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JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

The Office of Research Information Systems (ORIS), a unit of the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research (OSVPR), seeks a Business Analyst who will play an integral role in collaborative efforts like the Research Support Transformation Project (RSTP) that uses data-informed approaches to advance science by reducing researcher and administrative burden across the lifecycle of research programs.

ORIS Business Analysts work with various stakeholders, including researchers, senior leaders, research administration and compliance professionals, project managers, change management consultants, collaborating institutions, vendors, and others to gather and analyze information about critical research business processes. Analysts spend most of their time collaborating with others in a translational role to determine the best way to design enhanced processes and solutions.

The RSTP project exists to enhance organizational excellence, reduce bottlenecks, and improve processes. As part of the effort, this position will analyze administrative processes within Penn State’s research enterprise, and perform the following responsibilities:

• Identify business needs, model processes and workflows, process analysis and re-engineering, gap analysis, requirements elicitation, solution design, documentation creation and review, and identifying and analyzing KPIs.
• Facilitate meetings and create and deliver reports and presentations in workgroups and committees with key stakeholders (e.g., researchers, research administration and compliance professionals, and college research offices).  

Examples of administrative processes within Penn State’s research enterprise include those which assist the University and its researchers in complying with financial research requirements (e.g., grants, proposals, awards, etc.) and non-financial research requirements (e.g., use of human participants, animals, biohazardous materials, conflicts of interest, etc.).    

Education and Experience: Typically requires a Bachelor’s degree or higher and 4+ years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.  

Analysts must have strong relationship-building and management skills, be able to work in ambiguity, effectively build consensus, exercise independent judgment and discretion, meet deadlines, prioritize work, and easily shift from working independently to working within a team. Candidates with research administration content expertise, technical backgrounds, and/or business a