Business Analyst- Data Management Implementations

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Job description

Company Description

Merkle is a leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. The agency's heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive people-based marketing strategies. Its combined strengths in performance media, customer experience, customer relationship management, loyalty, and enterprise marketing technology drive improved marketing results and competitive advantage. With 5,500 employees, Merkle is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with 24 additional offices in the US and 25 offices in Europe and APAC. In 2016, the agency joined the Dentsu Aegis Network.

Job Description

Role Purpose

The Business Systems Analyst is the key liaison between a high profile client and the Merkle Technology Teams. This is a highly visible position, as the Senior Business Analyst elicits and drives requirements and initiatives at multiple levels of detail for a Merkle client(s). The Business Systems Analyst should have a strong attention to detail and is entrusted with accurately documenting requirements and acceptance criteria for a project.

Key Skills and Experience

• Contribute as a project cross functional team.

• Participate in deep dive sessions with end users and subject matter experts as a means to elicit business logic.

• Support and influence the BSA Center of Excellence through support of best practices and sharing insights within the BSA Community (managed services and implementation).

• Provide consultative expertise (Internal & External)

• Ensure the enablement of a smooth transition and maintenance of the solution into production, working with internal team members, end users, and supporting facilitating change requests with the broader team using a defined change management process.

• Lead data asset analysis for the incoming data to understand how data relates to business requirements and business rules

• Responsible for written requirements specifications (business, functional, STT, FLD) from initial creation, through change management and solution delivery.

• Interface with the client, third-party vendors, and multi-disciplinary teams within Merkle to develop the solution

• Manage and/or mentor less senior BSAs within the Implementation team and client projects ensuring BSA Deliverables.

• Synthesize complex and sometimes contradictory information into concise, readable, unambiguous written requirements at multiple levels of detail across key supporting documents.

• Provide input into the functional design of solution data integration, in cooperation with systems analysts, leveraging multiple traditional inputs (Customer, Transaction, Promotion History).

• Adherence and input provided to project management regarding schedule, scope, risks, and cost tradeoffs.

• Utilize and provide recommendations regarding BSA best practices.

• Serve and support other BSAs as the functional point of contact for the solution during design and development, working through data and design questions/issues as they arise.

• Work closely with the Quality Assurance discipline or lead this discipline on small projects definition and execution of a test plan, which will include internal testing and user acceptance testing.

• Synthesize complex and sometimes contradictory information into concise, readable, unambiguous written requirements at multiple levels of detail.

• Develop and deliver account cross-training and knowledge sharing.

• Willingness to travel when necessary.

• Work with remote and global colleagues and the associated schedule flexibility required due to multiple time zones.

Qualifications

• Critical listening and thinking skills

• Strong analytic skill

• Strong attention to detail

• Customer Service Focus

• Strong communication skills (written and oral), Including client communication

• Skilled with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio.

• Possess strong SQL skills.

• Ability to identify and work with others to arrive at creative solutions that are not readily apparent and to turn unclear facts into logical patterns and concepts

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and rapidly master complex data structures.

• Fundamental understanding of relational database design concepts [e.g. table design, table relationships (e.g. one-to-one, one-to-many), primary and foreign key designations, etc.].

• Bachelors Degree or equivalent experience is required

• 7-9+ years experience in client facing roles, specifically leading Discovery/JAD sessions of cross functional teams.

• 7-9+ years experience with writing detailed requirement documentation.

• 7-9+ years experience working with IT methodologies [e.g. Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and/or Waterfall, Agile]

• Experience working cross-functionally and with remote team members

• Fundamental understanding of Data Driven Marketing, especially: Database Marketing, Direct Marketing, Email Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Digital Marketing

• Knowledge of Customer Data Integration - both known and anonymous customers - processes and best practices is a Plus.

Additional Information

At Merkle, we believe that a diverse environment improves us as a community and as a business. We want to foster an environment of growth, where all ideas and contributions are encouraged. We need this culture of courage to continue to thrive in our fast-paced industry. We embrace differences of opinion. We value diversity of experience and thought, which help us to challenge and define industry-leading solutions, and support our goal of being a great place to work.

Merkle fosters a diverse environment that encourages original thinking about our business and empowers us to communicate with a global world of customers. We embrace differences of opinion and diversity of thought as they help us challenge and refine our solutions. Merkle, as a best-in-class marketing agency, welcomes big ideas, and believes they can come from anywhere.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

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