The Academic Office of Clinical Trials (AOCT) is seeking a Senior Business Analyst to join our dynamic team at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. This is a unique opportunity to work closely with senior leadership on high-impact organizational initiatives that support and advance our clinical research programs. We are seeking a proactive, detail-oriented professional with strong analytical and critical thinking skills. Must be able to communicate data clearly and effectively to diverse audiences.

This role will collaborate with executive stakeholders to drive strategic projects, analyze complex data sets and translate insights into actionable recommendations and develop and deliver clear, timely reports and visualizations to support decision-making.  Experience with tools such as Power BI, Tableau, EPIC, and clinical research platforms is a strong plus. 

PATIENT AGE GROUP(S) AND POPULATION(S) SERVED
Refer to departmental "Scope of Service" and "Provision of Care" plans, as applicable, for description of primary age groups and populations served by this job for the respective HM entity.

HOUSTON METHODIST EXPERIENCE EXPECTATIONS

• Provide personalized care and service by consistently demonstrating our I CARE values:
  • INTEGRITY: We are honest and ethical in all we say and do.
  • COMPASSION: We embrace the whole person including emotional, ethical, physical, and spiritual needs.
  • ACCOUNTABILITY: We hold ourselves accountable for all our actions.
  • RESPECT: We treat every individual as a person of worth, dignity, and value.
  • EXCELLENCE: We strive to be the best at what we do and a model for others to emulate.

• Practices the Caring and Serving Model

• Delivers personalized service using HM Service Standards

• Provides for exceptional patient/customer experiences by following our Standards of Practice of always using Positive Language (AIDET, Managing Up, Key Words)

• Intentionally collaborates with other healthcare professionals involved in patients/customers or employees' experiential journeys to ensure strong communication, ease of access to information, and a seamless experience

• Involves patients (customers) in shift/handoff reports by enabling their participation in their plan of care as applicable to the given job

• Actively supports the organization's vision, fulfills the mission and abides by the I CARE values

PEOPLE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Engages and interfaces with stakeholders within and outside the organization. Effectively partners with team members to complete assigned projects.

• Fosters relationships and engages in regular communications within the department, IT and the organization at large in the areas of issue resolution, status updates and their effect on customers. Acts as liaison between the customer and the technical team facilitating requirements gathering sessions, sets expectations and coordinates team members utilizing effective teamwork and collaborative skills.

• Engages customers and elicits requirements using various methods. Negotiates priorities and resolves conflicts between customers, technologists and management.

SERVICE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Proactively seeks out opportunities to meet internal and external customer needs. Responds promptly to internal and external customer requests.

• Mentor and guide team members in achieving standards set by management in order to exceed clients' expectations. Provides training for team members through formal and informal methods.

• Fosters relationships and engages in regular communications within the department, IT and the organization at large in the areas of issue resolution, status updates and their effect on customers.

• Leads discovery and analysis phase of projects and efforts. Also leads requirements elicitation workshops. This includes the utilization of various methods design and development in conjunction with developers to documents business case/scope/plan, business/functional requirements; including specifications for package solutions, and/or software development.

QUALITY/SAFETY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Represents requirements information in graphical forms that augment textual representations in natural language.

• Creates requirements plans that directly translate into project planning. Identify and document requirement risks along with risk mitigation. Translates functional and non functional user requirements.

• Facilitate the prioritization of requirements into a product maturity roadmap.

• Leads the setting, monitoring, and meeting of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with customers. Develops detailed system test plans, execute system test cases and provide issue tracking and consolidation. Manage a coordinated User Acceptance Test (UAT) effort.

FINANCE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Utilizes department resources and supplies effectively. Provides costs and resource estimates, work plans and documentation to ensure timely project completion. Manages and prioritizes time effectively to meet established timelines.

• Identifies cost saving or revenue opportunities by engaging in process improvement efforts.

GROWTH/INNOVATION ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Stays abreast of emerging technology, process trends and methodologies and seeks out innovative methodologies to provide solutions that improve productivity, workflow, production, efficiency and effectiveness. Shares knowledge with team and stakeholders as appropriate.

• Proactively manages own professional development. Completes Individual Development Plan (IDP).

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive; the employee will also perform other reasonably related business/job duties as assigned. Houston Methodist reserves the right to revise job duties and responsibilities as the need arises.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in Computer Science, Business Administration or related discipline

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Five years experience supporting IT projects in an IT analyst role or similar function to include three years leading and facilitating IT projects and three years experience in clinical, business or financial operations

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS - REQUIRED

• N/A

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS - PREFERRED

• PMP - Certified Project Management Professional (PMI) -- PMP certification

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through on-going skills, competency assessments, and performance evaluations

• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security

• Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members and co-workers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles

• Ability to talk with individuals and groups about their needs and ask the right questions to surface essential requirements information.

• Ability to critically evaluate the information gathered from multiple sources, reconcile conflicts, decompose high-level information into details, abstract up from low-level information to a more general understanding, distinguish presented user requests from the underlying true needs, and distinguish solution ideas from requirements.

• Ability to engage customers and technicians for the purpose of extracting discussion, ideas, opinions, and general contribution in individual settings, meetings, or to lead requirements elicitation workshops.

• Ability to communicate information effectively to customers, managers, vendors, and technical staff.

• Ability to work with a vast array of information gathered during elicitation and analysis and to cope with rapidly changing information and priorities.

• Advanced interpersonal skills and ability to interact at all level of the organization

• Ability to work independently and take initiative.

• Knowledge of healthcare operations desired.

• Knowledge and appreciation of business concepts and requirements as applicable to a large academic, research, and/or healthcare facility preferred

• Knowledge of project management tools preferred

• Ability to work independently

• Demonstrated success in project improvement

• Ability to prioritize effectively and adjust to organizational needs and demands

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

WORK ATTIRE

• Uniform No
• Scrubs No
• Business professional Yes
• Other (department approved) No

ON-CALL*
*Note that employees may be required to be on-call during emergencies (ie. DIsaster, Severe Weather Events, etc) regardless of selection below.

• On Call* Yes

TRAVEL**
**Travel specifications may vary by department**

• May require travel within the Houston Metropolitan area Yes
• May require travel outside Houston Metropolitan area Yes

Houston Methodist Research Institute was formed in 2004 to rapidly and efficiently translate discoveries made in the laboratory and the clinic into new diagnostics, therapies, and treatments. The research institute was created to provide the infrastructure and support for these endeavors, and to house the technology and resources needed to make innovative breakthroughs in important areas of human disease. A 540,000 square foot building dedicated to research, the research institute houses over 1,500 staff and trainees, 284 principal investigators and has more than 570 ongoing clinical trials.