About the Milken Institute
The Milken Institute is a globally minded, publicly supported, non-partisan, and nonprofit think tank headquartered in Santa Monica, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. For the past three decades, the Milken Institute has served as a catalyst for practical, scalable solutions to global challenges by connecting human, financial, and educational resources to those who need them. Guided by a conviction that the best ideas, under-resourced, cannot succeed, we conduct research and analysis and convene top experts, innovators, and influencers from different backgrounds and competing viewpoints. We leverage this expertise and insight to construct programs and policy initiatives. These activities are designed to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities.
The Milken Institute’s events and programmatic activities, involve the exchange of ideas with leaders from around the world. The Institute hosts more than 200 events each year, with our annual flagship event, Global Conference, bringing together 4,500+ participants from around the world, featuring more than 900+ speakers throughout 200+ sessions over the course of the event.
About The Position
The Milken Institute is seeking a highly organized, analytical, and detail-oriented Senior Associate, Business Analyst to join the Project and Portfolio Management Office (PPMO) within the Technology Department. This role reports to the Product Manager, CRM & Data Analytics and supports the delivery, enhancement, and ongoing optimization of enterprise technology solutions, with a primary focus on Salesforce and related data analytics platforms.
The Business Analyst serves as a liaison between business stakeholders and technical teams, translating business needs into clear, actionable requirements and supporting the delivery of technology solutions that align with the Institute's operational objectives.
This is a hands-on role that combines business analysis, project coordination, and Agile delivery support. The Senior Associate will independently coordinate enhancement requests, to serve our operations teams, while supporting larger CRM and data analytics initiatives under the direction of the Product Manager.
Key responsibilities include gathering and documenting business requirements, developing process maps and functional specifications, creating test cases and coordinating user acceptance testing, maintaining Jira boards and facilitating Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning and backlog refinement.
Working closely with the Product Manager, business stakeholders, internal Technology teams, and external vendors, the Business Analyst will help ensure that requirements are clearly defined, work is appropriately tracked, and delivered solutions meet agreed-upon business needs.
The ideal candidate is highly organized, proactive, and analytical, with strong communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills. The successful candidate will be comfortable managing multiple assignments, facilitating discussions, translating technical information into accessible language for both technical and non-technical audiences, and following work through to completion.
The Senior Associate will collaborate with colleagues across Business Development, Events, Marketing, Operations, Programming, and other departments throughout the Institute.
What Success Looks Like
Success in this role means that smaller technology enhancement requests are managed efficiently from intake through delivery; business requirements are accurately documented and translated into actionable technical specifications; and stakeholders receive clear, timely communication regarding progress, risks, and next steps.
The successful Business Analyst will maintain organized and accurate Jira boards, facilitate effective Agile ceremonies, support sprint execution, and ensure that system enhancements are validated against documented requirements through structured testing and business acceptance.
Over time, the Senior Associate will develop a deeper understanding of the Institute's Salesforce ecosystem, business processes, data structures, and enterprise technology standards. As their skills grow, they will take on increasingly complex enhancements, contribute recommendations for process improvements, and strengthen the efficiency and consistency of CRM and data analytics delivery.
Responsibilities
- Business Analysis and Requirements Management: Partner with business stakeholders to gather, analyze, document, and validate business requirements for CRM, data analytics, and related enterprise technology initiatives. Translate business needs into user stories, acceptance criteria, functional specifications, and process maps that can be understood by technical and non-technical audiences.
- Enhancement Request Management: Independently coordinate technology enhancement requests, primarily supporting Business Development and Events. Manage assigned requests from requirements gathering through implementation, testing, and business acceptance, including tracking scope, timelines, dependencies, risks, and stakeholder communications. Escalate changes or issues requiring Product Manager review.
- Agile and Scrum Facilitation: Serve as Scrum Master for assigned initiatives, facilitating sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and other Agile ceremonies. Support the Product Manager in maintaining an organized, prioritized, and actionable product backlog.
- Jira and Project Documentation: Maintain Jira boards, user stories, sprint assignments, task statuses, and delivery documentation. Ensure that requirements, acceptance criteria, dependencies, and progress updates are accurately reflected in Jira and Confluence in accordance with Technology PPMO standards.
- Business Process Analysis and Documentation: Analyze existing business processes and system workflows, identify inefficiencies or gaps, and document current-state and future-state processes. Translate business requirements into process maps, workflow diagrams, and system specifications to support technical solution design and implementation.
- Testing and Quality Assurance: Develop test cases and test scenarios based on documented requirements and acceptance criteria. Coordinate user acceptance testing, track defects and remediation, validate delivered functionality, and support business acceptance prior to deployment or project closure.
- Salesforce and CRM Support: Support enhancements, configurations, integrations, and business process improvements within the Salesforce ecosystem. Collaborate with internal technical resources and external vendors to clarify requirements, evaluate functionality, and support successful delivery.
- Data Analysis and Reporting: Assist in analyzing business data, identifying data quality issues, documenting reporting requirements, and supporting data analytics initiatives. Translate technical findings and system information into clear, user-friendly documentation, reports, and recommendations.
- Stakeholder Communication and Coordination: Serve as a point of contact for assigned enhancement requests, facilitating discussions between business users, the Product Manager, technical teams, and external vendors. Communicate progress, risks, decisions, and next steps clearly and professionally.
