Senior Business Analyst – Controlled Research Support Program at University of Texas - Austin in UT MAIN CAMPUS

Job description

• General Notes
• This is a fixed term position that ends five years from the employee’s start date.
• Flexible work arrangements are available for this position, including the ability to work remotely within the United States. We would prefer a candidate located in the greater Austin area to be on campus for critical project meetings and client engagement opportunities.
• This position provides life/work balance with typically a 40-hour work week and travel limited to training (e.g., conferences/courses).
• Purpose
• The Senior Business Analyst will play a pivotal role in supporting UT Austin’s Controlled Research Support Program (CRSP) and the university’s compliance with Federal standards for Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). This position will analyze, document, and clearly communicate business and technical requirements — to both technical and non-technical audiences — to ensure the university’s systems, processes, and data handling align with federal security and compliance requirements.
• The Senior Business Analyst will work closely with UT Austin’s Enterprise Technology team, the Information Security Office, and the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Endeavors to identify compliance gaps, define solutions, and drive alignment with regulatory frameworks and best practices. The role also serves as a key point of communication and coordination across CRSP and CUI compliance efforts, backs up the Senior Project Manager on select project management functions as needed, assists with technical customer onboarding, and builds the KPIs and dashboards that keep leadership informed of progress.
• Key responsibilities include conducting requirements gathering and process mapping, analyzing current and future-state workflows, and supporting initiatives related to secure information systems, access controls, incident response, and auditing. The Senior Business Analyst will develop documentation to support compliance activities and help define metrics to monitor progress toward compliance milestones. This includes serving as a strong written and verbal communicator across all levels of the university, backing up the Senior Project Manager on select tasks, helping define and document new business processes, assisting with technical customer onboarding workflows, and maintaining KPI dashboards that track program health.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Enterprise Technology leadership and compliance teams to analyze and document requirements for IT and security initiatives supporting the Controlled Research Support Program (CRSP) and CUI compliance.
• Develop and maintain a roadmap of CRSP and CUI compliance/ security activities, ensuring alignment with federal regulations and institutional objectives.
• Track progress and identify risks or gaps, escalating issues and recommending solutions to leadership when needed.
• Build and maintain KPI dashboards, success metrics, and compliance reports (e.g., Power BI, Excel, Smartsheet) that provide leadership and stakeholders with real-time visibility into CRSP milestones and CUI compliance status.
• Support the preparation of executive-level briefings, business cases, audit documentation (e.g., POA&Ms, SSPs, and TCPs), financials, and governance materials.
• Serve as backup to the Senior Project Manager on CRSP-related projects, maintaining project schedules, status reports, action logs, and risk registers when needed.
• Facilitate coordination across technical and business teams to ensure consistent handling of CRSP and CUI requirements.
• Document interdependencies between compliance workstreams and ensure they are clearly communicated and managed.
• Act as a central point of contact for requirements, project updates, and compliance-related documentation.
• Communicate complex technical and compliance concepts clearly, in writing and verbally, to both technical and non-technical audiences — including researchers, faculty, and staff — adapting style and detail for executives, staff, and external partners.
• Collaborate with research leadership, sponsored projects staff, and information security teams to gather business needs and translate them into actionable technical requirements.
• Support Enterprise Technology leadership in resource alignment.
• Draft and deliver status updates, briefings, and presentations to leadership and governance committees, including the CRSP Director and Deputy Director.
• Coordinate with external auditors, vendors, and Federal partners to ensure requirements and reporting needs are met.
• Analyze workflows and define, document, and write new business processes and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to strengthen CRSP/CUI compliance, efficiency, and cross-team collaboration.
• Document business processes and share best practices to ensure consistent application across workstreams.
• Assist with technical customer onboarding workflows for CRSP research customers — including onboarding documentation and coordination with the Senior Secure Research Systems Engineer and CRSP Support Technician — helping ensure a smooth, compliant onboarding experience.
• Maintain documentation repositories (SOPs, process maps, onboarding guides) to ensure continuity and knowledge transfer.

Requirements

• Must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis for any employer without sponsorship.
• This position requires you to maintain internet service and a mobile phone with voice and data plans to be used when required for work.
• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience as a business analyst, systems analyst, or in a similar role supporting IT or compliance initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex business processes, gather requirements, and translate them into technical or compliance solutions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to present and explain technical and compliance topics clearly to executives, technical teams, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills, with the ability to work effectively across technical and non-technical teams.
• Proficiency with business analysis and project tools (e.g., process mapping, requirements documentation, JIRA, Confluence, or similar).
• Experience building and maintaining KPI dashboards and status reporting tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, Excel, or Smartsheet).
• Demonstrated experience creating business cases and managing financials.
• U.S. Citizen, resident, or officially recognized asylee - Applicant selected will be subject to government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information at the level appropriate to the project requirements of the position.
• Equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
• Experience working in a research university, government contracting, or defense-related environment.
• Familiarity with change management and compliance audit processes.
• Experience supporting or backing up a Senior Project Manager on IT or compliance projects; PMP, CAPM, or similar project management training a plus.
• Experience assisting with technical customer onboarding, training programs, or new-hire orientation for technical or compliance teams.
• Familiarity with NIST SP 800-171 and/or CMMC compliance frameworks.

Skills

Required

• Business analysis
• Requirements gathering
• Process mapping
• Technical writing
• Verbal communication
• Presentation skills
• Organizational skills
• Analytical skills
• JIRA
• Confluence
• Power BI
• Tableau

Preferred

• Change management
• Compliance audit
• PMP
• CAPM
• NIST SP 800-171
• CMMC

Benefits

• The University of Texas at Austin and Enterprise Technology provide an outstanding benefits package to our staff. Those benefits include:
• Competitive health benefits (Full-Time Employee premiums covered at 100%, family premiums at 50%)
• Vision, Dental, Life, and Disability insurance options
• Paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Teachers Retirement System of Texas (a defined benefit retirement plan)
• Additional Voluntary Retirement Programs: Tax Sheltered Annuity 403(b) and a Deferred Compensation program 457(b)
• Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses
• Training and conference opportunities
• Tuition assistance
• Athletic ticket discounts
• Access to UT Austin's libraries and museums
• Free rides on all UT Shuttle and Capital metro buses with staff ID card
• For more details, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards
• Salary Range
• $85,000 + depending on qualifications