Scientific Business Analyst
Responsibilities:
- Lead scientific-related business needs assessment, as well as facilitate the design, build and implementation of IT systems. Work with scientists and laboratory personnel to understand their business processes and suggest improvement opportunities to enhance end-user experience
- Work closely with end-users and technical team members to translate high-level business and user requirements into functional and design specifications using structured business and technical analysis and data modeling techniques (e.g. activity diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams, etc.)
- Act as an expert technical and scientific resource to software development staff in all phases of the development and implementation process
- Participate in user research, usability and acceptance testing
- Proactively identify new and potentially beneficial external informatics solutions for unmet needs in Research and partner with the appropriate scientists to evaluate the utility of these solutions and their compatibility with the overall research strategy
- Manage and prioritize the portfolio of IT projects across Research
- Develop and maintain a knowledge of enterprise wide data management practices and principles with an added ability to develop a comprehensive data management plan for the enterprise
- Follow the methodologies and standards for IT project management and implementation, which includes guidelines, procedures, standards, documentation, and monitoring for organizational compliance
- Act as Business Relationship Manager for the specific research area(s) supported
- Partner with research scientists and technical teams to understand and define system goals and technical system requirements
- Understand system interdependencies and collaborate with project teams accordingly
- Assist in evaluating cost-benefit and ROI analyses
- Must be able to handle a variety of tasks, effectively solve problems with numerous and complex variables, and be able to shift priorities as needed
- Manage Research IT related project budget(s)
- Train, develop and manage junior scientific business analysts
Requirements:
- Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate, both verbally and in writing, with members of all levels of the organization
- Demonstrated ability to clearly document requirements and processes
- Candidate should be able to demonstrate the ability to interact with technical and scientific personnel
- Demonstrated ability to perform business analysis, elicit requirements and identify valid improvement opportunities
- Ability to understand end-user needs and user experience in a science-based research environment
- Willingness to work in and adapt to a fast paced, ever-changing environment.
- Attention to detail and a passion for solving complex and interesting problems in a science driven environment
- Analytical with the desire to measure the effectiveness of new features
- Welcome and respect ideas from partners, business stakeholder and technical experts
- Is an independent worker who can also work effectively as part of a team and proactively seeks to innovate
- Demonstrated problem solving and analytical skills
- Strong interest in contributing to biological research
Preferred background
- Experience with molecular biology laboratory techniques and bioinformatics methods
- Solid foundational understanding of genetics and genotypic analysis
- Additional experience with quantitative PCR a plus
- Familiarity with in vivo experiments and data analysis
- Experience with optimizing high-throughput plate-based assays or experience programming liquid handling instruments
- Understanding of relational database concepts
- Understanding of current IT project and software development life cycle processes and methodologies
- Graduate degree in a life science with experience in computer science or information technology
- Project/Process management experience
- Demonstrated ability to interpret and document an extensive variety of scientific and technical processes
- Demonstrated ability to perform business analysis and identify and document valid improvement opportunities
- Knowledge of and/or experience with the Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery process
- Experience in fast changing Research focused environments
- Demonstrated ability to manage and lead software development projects
- 5-8+ Years Experience in a Research, pharmaceutical, biotechnology or scientific laboratory environment
