Business Analyst in Missoula, Montana at Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) is a mission-driven non-profit dedicated to ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat and our hunting heritage. Since our founding in 1984, we have helped conserve nearly one square mile of elk country every day. In partnership with others, we have conserved or enhanced more than 9.2 million acres, including improving public access to more than 1.6 million acres. Our impact will extend to 10 million acres by 2030.

Building on this momentum, RMEF is seeking a Business Analyst as the primary liaison between business stakeholders and the IT team, responsible for gathering and documenting requirements, defining business rules, and driving projects from requirements through delivery. The Business Analyst leads cross-functional projects involving multiple teams and vendors, manages project timelines and deliverables, and coordinates stakeholder communication throughout the project lifecycle. This role requires comfort working in technical environments, including the use of AI tools to accelerate analysis, documentation, and project delivery.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Requirements gathering and documentation
• Project leadership and delivery
• Stakeholder communication and process improvement
• Testing and quality assurance

Location:

RMEF’s Business Analyst position is based at RMEF’s Headquarters office in Missoula, Montana fulltime.

Qualifications include:

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, information systems, computer science, or a related field or equivalent professional experience
• Three years of practical experience as a business analyst, systems analyst, or similar role, with demonstrated experience gathering requirements, documenting business processes, and leading projects in a cross-functional environment
• Two years of practical experience using AI tools and technologies to support analysis, documentation, process improvement, or project delivery
• Demonstrated proactive approach to adopting emerging technologies
• Working knowledge of ERP systems (NetSuite preferred)
• Experience coordinating with external vendors on project-based work

Essential Functions

1. Requirements Gathering & Documentation

• Conduct stakeholder interviews across departments to capture business requirements and understand existing business processes for system changes, integrations, and new initiatives.
• Translate business needs into clearly defined requirements documents, user stories, and acceptance criteria that the development team and systems analyst can execute against.
• Document current-state and future-state business processes across departments, identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement that drive technical requirements.
• Define and maintain business rules that govern system behavior across EMS, NetSuite, and other organizational platforms.
• Leverage AI tools and technologies to accelerate requirements analysis, documentation, and process mapping.

2. Project Leadership & Delivery

• Lead cross-functional projects from initiation through delivery, building project plans, tracking milestones, managing dependencies, and surfacing risks to IT leadership.
• Coordinate work across internal teams and external vendors to drive projects to defined outcomes on schedule and within scope.
• Own project status reporting to IT leadership and business stakeholders, providing clear updates, risks, and blockers to drive timely decisions.
• Lead and facilitate project meetings, requirements sessions, and cross-functional working sessions, ensuring clear agendas, documented outcomes, and accountability for follow-up actions.
• Drive accountability for deliverables across teams and vendors, escalating blockers and decisions to appropriate stakeholders and leadership.

3. Stakeholder Communication & Process Improvement

• Serve as the communication bridge between business teams and the IT team, ensuring mutual understanding of priorities, risks, and constraints.
• Analyze existing business processes to identify inefficiencies and automation opportunities — including the application of AI tools — partnering with the systems analyst and development team to implement improvements.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures for business processes that interface with IT systems.
• Support the evaluation of new software tools and platforms by gathering business requirements and assessing vendor solutions against organizational needs. Testing & Quality Assurance

4. Testing & Quality Assurance

• Develop and execute User Acceptance Testing (UAT) plans to validate that delivered solutions meet documented requirements and stakeholder expectations.
• Coordinate testing activities with business stakeholders, documenting results, defects, and resolution paths.
• Verify that system changes, integrations, and data migrations produce expected outcomes before production deployment.

Supervision of Others

This position does not have supervisory responsibilities.

Additional Responsibilities

Perform other work as required.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

1. Thorough knowledge and support of the RMEF’s mission, goals, organizational structure, and activities.
2. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including proficiency in English spelling and grammar.
3. Ability to elicit, analyze, and document business requirements from stakeholders with varying levels of technical fluency.
4. Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional projects and drive accountability without direct reporting authority.
5. Sufficient technical fluency to engage meaningfully with technical teams, evaluate technical approaches, and translate technical status into business terms. Must be comfortable navigating ERP systems, reviewing data flows, and understanding system integration concepts.
6. Working knowledge of CRM and ERP systems, particularly NetSuite ERP.
7. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to decompose complex business problems into actionable plans.
8. Experience managing external vendor relationships in a project context, including scope management and deliverable tracking.
9. Must be self-motivated, resourceful, and organized, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent projects.
10. Demonstrated willingness and ability to quickly learn and adopt new technologies, tools, and platforms.
11. Strong customer service skills with a team-oriented mindset.
12. Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and project management tools (e.g., Freshdesk, Azure DevOps, Wrike).
13. Ability to work independently while effectively collaborating with end users, IT teams, and external vendors.
14. Flexibility to adapt to shifting priorities in a dynamic environment.

Physical Demands

Ability to sit for extended periods while performing desk-based tasks. Constant use of office equipment, including telephones, computers, and other related tools. Occasional light lifting (up to 20 pounds). Flexibility to work evenings and weekends as needed to support project deadlines.