Sr. Business Analyst (Product Owner)

Leidos is a technology leader serving government and commercial customers, and they are seeking a Sr. Business Analyst (Product Owner) to improve delivery predictability for military service programs. The role involves driving clarity in requirements, collaborating with engineering teams, and ensuring that development teams can execute efficiently without delays.

Responsibilities:

• Own the end-to-end requirements lifecycle from intake through sprint readiness
• Translate high-level business needs into well-structured user stories with clear, testable acceptance criteria
• Ensure all backlog items meet Definition of Ready (DoR) prior to sprint planning
• Maintain a prioritized, continuously refined backlog with sufficient “ready” work to support sprint execution
• Enforce a clear distinction between:
• Discovery work (spikes)
• Delivery work (sprint-ready stories)
• Lead and facilitate requirements gathering sessions with stakeholders, SMEs, and technical teams
• Drive structured discussions to uncover:
• Business objectives and outcomes
• Functional requirements
• Data requirements and sources
• System interactions and dependencies
• Ask targeted, probing questions to eliminate ambiguity and surface hidden requirements
• Document and validate requirements with stakeholders to ensure shared understanding and alignment
• Ensure requirements sessions result in actionable, development-ready outputs—not just notes
• Break down complex initiatives into small, incremental, and deliverable user stories
• Identify and document:
• System dependencies (internal/external)
• Data dependencies and availability constraints
• Integration points and sequencing of work
• Proactively identify risks, gaps, and unknowns and address them before sprint commitment
• Determine when work is not sufficiently defined and requires additional discovery or spike activities
• Collaborate closely with engineering teams to:
• Validate feasibility of requirements
• Ensure technical considerations are understood
• Support accurate story sizing
• Develop working knowledge of:
• System architecture and data flows
• APIs and integrations
• Reporting and data structures
• Ensure all technical and data dependencies are clearly documented prior to development
• Lead or actively participate in:
• Backlog refinement sessions
• Sprint planning sessions
• Sprint reviews and retrospectives
• Ensure stories entering sprint planning are:
• Fully understood by the team
• Appropriately sized
• Free of unresolved dependencies
• Partner with Scrum Master and development team to maintain predictable sprint delivery
• Prevent mid-sprint disruption by ensuring clarity and completeness upfront
• Ensure all requirements are testable and verifiable by QA
• Define clear success criteria for each story
• Support validation of delivered functionality against business expectations
• Reduce rework by ensuring requirements are complete and accurate prior to development
• Serve as the primary liaison between:
• Business stakeholders
• Technical teams
• Program leadership
• Manage competing priorities and ensure alignment with program goals
• Communicate clearly and proactively regarding:
• Scope changes
• Risks and dependencies
• Readiness of work

Requirements:

• BS degree and 8 – 12 years of experience in a Product Owner, Product Analyst, and/or Senior Business Analyst role within an Agile environment
• Must have hands-on experience with JIRA and other Agile tools such as Azure DevOps, Confluence, or similar
• Must have experience working with data-driven systems, integrations, or reporting environments
• Proven experience leading requirements gathering sessions and backlog refinement activities
• Experience working directly with software development teams (developers, QA, architects)
• Demonstrated experience ensuring work meets the Definition of Ready prior to sprint execution
• Experience in identifying and managing complex dependencies across systems, data, and teams
• Strong ability to drive structured requirements discussions and extract clarity from ambiguity
• Demonstrated expertise in writing high-quality user stories and acceptance criteria
• Proven ability to decompose complex problems into manageable, incremental work
• Strong facilitation skills with the ability to lead cross-functional workshops and discussions
• High level of ownership and accountability for work readiness and delivery outcomes
• Proactive mindset with a focus on preventing issues before they impact delivery
• Ability to identify and articulate dependencies, risks, and impacts across systems and teams
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, evolving environment
• Experience gathering requirements for Salesforce and Tableau platforms
• .NET architecture, UI/UX design, web design
• Data analyst experience