Senior Business Analyst / Product Manager

Role: Senior Business Analyst / Product Manager

Location: Chicago, IL

Work Model: Hybrid (2–3 days onsite per week)

Industry: Energy / Oil & Gas / Biofuels

Role Overview
We are seeking a Senior Business Analyst / Product Manager to serve as a strategic second-in-command to the Lead Product Manager. This role requires a senior-level professional who can balance business priorities, challenge assumptions, and protect delivery timelines while working across distributed stakeholders.
The ideal candidate will function as a hybrid BA–PM, capable of intake analysis, requirement prioritization, stakeholder management, and delivery governance in a fast-paced, enterprise environment.

Key Responsibilities

1.      Business Analysis & Requirements Management

2.      Serve as the primary intake point for new business ideas and requirements.

3.      Rapidly analyze and clarify ambiguous or incomplete requirements.

4.      Translate business needs into clear, prioritized requirements and user stories.

5.      Actively push back on scope creep and non-value-adding requests with data-driven rationale.

6.      Lead backlog grooming, refinement, and prioritization activities.

7.      Product & Delivery Leadership

8.      Partner closely with the Lead Product Manager as a trusted advisor and challenger.

9.      Evaluate delivery trade-offs between quick solutions and scalable, long-term designs.

10.  Drive alignment on timelines, scope, and dependencies across teams.

11.  Support Agile (Scrum) and Waterfall delivery models based on project needs.

12.  Ensure commitments are realistic, achievable, and value-focused.

13.  Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Management

14.  Engage stakeholders across multiple geographies (Chicago, West Coast, Midwest).

15.  Facilitate discussions between business, product, architecture, IT, and vendors.

16.  Resolve conflicts through structured analysis, clear communication, and compromise.

17.  Communicate effectively with senior leadership, including executive-level stakeholders.

18.  Governance, Compliance & Risk

19.  Ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture, regulatory, and compliance requirements.

20.  Support audits, governance reviews, and documentation where required.

21.  Identify delivery risks early and propose mitigation strategies.

Tools & Collaboration

1.      Manage requirements and delivery artifacts using tools such as:

2.      Jira / Azure DevOps

3.      Confluence

4.      Microsoft Project / Asana

5.      Support documentation, process mapping, and executive presentations.

Required Qualifications

1.      15+ years of experience as a Business Analyst, Product Manager, or hybrid BA/PM.

2.      Strong experience in Energy, Oil & Gas, Biofuels, or regulated enterprise environments.

3.      Proven ability to prioritize, challenge, and negotiate requirements with senior stakeholders.

4.      Deep understanding of Agile (Scrum) and Waterfall methodologies.

5.      Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence without authority.

6.      Experience working in large, complex, multi-stakeholder environments.

Preferred Qualifications

1.      Experience supporting enterprise product teams in distributed locations.

2.      Background in compliance-driven or regulated environments.

Certifications such as:

1.      Business Analysis (CBAP or equivalent)

2.      Scrum Master / Agile Certification

3.      Lean Six Sigma or Process Improvement

 Success Characteristics

1.      Comfortable acting as a challenger and stabilizer within a product team.

2.      Confident making trade-off decisions under time and resource constraints.

3.      Structured thinker who balances speed, quality, and long-term value.

4.      Trusted partner to Product Managers, Architects, and Business Leaders