Business Analyst

Expected Duration: 1 year with the possibility of renewal upon review
Initiative: Illinois workNet, CEJA Expansion Initiative

Be part of a high-visibility workforce transformation initiative helping Illinois expand access to clean energy career pathways and employment services.

Our client is supporting the Illinois workNet CEJA Expansion Initiative under the DCEO Office of Employment & Training, a statewide effort connected to the Clean Energy Jobs Act and focused on strengthening workforce development opportunities across Illinois. This initiative brings together public sector leadership, technology teams, program administrators, and external partners to expand digital tools, improve service delivery, and support residents as they connect to training, employment, and career advancement opportunities in the clean energy economy.

This role is an opportunity to shape the requirements, workflows, and Agile delivery foundation for a statewide workforce development initiative with direct impact on Illinois communities.

About the Role

The Business Analyst will support the Illinois workNet CEJA Expansion Initiative by leading requirements discovery, stakeholder engagement, process analysis, and user story development. This role is central to ensuring that business needs are clearly understood, documented, prioritized, and translated into actionable work for Agile development teams.

Working closely with the IT Project Manager, Product Owner, Solution Architects, QA Engineers, Software Engineers, program administrators, state agency staff, and external partners, this position will help connect policy, operations, technology, and user needs. The Business Analyst will facilitate conversations, uncover requirements, identify edge cases, and ensure the development team has the clarity needed to deliver high-quality solutions.

This is a strong opportunity for a Business Analyst who enjoys public sector technology work, structured problem-solving, and meaningful stakeholder collaboration. The work supports a highly visible workforce development initiative with real impact across Illinois.

What You’ll Do

Requirements Elicitation & Stakeholder Discovery

Lead structured discovery efforts that turn stakeholder needs, policies, and operational realities into clear system direction.

• Conduct requirements discovery with program administrators, state agency staff, technical teams, and external partners.
• Facilitate workshops, interviews, and working sessions to gather business rules, workflows, and system needs.
• Identify implicit requirements, edge cases, policy constraints, and operational considerations that may not be initially articulated.
• Serve as a liaison between business stakeholders and the development team to ensure requirements are fully understood.
• Help stakeholders clarify priorities, define outcomes, and align around shared delivery expectations.

Requirements Documentation & User Stories

Create clear, testable documentation that gives Agile teams the information they need to build with confidence.

• Write Agile user stories with well-defined acceptance criteria.
• Develop and maintain requirements artifacts, including user stories, business process flows, wireframes, and functional specifications.
• Ensure requirements are complete, consistent, and unambiguous before development begins.
• Translate business needs into clear, testable specifications for development and QA teams.
• Support shared understanding across business, technical, and testing stakeholders.

Business Process Analysis

Analyze current workflows and help design future-state processes that improve usability, efficiency, and program delivery.

• Analyze existing workflows within the Illinois workNet platform and related workforce systems.
• Document current-state and future-state business processes.
• Identify process inefficiencies, gaps, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Help align business processes with system capabilities and program requirements.
• Support process clarity across workforce development, case management, and technology stakeholders.

Backlog Preparation & Agile Support

Help keep the Agile delivery pipeline organized, prioritized, and ready for successful sprint execution.

• Work with the IT Project Manager and Product Owner to prepare and refine the product backlog.
• Participate in backlog refinement sessions to ensure stories are ready for sprint planning.
• Support estimation sessions by clarifying requirements and answering questions.
• Help ensure the development team has well-defined, prioritized, and actionable work.
• Partner with QA and engineering teams to support alignment between requirements, acceptance criteria, and test coverage.

What You Bring

Skill| Required / Desired| Years of Experience
---|---|--- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, Public Administration, or a related field| Required|
Experience performing business analysis on IT projects| Required| 5+ Years
Experience eliciting requirements, writing Agile user stories, and documenting business processes| Required|
Experience working within Agile/Scrum development environments| Required|
Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate business needs into technical specifications| Required|
Experience working on government or public sector IT projects| Highly Desired|
Familiarity with workforce development systems or case management platforms| Highly Desired|
Experience using Agile tools such as Azure DevOps or Jira| Highly Desired|
CBAP, CCBA, PMI-PBA, or IIBA-AAC certification| Highly Desired|

Work Environment & Travel

• Expected duration is 1 year, with the possibility of renewal upon review.
• Standard work schedule is 40 hours per week.
• No travel is required.
• Work supports the Illinois workNet CEJA Expansion Initiative under the DCEO Office of Employment & Training.
• This role is part of MSF&W’s Illinois workNet portfolio supporting government and public sector technology delivery.

Why This Role Matters

The CEJA Expansion Initiative supports workforce development tied to clean energy opportunities across Illinois. By translating complex stakeholder needs into clear requirements and actionable Agile work, the Business Analyst will help strengthen the technology foundation behind a high-visibility public sector program that supports career pathways, service delivery, and statewide workforce impact.