TOPS-DCFS-Senior Business Data Analyst

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is seeking a Senior Business Data Analyst to support a Data & Analytics initiative focused on improving outcomes in child protection and child welfare. The role translates business requirements into data solutions, designs analytics products and Power BI dashboards, supports data governance and quality, and collaborates with stakeholders across business, IT, and analytics teams.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the end-to-end requirements gathering process by engaging stakeholders across child welfare operations, D&A teams, and IT departments
• Translate non-technical business needs into detailed, technical reporting requirements, ensuring alignment with data platform capabilities
• Facilitate workshops, interviews, and collaborative sessions to capture objectives, pain points, and performance indicators from various business units
• Create comprehensive business requirement documents (BRDs), user stories, and acceptance criteria to support product and analytics development
• Design & support development of conceptual and logical data models to support diagnostic, descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics use cases
• Collaborate with data engineers, data scientists, and BI developers to design, build, and validate data pipelines, dashboards, and models
• Identify opportunities for automation, optimization, and reuse of data assets across programs and initiatives
• Design and deliver engaging, visually intuitive dashboards using Microsoft Power BI, integrating narrative storytelling to enhance stakeholder understanding and actionability
• Present complex data insights to business and executive audiences, tailoring communication to varying levels of data literacy
• Foster a culture of data-driven decision-making by promoting best practices in data visualization and usage
• Support data governance practices including data quality assessments, data stewardship, and metadata documentation
• Participate in the implementation of Master Data Management (MDM) and data integrity protocols to ensure consistent and reliable data usage
• Assist in maintaining compliance with data privacy and security policies, particularly in handling sensitive child welfare data
• Act as a trusted advisor to internal and external stakeholders, including program managers, policy analysts, IT teams, and service providers
• Work closely with solution architects and developers to ensure technical feasibility and operational alignment of data solutions
• Champion continuous improvement by proactively identifying gaps, proposing innovative solutions, and monitoring product performance analytics

Requirements:

• The candidate must demonstrate advanced proficiency in soft skills and possess advanced-level expertise with proven hands-on experience in relevant technical domains
• Communication Excellence: Articulate complex technical and analytical concepts clearly across both technical and non-technical audiences
• Facilitation Mastery: Lead productive working sessions, brainstorming activities, and cross-functional collaboration meetings with clarity and structure
• Creative & Strategic Thinking: Frame innovative approaches to data challenges, enabling the co-creation of high-value analytics products
• Collaboration & Teamwork: Engage collaboratively with diverse teams to promote mutual understanding, shared ownership, and cohesive delivery
• Relationship Building: Develop and sustain trust-based relationships with key stakeholders and partners, demonstrating emotional intelligence and adaptability
• Narrative Storytelling: Construct coherent storylines that link analytical findings to actionable business strategies and policy improvements
• Influence & Advocacy: Effectively advocate for data-driven solutions, securing buy-in from decision-makers and overcoming organizational inertia
• Presentation Skills: Confidently deliver executive-level presentations, leveraging visual aids and data summaries to communicate impact and value
• Analytical Elicitation: Skillfully extract business intelligence needs through targeted inquiry, translating them into structured and measurable data deliverables
• Candidates must possess advanced-level knowledge and hands-on experience in the following areas:
• Data Visualization & BI Tools: Expertise in Microsoft Power BI with ability to develop interactive, scalable dashboards and analytics reports
• SQL & Data Querying: Strong proficiency in SQL for querying, joining, and aggregating large datasets across relational databases
• Data Modeling & Management: Familiarity with data integration tools (ETL), metadata frameworks, and enterprise data management practices
• Data Architecture Concepts: Understanding of architecture such as Data Warehouses, Data Lakes, and Data Hubs, and their respective use cases
• Data Structures: Ability to work with structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data across multiple source systems
• Advanced Analytics & AI: Exposure to or understanding of machine learning, natural language processing, and graph analytics techniques
• Data Governance: Knowledge of Master Data Management (MDM), data quality frameworks, and data stewardship responsibilities
• Excel Expertise: Advanced Excel capabilities for data manipulation, validation, and supplementary visualization
• Bachelor's or master's degree in data Analytics, Computer Science, Information Systems, Public Administration, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field
• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience as a Business Data Analyst or similar role within enterprise or government settings
• Demonstrated success in delivering data-driven solutions that support organizational or public service goals
• Strongly Preferred: Direct experience or comprehensive knowledge of Child Protection and Child Welfare policies, programs, and operational procedures
• Familiarity with public sector agencies, human services workflows, and legislative compliance requirements is highly desirable
• Prior work with data in highly regulated industry or complex case management settings, including healthcare, will be considered a significant asset