Project Business Analyst & HCD Researcher

We are Skyward.
That is, a love for people, for improvement, for human advancement through information technology. We are a people-centered business with a desire to serve others. We are diverse and unified; creative and collaborative; a collection of complementary, not competing talents. And though on the surface we remain relaxed, beneath, a torrent of energy links us to our civic tech mission.
We stand by our values, and we won’t compromise on any of them.
Integrity: We’re conscientious, intentional, and empathetic. Our words and actions align. That’s our character. Please don’t ask us to play another part, we’re poor actors.   Compassionate: If we may borrow a quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Because our team is thoughtful and supportive, caring deeply for each other, our clients, and our work, this comes naturally. Inquisitive: We remain students by failing openly and turning lessons into solutions.Unconventional: For us, life isn’t what happens outside of work. Work happens inside of life and our culture erases the line often dividing the two.   Authentic: Made possible only because we embody the values listed above. We’re relaxed and fun yet intensely curious and driven. Team members are placed with thought, care, and precision to ensure that Trust, Truth, and Transparency continue to represent our brand.
Because of that, we continue Onward, Upward, and Skyward.

What you'll do:

Business Analysis & Requirements

• Sit shoulder-to-shoulder with product owners, stakeholders, and SMEs to dig out what they really need (not just what they first ask for).
• Translate messy, complicated business problems into crystal-clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and process flows that engineers actually want to read.
• Map out current-state processes and shine a light on the gaps, risks, and “wait, why do we still do it that way?” moments.
• Help shape the backlog and roadmap across multiple applications, keeping priorities straight when everything feels urgent.
• Make sure requirements line up with business goals, regulatory standards, and enterprise architecture (because surprise audits are nobody’s friend).

Human-Centered Design & User Research

• Plan and run user research that actually changes things (interviews, contextual inquiry, journey mapping, usability testing, surveys, the works).
• Recruit, schedule, and coordinate sessions with a diverse user community of 500+ participants across programs.
• Turn mountains of qualitative and quantitative data into the kind of insights that get printed out and pinned to walls.
• Build personas, service blueprints, and experience maps that help everyone see the user clearly.
• Be the loudest voice in the room for users and accessibility — politely, but firmly — from kickoff through launch.

Project Support

• Help project managers and product teams put together project charters, business cases, and communications that actually get read.
• Support change management, training, and adoption when new features ship. Because launching something is only half the job.
• Track and report on KPIs, research outcomes, and system usage trends so we can prove what’s working (and fix what isn’t).
• Facilitate workshops, design sessions, and stakeholder meetings without anyone falling asleep.

What we'd like you to have:

• A bachelor’s degree in business or a related field.
• 2+ years as a Business Analyst, UX/HCD Researcher, or similar role juggling multiple projects or systems at once.
• A solid grip on requirements analysis, process modeling, and documentation. You know what “good” looks like.
• Real, hands-on experience running HCD research and usability testing (not just reading about it).
• The rare gift of explaining complicated ideas to both engineers and executives without losing either one.
• Comfort in Agile/Scrum land, where user stories, backlogs, and ceremonies are part of the daily rhythm.
• Sharp analytical and problem-solving instincts, plus the facilitation chops to keep a room moving.
• The ability to keep a lot of plates spinning across a large user community without dropping any (or only dropping the ones nobody noticed).

What would blow us away:

• Experience supporting enterprise-scale applications or systems with 500+ users.
• A working knowledge of accessibility guidelines, service design, or UX/UI principles.
• Comfort in tools like Jira, Confluence, Mural/Miro, Figma, Qualtrics, or similar.
• Certifications like CBAP, CCBA, PSM/CSM, or UX/HCD credentials.
• A genuine curiosity about the humans behin