Lead Business Analyst - 90169380 - Washington

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As we move America’s workforce toward the future, Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the country. We employ more than 20,000 diverse, energetic professionals in a variety of career fields throughout the United States. The safety of our passengers, our employees, the public and our operating environment is our priority, and the success of our railroad is due to our employees.

Are you ready to join our team?

Our values of ‘Do the Right Thing, Excel Together and Put Customers First’ are at the heart of what matters most to us, and our Core Capabilities, ‘Building Trust, Accountability, Effective Communication, Customer Focus, and Proactive Safety & Security’ are what every employee needs to know and do to be most impactful at Amtrak. By living the Amtrak values, focusing on our capabilities, and actively embracing and fostering diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives, together we will honor our past and make Amtrak a company of the future.

SUMMARY OF DUTIES:

The Lead Business Analyst provides eTicketing Mobile Device (eMD) support to conductors, bus drivers, station staff, onboard service employees, and their managers located at 50 conductor and OBS crew bases and dozens of Thruway and station locations spread across the U.S. and Canada. This work entails providing eMD hardware and application deployment, upgrade, testing, maintenance and troubleshooting support, ensuring that the devices are inventoried and tracked, and providing operational support to end users.  It also requires analyzing data associated with or generated through these devices to ensure user compliance with federally mandated rules governing the use of these devices and to identity and help resolve user performance issues with revenue-collection, delay-reporting, and customer-service implications. The eTicketing Mobile Device is a locked-down version of a centrally managed smart phone enclosed in a scanner hosting a suite of in-house and third-party applications used on all Amtrak trains and most Thruway buses every day around the clock year-round. 
 
The Lead Business Analyst reviews conductor reporting data to ensure all electronic delay reports (eDR’s) are received each day, manages corrections to published delay reports disputed by Host Railroads, and identify issues with conductor compliance with service standards guidelines as part of a continuous improvement program.

The position also analyzes conductor performance with respect to revenue ticket collection and onboard manifest accuracy and completeness, identifying trains where conductor performance strays from the norm with potential revenue and operational safety implications. By identifying tickets that went uncollected by conductors or were accepted against tariff rules and likely resulted in dilution of revenue and providing trainmasters with timely notification of issues, an effective follow-up with the conductor can be arranged while details of the issue are still fresh.

The position identifies potential system performance issues that impact the manual burden placed on conductors, such as unreliable or inaccurate automated train sightings, and works with technical departments to correct these deficiencies.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• The Lead Business Analyst has responsibility for eMD operational support.  A key function is to ensure completeness and accuracy of Amtrak’s official On-Time Reporting (OTP) data and manage procedures for handling omissions and corrections to that data.
• Responsibilities also include detecting conductor practices that contribute to revenue dilution and manifest inaccuracies and working with trainmasters to implement corrective action plans to address performance issues. Specific functions include the following:

Operational Management:

• Analyze ticket scanning, delay reporting and mechanical defect reporting to detect anomalies in onboard performance on a daily basis.
• Support investigation of host railroad disputes of minutes of delay attributed to the host by Amtrak’s delay reports.
• Monitor and determine conductor compliance with Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) rules and restrictions governing the use of the conductor eMD’s.
• Analyze onboard manifest data for accuracy and completeness on a regular basis.
• Develop and maintain a national communications framework with conductors’ supervisory management to assign action items for trainmasters to follow up on non-compliances, and track response to those action items.

eMD Product Support

• Analyze eMD user needs and help translate them into system requirements and eMD support procedures.
• Serve as alpha (user-acceptance) testers for all eMD enhancements.
• Provide eMD subject-matter expertise to eMD stakeholders (end users, Information Technology, Marketing, Mechanical, Finance, CNOC, Oakland Operations, trainmasters, road foremen, crew base support staff, eMD Support Desk, stations, operations managers).
• Visit various user locations and ride trains to assist eMD users, to evaluate product use, and to help deploy new versions of the hosted apps and new models of the eMD hardware. 
• Provide tier 2 and tier 3 support to eMD users in response to support calls.
• Create and update eMD training material and deliver eMD training when requested.

Continuous Improvement Program:

• Identify commonly occurring compliance issues and develop communication and training materials to correct problems where the root cause is human error.
• Identify system performance deficiencies that are preventing performance objectives from being achieved and manage a technical improvement program with IT to correct such issues. 

