Product Business Analyst, Marketing and Engagement

Product Business Analyst

Department: Information Systems

Reports to: Manager DevOps Marketing Cloud/Engagement

FLSA Status: Exempt

The anticipated salary for this position starts at $76900 for the Analyst role. The final pay will be determined based on several factors including qualifications experience education and years within the job or industry with a strong emphasis on maintaining internal equity.

Who we are and what were about:

KU Endowment is an independent nonprofit organization and the official fundraising foundation for the University of Kansas. We partner with donors in providing philanthropic support to build a greater KU.

As an employee of KU Endowment youll witness firsthand the power of our donors generosity. You will join a talented and fun group of people who are inspired to help KU through the support of loyal alumni and friends. This support fuels excellence enabling students and faculty to develop innovative programs and research that distinguish the university. We connect the philanthropic passions of donors with the needs of students faculty and programs and everyone benefits.

People are engaged. Purpose is ignited. Lives are changed.

What we are looking for:

As KU Endowment continues to stabilize and optimize its advancement technology ecosystem the Product Business Analyst Marketing and Engagement position plays a critical role in translating advancement engagement priorities into clearly defined actionable system development requirements across KU Endowments outreach platforms. An effective Business Analyst ensures stabilization and roadmap initiatives are rapidly scoped prioritized and documented so the product and engineering teams can deliver solutions that improve fundraising operations.

This role will focus on engagement platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud and additional messaging tools that power donor and alumni outreach. The position also plays an important role in supporting scalable audience operations and engagement architecture across enterprise outreach systems.

A successful Business Analyst will partner closely with advancement stakeholders to translate operational challenges into clearly defined user stories and acceptance criteria to populate a backlog that enables faster delivery and reduced rework.

The preferred Business Analyst candidate should bring advancement domain knowledge into daily collaboration with IS and the product team ensuring roadmap initiatives are shaped by engagement best practices and aligned with the evolving strategic plan at KU Endowment.

Reporting to the Manager DevOps Marketing Cloud/Engagement this role ensures roadmap initiatives supporting alumni and donor communications segmentation and campaign operations are well-scoped and aligned with fundraising and engagement goals. This position partners closely with BrandComm Donor Engagement and other advancement services teams to translate outreach needs into scalable platform capabilities.

The individual in this position is expected to embrace KU Endowments stated core values collaboration curiosity empowerment and excellence and demonstrate support for them through professional interactions and activities.

Hybrid Work Environment:
Following the initial training period this position offers a hybrid work schedule with the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. However the role requires multiple days per week on-site at our Lawrence KS office to ensure effective collaboration team engagement and alignment with organizational goals.

Whats a typical day look like

Collaborate with advancement stakeholders across the university ecosystem to gather and document requirements related to donor and alumni communications audience segmentation engagement journeys and outreach operations.

Support the campaign and journey development lifecycle by translating outreach plans into documented requirements audience logic and system workflows.

Support audience data design segmentation strategy and campaign workflow development within enterprise engagement systems.

Work closely with the product and engineering teams to translate requirements into prioritized backlog items ensuring roadmap initiatives are well-defined and aligned with strategic advancement objectives.

Translate business needs into functional specifications and wireframes that communicate clear expectations to technical and non-technical team members.

Conduct process analysis and workflow mapping to identify opportunities for system improvements automation or standardization across advancement operations.

Support system testing and validation including execution of user acceptance testing (UAT) and documentation of results to ensure solutions meet defined acceptance criteria.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g. CRM advancement services analytics and marketing operations) to ensure engagement platforms integrate effectively with ecosystem platforms.

Provide tools and documentation to assist in training and onboarding efforts for new system features reports or tools.

Monitor performance of deployed solutions and recommend iterative improvements based on feedback performance metrics and evolving business needs.

Regular and reliable attendance is essential for this position.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Whats required to be considered:

Bachelors degree in Business Information Systems Project Management or related field (or equivalent professional experience).

3 years of business analysis experience supporting product program or technology teams preferably in fundraising CRM or higher education.

Demonstrated experience eliciting requirements and writing user stories and acceptance criteria.

Strong proficiency with documentation tools (e.g. Word SnagIt Microsoft Office Suite).

Excellent analytical and communication skills including presenting technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Experience:

Working knowledge of agile methodologies (Scrum Kanban).

Prior experience in nonprofit advancement or within a complex development ecosystem.

Experience working with marketing automation or engagement platforms such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud HubSpot Marketo or similar tools.

Familiarity with audience segmentation campaign workflows and marketing audience data structures.

Experience using Jira or similar product management tools to document requirements manage backlogs and support agile development workflows.

What separates the best from the rest

Capable of interpreting complex business processes and translating them into clear functional requirements and acceptance criteria.

Understands engagement platform concepts such as audience segmentation journey orchestration campaign automation and message personalization.

Skilled at asking probing questions that clarify the why behind needs and uncovering assumptions.

Effective in leading discussions with business users and technical partners.

Communicates complex ideas clearly in both written and verbal formats to diverse audiences.

Understands agile principles and the flow of user stories sprint planning and backlog refinement.

Works collaboratively with the Product Owner to surface prioritize and detail user stories.

Sees patterns identifies root causes and proposes solutions that balance stakeholder needs with technical feasibility.

Thrives in iterative environments where requirements evolve with feedback and learning.

Ability to establish and maintain professional and effective working relationships inside and outside KU Endowment.

Ability to adapt to new procedures and technology.

Physical Requirements:

A valid drivers license.

Must have access to reliable transportation to travel between multiple locations for training and/or work-related activities.

Must be able to respond quickly and effectively to directions and safety hazards.

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office productivity machinery such as computers keyboards and a mouse laptops phones photocopiers filing cabinets and fax machines.

This is largely a sedentary role; however some filing is required. This would require the ability to move files open filing cabinets and bend or stand as necessary.

The ability to observe details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Must be able to communicate with others effectively.

Physical effort/lifting such as sedentary- up to 10 pounds

Travel requirements are rare and can include the following evenings weekends and out-of-town overnights as a regular part of the job.

KU Endowment is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals to enable them to perform the essential functions of the job as regulated by ADA. If you require accommodation for any part of the application process or during employment please contact to discuss your needs.

Weve got you covered:

KU Endowment offers a competitive salary with an excellent benefit package including:

100% employer-paid pension plan

Health dental and vision insurance

401(k) and Roth 401(k) matching program

Section 125 flexible benefits

Generous paid leave including holidays personal and sick leave

Volunteer and community engagement opportunities

Paid Parental Leave

Life AD&D short- and long-term disability insurance

Legal & ID Theft Protection

Critical Illness

Accident and Hospital Indemnity insurance

KU education assistance

Free parking

Sounds good right Whats next

Please include your resume and cover letter when applying for this position on our website at regarding this vacancy may be addressed to:

Human Resources
KU Endowment
PO Box 928
Lawrence KS 66044-0928
Email:

Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. Because of the sensitive nature of KU Endowment business and the importance of our reputation with donors KU Endowment conducts a comprehensive review of applicants. By submitting your application you authorize us to conduct reference checks and a review of available public information. Employment is contingent upon background and reference checks that KU Endowment finds acceptable.