Business Analyst

Job Description

Company Overview

AllianceBernstein (AB) is a global investment-management firm providing industry-leading research and investment solutions through a combination of innovation, intellectual curiosity and relentless ingenuity. We offer high-quality research and diversified investment services to institutional and individual investors worldwide. Our clients include some of the world's top institutions as well as private-wealth clients and retail investors. Through close partnerships with our clients, we collaborate on investment strategies across regions and sectors to inspire innovative thinking and deliver superior outcomes.We invest in our people and in the communities in which we operate, and we celebrate our diversity to showcase what makes us unique. We offer our talent the opportunity to grow professionally while working on cutting-edge ideas and outcomes in a global culture that operates as a tight-knit community.If you're ready to innovate and grow your career, join us.

IT Group Description:

The ACE team, part of the Business Process Innovation department, has a strong track record of using an agile approach to develop solutions that touch multiple aspects of AB’s operations. ACE (originally an acronym for Automated Cashflow Entry) has grown in functionality from managing all cash and asset movements for client and master fund accounts to housing the AllianceBernstein client account master (supporting account creation and maintenance); supporting activity related to Corporate Actions; supporting workflows and business activities related to AB Alternative products (hedge funds and private equity vehicles). Our team enhances and supports ACE. Using .Net technologies (front end and middle tier application server) with MS SQL Server as the database, ACE:

• Interfaces directly, often in real time, with more than a dozen critical production applications supporting such diverse business needs as CRM, compliance in transfer of foreign assets, and trading.
• Is used by 1200+ global users, 24-hrs a day / 6 days a week.
• Completes well over a million unique transactions annually.

Responsibilities

We are seeking a Nashville based Business Analyst to join our ACE team in Business Process Innovation.

Describe the role:

The Business Analyst will work closely with stakeholders to identify and assess opportunities for process improvement and develop business requirements. This person will work closely with business stakeholders and the ACE technology team to define and implement solutions.

The ACE team has a large backlog of projects that are undeniably business pain-points but that are not “shovel-ready”, meaning the ACE Team does not have the prerequisite information such that the project is actionable. The associate will be responsible for helping to translate business needs into technology requirements and assisting the Development Team throughout implementation.

To succeed in this role, the candidate should know how to examine complex business processes and break down the data elements and automated processes required to create a technical solution. The analyst will work closely with the technical team to translate those needs into technical specifications. They will be responsible for the subsequent enhancement and support of technical solutions to meet the agreed upon business requirements. The ideal candidate will have

• Proven experience in business analysis in an agile environment,
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Data analysis skills including a thorough understanding of basic SQL.

Describe the applications and business or enterprise functions the role supports:

The ACE team supports multiple business units across AllianceBernstein. Thus, the Business Analyst will work with stakeholders across the firm to identify needs and identify cross system relationships. Solutions that this person will work on will incorporate data from multiple systems across the firm as well as from external sources.

The key job responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Collaborating with stakeholders to identify business requirements, optimizing to ensure process efficiency and effectiveness of business outcomes.
• Communicating directly with business users to gather information
• Working with other technology teams to set up interfaces and coordinate testing
• Providing testing requirements to the application testing team
• Coordinating project work with other teams to prevent work stoppages
• Identifying and if possible, anticipating critical path project delays and find ways to resolve them or escalate them.

What makes this role unique or interesting?

The person in this role will have the unique opportunity to work closely with business teams across all of AllianceBernstein to assess processes and identify technology and operational improvements. Many of these business processes can be solved by applying simple technologically assisted processes. Where helpful or necessary, the Business Process Innovation team will incorporate newer technology, leveraging cloud platforms and AI tools such as machine learning, natural language processing, chatbots, and robotic process automation.

What is the professional development value of this role?

This role will allow the candidate to learn multiple aspects of AllianceBernstein’s operations and grow his or her knowledge of the financial industry. The Business Analyst will develop experience innovating and improving complex business processes. They will learn how to advance a painful business process or user experience into an actionable Information Technology project. The Business Analyst will grow process mapping and reengineering skills and hone knowledge of what questions to ask to ensure sound solutions for process improvement. What are the inputs to this process? What business artifacts are required, and which are most helpful to designing the application? To which systems do IT partners require access or permissions?

Qualifications

Qualifications, Experience, Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or equivalent experience
• 2 years of business analysis experience
• Demonstrated experience working in agile environment
• Experience working with stakeholders/end users to analyze requirements and feasibility of solutions
• Experience in working in complex cross-function projects
• Experience working in the finance industry or with financial systems/data is preferred

Skills:

• Strong communication and presentation skills
• Strong problem solving, organizational and time management skills
• Ability to manage time effectively when faced with multiple tasks/initiatives
• Basic understanding of relational database concepts