Reporting

• Provide technical and analytic leadership in support of eMD user performance measurement, including:
• The design/preparation of reports that highlight conductor and Thruway driver and system performance trends for Amtrak as a whole as well as for specific business lines and crew bases. 
• Develop and distribute conductor performance reports to facilitate trainmaster supervisory interactions with conductors.
• Develop, distribute and monitor aggregated reporting to detect trend changes that would identify more endemic problems, determine root cause of trend changes and develop mitigation plans.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s Degree required OR equivalent combination of training, education and relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• 6 years of relevant experience in one or more of the following areas: Quality control, quality assurance, technical service desk related experience, process documentation and improvement.
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills; ability to develop and maintain excellent working relationships at all organizational levels with internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent analytical skills and the ability to understand Amtrak’s systems and processes. 
• Articulate with excellent listening, oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work with teams in an interactive, consultative manner.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, quantitative field, or equivalent work.
• Demonstrated skills using Microsoft business applications and Business Objects reporting tools.
• Ability to work in a dynamic, fast-paced environment that requires the individual to manage simultaneously several tasks, while paying attention to detail and quality. 
• Background in passenger rail or transportation, with strong analytical skills to improve business processes, increase automation, and resolve issues.
• Development and production of standard and ad-hoc reporting for conductor performance metrics. 
• Extensive analytical experience couple with superior analytical skills-ability to create/track distribution metrics and trends. 
• Extensive experience with creating automated reports and models-linking Excel with database queries. 
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel. 
• Extensive experience with query tools such as Business Objects, SQL. 
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office including Access databases. 
• Ability to make trends and measures understandable to a wide audience.
• Ability to work independently or as part of a team.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 8+ years of relevant experience preferred
• A graduate degree in a related discipline.
• Work experience in the transportation industry.
• Working knowledge of Amtrak databases and systems (Data Warehouse, OTP, eTicketing Data Store-ETDS, DB2, Arrow, WMS). 
• Experience with software project development from a business sponsor perspective, including specification of requirements.
• Expertise in Microsoft Visio and PowerPoint.
• Experience working with an enterprise system.
• Proven ability to develop, communicate, and build consensus around implementing solutions and managing operational activities.
• Excellent business and technical writing skills, including the ability to document process and data flows. 

COMMUNICATIONS AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS:

Must have excellent oral and written communication skills.

The salary/hourly range is $94,300 - $122,256. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, internal equity, etc. Depending on an employee’s assigned worksite or location, Amtrak may consider a geo-pay differential to be applied to the employee’s base salary. Amtrak may offer additional incentive and pay programs to recognize and reward our employees, including a short-term incentive bonus based upon factors such as individual and company performance that is commensurate with the level of the position and/or long-term incentive plan compensation. In addition to your salary, Amtrak offers a comprehensive benefit package that includes health, dental, and vision plans; health savings accounts; wellness programs; flexible spending accounts; 401K retirement plan with employer match; life insurance; short and long term disability insurance; paid time off; back-up care; adoption assistance; surrogacy assistance; reimbursement of education expenses; Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility; Railroad Retirement sickness and retirement benefits; and rail pass privileges. Learn more about our benefits offerings here.

Requisition ID:158454
Posting Location(s):District of Columbia
Job Family/Function:Engineering 
Relocation Offered:No 
Travel Requirements:Up to 25% 

Amtrak employees power our progress through their performance.
 

We want your work at Amtrak to be more than a job – we want it to be a fulfilling experience where you find challenging and rewarding opportunities, respect among colleagues, competitive pay, benefits that protect you and your family and a high performance culture that recognizes and values your contributions and helps you reach your career goals.

All positions require pre-employment background check verification, a pre-employment drug screen and proof of full vaccination against COVID -19. Amtrak is committed to a safe workplace free of drugs and alcohol and performs pre-employment substance abuse testing. Marijuana, notwithstanding any statute, ordinance, regulation, or other law that legalizes or decriminalizes the use or possession of marijuana, whether for medical, recreational, or other use.  Candidates who engage in the usage of marijuana will not be qualified for hire.   Successful applicants for employment with Amtrak must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the date of hire as a condition of employment, subject to requests for accommodation.  Fully vaccinated means 14 days have elapsed since receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or 14 days since receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In accordance with DOT regulations (49 CFR § 40.25), Amtrak is required to obtain prior drug and alcohol testing records for applicants/employees intending to perform safety-sensitive duties for covered Department of Transportation positions. If an applicant/employee refuses to provide written consent for Amtrak to obtain these records, the individual will not be permitted to perform safety-sensitive functions.

In accordance with federal law governing security checks of covered individuals for public transportation ( Title 6 U.S.C. § 1143), Amtrak is required to screen applicants for any permanent or interim disqualifying criminal offenses.

Note that any education requirement listed above may be deemed satisfied if you have an equivalent combination of education, training and experience.

Amtrak is an EOE/Affirmative Action Minority/Female employer, and we welcome all to apply. We consider candidates regardless of race/color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions), national origin/ethnicity, age, disability (intellectual, mental and physical), veteran status, marital status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, genetic information, citizenship or any other personal characteristics protected by law.

POSTING NOTES: Engineering || Engineering & Mechanical