and related discipline experienced in administering projects, and programs preferred.
• 3-5 years of relevant experience required.
• Strong written and oral communication.
• A proven ability to manage multiple projects and tasks simultaneously.
• Excellent customer service.
• Experience with project management and associated principles.
• Experience working with users developing business requirements.

Preferred Qualifications/Skills:

• Working knowledge and experience with systems Anthology Student, CourseDog, Interfolio, or other SIS and higher education solutions.
• Working knowledge of SQL and complex databases structures.
• Experience designing, developing, implementing, and supporting enterprise applications.
• Experience working in higher education.
• Confident with Agile development methodology.
• Experience using AI to accomplish complex tasks.

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Do you want a career that allows you to make a difference in other people’s lives? Discover what it means to truly believe in the work that you do at West Coast University.

At West Coast University, we have the privilege of educating students seeking careers in healthcare and guide them through their transformational journey from student to caregiver. Our associates are united behind that purpose and share a deep commitment to our values of teamwork, collegiality, transparency, and a student-centric approach to all we do. This focus creates an aligned, nimble, and consensus-driven culture that is solution-oriented and supports our associates’ professional growth.

West Coast University is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all associates.

Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits, including but not limited to, medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, 401(k) match, paid time off, holidays, parental leave, tuition reimbursement, adoption assistance, health savings accounts, employee discounts, commuter benefits, and company paid life, AD&D and LTD insurance.