Lead Business Analyst (On-Site) - Location: Richmond, VA (In-Person) - 100% Only locals (VA) with valid DL copy

Job Title: Lead Business Analyst (On-Site)

Location: Richmond, VA (In-Person)

Job Type: Contract

Position Summary

The Lead Business Analyst is a strategic, people-focused role responsible for improving the quality, consistency, and impact of Business Analysis practices across the organization. This position combines mentorship, facilitation, and analytical leadership to strengthen requirements quality, improve delivery outcomes, and ensure strong alignment between business and technology teams.

This role serves as a servant leader for a team of Business Analysts, removing obstacles, coaching professional growth, and promoting best practices. The ideal candidate leads through influence, builds trust quickly, and helps teams achieve clarity and shared understanding.

Key Responsibilities

1. Standards and Requirements

• Establish, refine, and promote consistent Business Analysis methodologies, templates, and documentation standards.
• Ensure high-quality requirements documentation including BRDs, RTMs, user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, and data requirements.
• Validate requirements for business value, feasibility, and alignment with organizational objectives.
• Provide clear and constructive feedback to improve deliverables and reduce rework.
• Ensure requirements artifacts are accurate, complete, and delivered on schedule.
• Support testing strategies that address functional, non-functional, and data requirements.

2. Support Teams and Build Alignment

• Foster a collaborative and supportive environment across business and technology teams.
• Act as a trusted liaison to clarify and align complex business needs.
• Facilitate workshops, discovery sessions, and cross-functional discussions.
• Support change management through proactive and transparent communication.
• Partner with product owners, project managers, and leadership to prioritize requirements, manage risks, and maintain project progress.

3. Communicate Clearly and Influence Decisions

• Communicate complex concepts clearly to executives, technical teams, and end users.
• Translate business needs into structured, actionable documentation.
• Present findings, recommendations, and updates to senior leadership.
• Develop well-organized documentation supporting planning and solution design.

4. Coach and Develop the BA Team

• Mentor and develop Business Analysts to strengthen analytical and facilitation skills.
• Identify opportunities to enhance BA processes, tools, and team capabilities.
• Lead initiatives to improve efficiency, consistency, and quality within the BA function.
• Ensure alignment with leadership before implementing new standards or processes.
• Remove roadblocks and address risks impacting BA performance.
• Model accountability, transparency, and commitment to high-quality outcomes.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor s degree in Business, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 7+ years of Business Analyst experience, including 3+ years mentoring or leading analysts.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Expertise in elicitation techniques, requirements documentation, and process modeling.
• Experience with Agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience with enterprise-level or multi-module systems.
• Proficiency with BA and ALM tools such as Jira or Azure DevOps.

Preferred

• Experience developing or refining BA standards or contributing to a BA Center of Excellence.
• Background in data governance, data integration, or data quality initiatives.
• Familiarity with testing methodologies and ALM or automated testing tools.
• Strong analytical and data-driven problem-solving skills.

Skills and Competencies

• Servant leadership and mentoring
• Strong communication and presentation skills
• Analytical mindset with focus on continuous improvement
• Stakeholder engagement and facilitation expertise
• High attention to detail and commitment to quality
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and concurrent initiatives
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and process modeling tools

Required Skills & Experience