- Project Planning, Risk, and Change Management: Support project planning and scheduling, scope management, resource coordination, risk and issue tracking, and change management activities for assigned initiatives. Escalate scope changes, resource constraints, and material risks to the Product Manager in a timely manner.
- Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve business processes, requirements documentation, Agile practices, system usability, and technology delivery workflows. Contribute recommendations that strengthen the effectiveness of the Technology PPMO and the Institute's enterprise applications.
- Duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- Education and Experience: Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Computer Science, Technology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience, along with approximately 3–5 years of relevant experience in business analysis, technology project coordination, enterprise applications, or Agile software delivery. NOTE: While 3 or more years of experience is preferred, we encourage applications from candidates with more than 2 years of experience who can demonstrate exceptional initiative, drive, sound judgment, and outstanding professional references.
- Business Analysis and Requirements Documentation: Demonstrated experience gathering and analyzing business requirements, developing user stories and acceptance criteria, documenting business processes, and translating business needs into functional and technical specifications.
- Agile and Scrum Methodologies: Working knowledge of Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and Waterfall methodologies, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. Experience facilitating Agile ceremonies or serving in a Scrum Master capacity is preferred.
- Project Management Tools: Proficiency with Jira and Confluence, including managing Jira boards, maintaining backlogs, tracking sprint progress, documenting requirements, and producing project status reports.
- Project Planning and Coordination: Experience coordinating smaller technology initiatives, including developing schedules, tracking deliverables, monitoring scope and risks, coordinating resources, and supporting timely completion of assigned work. Familiarity with project budgeting and cost tracking is a plus.
- Software Development Lifecycle: Understanding of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), including requirements gathering, solution design, development, testing, deployment, and post-implementation support. Familiarity with staging and production environments, version control concepts, and quality assurance processes.
- CRM and Enterprise Applications: Experience working with Salesforce, website development, or comparable enterprise applications is preferred. Familiarity with CRM data structures, business workflows, integrations, and reporting is a plus.
- Testing and Quality Assurance: Experience developing test cases, coordinating user acceptance testing, documenting defects, and validating system functionality against business requirements.
- Communication and Professional Writing: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce clear business documentation, facilitate stakeholder discussions, and translate technical concepts into accessible language for diverse audiences.
- Stakeholder Management and Business Acumen: Demonstrated ability to work effectively with business users, technical teams, and external partners. Strong understanding of how technology solutions support business operations, organizational objectives, and cross-functional processes.
- Organization, Prioritization, and Problem-Solving: Strong organizational and analytical skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, exercise sound judgment, identify risks and dependencies, and proactively resolve or escalate issues.
- Change Management and Operational Awareness: Understanding of organizational change management principles, stakeholder readiness, and the operational impacts of technology changes. Ability to support communications, documentation, and user adoption activities.
- Initiative and Accountability: Demonstrated ownership, attention to detail, responsiveness, and follow-through, with a willingness to learn new technologies, incorporate feedback, and contribute to continuous improvement.
- Organization and Follow-Through: Demonstrated ability to manage multiple requests, set priorities, meet deadlines, communicate status, and reliably follow work through to completion, using tools such as Jira.
- Attention to Detail: Strong attention to detail across written content and visual presentation, including proofreading, formatting, links, imagery, metadata, and consistency with established brand and web standards.
- Communication and Collaboration: Excellent written and verbal communication skills and demonstrated responsiveness when working with colleagues, stakeholders, and cross-functional partners.
- Initiative and Growth Mindset: Willingness to investigate problems, suggest possible solutions, ask thoughtful questions, seek guidance when needed, and incorporate feedback while building skills and taking on greater responsibility over time.
Working Conditions & Travel Requirements
This position will work in a professional office environment on a hybrid schedule consisting of three (3) days per week reporting in-person to your respective office location (Tuesday – Thursday), with the remaining two (2) days working remotely. Please understand, this schedule is subject to change at the Institute’s sole discretion.
This person will also be required to travel occasionally to other offices and/or venues to assist with events as needed, requiring occasional work outside of traditional hours. Domestic travel is possible. Additionally, this position requires interacting virtually on a regular basis with Milken Institute staff based in other locations in the United States and around the world.
Note
The statements herein are intended to describe the overall nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer.
We are interested in qualified candidates who are eligible to work in the United States. Please note, we are not sponsoring visas at this time, being authorized to work in the U.S. is a precondition of employment.
Please submit resume and cover letter illustrating how your experience and skills will contribute to the department and any unique qualities you bring to the position. If applying via Indeed, please upload your resume and any supporting documentation as one attachment. Any application that does not include both a resume and cover letter will be rejected. If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact our Human Resources department to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.
Our Culture
The Milken Institute is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or status as a veteran.
Every person at the Milken Institute is treated with respect, supported with resources and training, and exposed to a broad range of experiences. We foster a space for growth with opportunities to share knowledge and passion with both clients and colleagues. We are committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. Our leadership is actively involved in our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and fostering a culture that creates opportunities for everyone.
Benefits
- Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Plan - 403b (5% match)
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Paid Time Off (Personal, Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
- Family Leave (Maternity & Paternity)
- Fertility Support
- Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
- Flexible Spending Account (FSAs)
- Pet Insurance Discount
- Training & Development:
- LinkedIn Learning – over 15,000 self-guided classes offered
- Annual Mentor Program
- Wellness Resources:
- Employee Assistance Program
- CALM app membership
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