Sr. Associate, Business Liaison

Harrison Street Asset Management ("HSAM") is a leading global alternative investment management firm focused on real estate, infrastructure, and credit strategies across North America and Europe. Headquartered in Chicago, Toronto, and London with offices across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the firm has over $108 billion in assets under management on behalf of institutional investors and registered investment advisors globally.

Founded on a culture of innovation, HSAM is an early mover in alternative real estate and mid-market infrastructure. Today, the firm’s global team, consisting of more than 520 professionals, is committed to creating long-term value through deep sector expertise and forward-thinking strategies.

Under direction of the Head of Technology Enablement, BTG, the successful Business Liaison candidate will serve as the subject matter expert (SME) for ongoing business application management and project management related to the technology portfolio(s) of Line of Business (LOB) stakeholders and the BTG. Primary responsibilities include providing business domain and process knowledge; supporting the prioritization of business and technology requests based on time, budget, and scope; managing vendor relationships and related business expectations; ensuring business applications remain operational and secure based on firmwide technology policies and procedures; and project managing key technology initiatives overseen by senior-level Business Liaisons.

Supporting our senior-level Business Liaisons, this Business Liaison candidate proactively serves as a “trusted expert” as it relates to technology services and capabilities for business applications in our environment, including how LOB stakeholders use the technology to support their business operations. Organized, proactive and anticipatory in their thinking, they drive and provide significant value to senior-level Business Liaisons and business stakeholders they partner with.

Responsibilities

45%     Technology Operations and Vendor Management

• Manages application-level access and overall governance and oversight to designated LOB applications, including regular application-level user audits, outage notifications and escalations, etc.
• Provides status for application upgrades and maintenance to key stakeholders within and outside LOB(s).
• Manages key technology vendors, including contracting, onboarding, and ongoing partnerships.
• Oversees the work performed by Service Providers relevant to LOB(s).
• In partnership with BTG team members, supports migration of technology support of new applications to Service Desk and Providers as applications and services are implemented.
• Conducts advanced ongoing analysis to identify trends, variances, and issues.
• Proactively seeks to prevent problems or issues from arising by analyzing metrics and feedback and implementing the necessary changes.
• Drives solutions and successfully engages in difficult conversations with all stakeholders.
• Documents specific duties, activities, problems solved, and issues resolved.
• Frequently updates FAQ’s and SOP’s.
• Continuously improves and documents processes and procedures to follow best practices and minimize resource waste.
• Utilizes the appropriate technologies and ensures that LOB stakeholders have the solutions they need, when they need them, and in the media best suited to their requirements.

40%     Technology Planning and Project Management

• Supports senior-level Business Liaisons in developing and managing the project plan, timeline, and budget for assigned projects.
• Produces executive-level documentation, reports, analysis, technical writings, and communication.
• Communicates program status to key business stakeholders and management.
• Effectively leads and facilitates project meetings, as needed.
• Proactively resolves problems and highlights key risk areas within and between project teams.
• Creates, manages, and supports complex programs with multiple departmental stakeholders, vendors, and LOBs with high risk.
• Develops and enhances key business and vendor relationships.
• Possesses a broad knowledge of most technical and business resources and uses them to effectively coordinate team members and external resources.
• Builds trust among stakeholders, team members, and partners through relationship building and transparent communication.
• Collaborates with senior-level Business Liaisons to develop annual budgets for Line of Business partner areas.
• Supports senior-level Business Liaison in business analysis and prepares recommendations and business plans, as needed.
• Provides subject matter expertise on business user needs, requirements, and preferences (individually or