Business Specialist

DEPARTMENT OF CHILD SAFETY

The Arizona Department of child Safety (DCS) is a social and human services agency whose mission is to successfully partner with families, caregivers, and the community to strengthen families, ensure safety, and achieve permanency for all Arizona’s children through prevention, services, and support.

Business Specialist

Job Location:

TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
3003 N Central Ave Phoenix, AZ 85012

Posting Details:

Salary: $32.7885 HRLY/$68,200.08 Salary 

Grade: 23

Closing Date: July 21, 2025

Job Summary:

The Business Specialist (BS) at the Arizona Department of Child Safety plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between business owners and developers. They elicit requirements for user stories, document them in Azure DevOps (ADO), and oversee the life-cycle of data products. Using agile methodologies and design thinking techniques. Business Specialists generate actionable insights that drive strategic business decisions and add significant value to the organization. They liaise with stakeholders, define business requirements, and ensure compliance with data governance practices and regulations, all while aligning data products with the information governance and data management strategy.

This position may offer the ability to work remotely, within Arizona, based upon the department's business needs and continual meeting of expected performance measures.

The State of Arizona strives for a work culture that affords employees flexibility, autonomy, and trust. Across our many agencies, boards, and commissions, many State employees participate in the State’s Remote Work Program and are able to work remotely in their homes, in offices, and in hoteling spaces. All work, including remote work, should be performed within Arizona unless an exception is properly authorized in advance.

Job Duties:

• Work closely with developers to create data products. Use agile methodologies and design thinking techniques to design and develop Business Intelligence (BI) solutions that provide actionable insights. Translate requirements into technical specifications.
  
• Collaborates with business stakeholders to gather user stories and understand the organization’s needs. Conduct interviews, workshops, and requirements sessions to elicit clear and comprehensive requirements for data products.
  
• Bridge the gap between business owners and developers, facilitate effective communication. Ensure that both parties understand requirements, priorities, and constraints. Act as a conduit for collaboration.
  
• Help business stakeholders define measurable value from data products. Work with business owners to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensure that data solutions align with strategic goals. Play a critical role in ensuring compliance with data governance practices and regulations. Document processes, maintain user manuals, and track changes to data products.
  
• Other duties as assigned as related to the position.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (KSAs):

Knowledge of:

• Relevant federal regulations related to child safety and data privacy
  
• Human Centered Design
  
• Data warehousing concepts and ETL processes
  
• Statistical analysis and predictive modeling techniques
  
• Industry best practices in data governance and security
  
• Agile methodologies and iterative development
  
• Child welfare policies and practices
  
• Data modeling techniques (e.g., ERD, dimensional modeling)
• Data integration and data transformation processes

Skills in:

• SQL and data querying languages
  
• Data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau)
  
• Identifying trends and patterns
  
• Python or R for data manipulation and analysis
  
• Cloud-based data platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS)
  
• Data profiling and data quality assessment
  
• Project management and prioritization

Ability to:

• Collaborate in cross-functional teams
  
• Analyze complex data sets and derive meaningful insights
  
• Translate business requirements into technical specifications
  
• Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
  
• Adapt to changing requirements and business needs
  
• Problem-solving and troubleshooting
  
• Innate curiosity and a continuous learning mindset

Selective Preference(s):

A Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university related to Business Analysis, Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Management

Pre-Employment Requirements:

If this position requires driving or the use of a vehicle as an essential function of the job, then the following requirements apply. Any employee operating a motor vehicle on State business must possess and retain a current, valid class-appropriate driver’s license, complete all required training, and successfully pass all necessary driver’s license record checks. The license must be current, unexpired, and neither revoked nor suspended. Employees who drive on state business are subject to driver’s license record checks, must maintain acceptable driving records, and must complete all required driver training. An employee who operates a personally owned vehicle on state business shall maintain the statutorily required liability insurance (see Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) R2-10-207.11)

The ability to secure and maintain an Arizona Fingerprint Clearance Card and the ability to secure and maintain clearance from the DCS Central Registry.

This position requires driving or the use of a vehicle as an essential function of the job to conduct State business, then the following requirements apply: Driver’s License Requirements.

All newly hired State employees are subject to and must successfully complete the Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify).

Benefits:

The State of Arizona provides an excellent comprehensive benefits package including:

• Affordable medical, dental, life, and short-term disability insurance plans
  
• Top-ranked retirement and long-term disability plans
  
• 10 paid holidays per year
  
• Vacation time accrued at 4.00 hours bi-weekly for the first 3 years
  
• Sick time accrued at 3.70 hours bi-weekly
  
• Deferred compensation plan
  
• Wellness plans
  

By providing the option of a full-time or part-time remote work schedule, employees enjoy improved work/life balance, report higher job satisfaction, and are more productive. Remote work is a management option and not an employee entitlement or right. An agency may terminate a remote work agreement at its discretion.

Learn more about the Paid Parental Leave pilot program here. For a complete list of benefits provided by The State of Arizona, please visit our benefits page

Retirement:

Positions in this classification participate in the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS). Enrollment eligibility will become effective after 27 weeks of employment.

Contact Us:

Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation such as a sign language interpreter or an alternative format by contacting 602-255-3141 or by email at ADA@AZDCS.GOV.   Requests should be made as early as possible to allow time to arrange the accommodation.  Should you have any further questions regarding the interview process you can reach out to a member of our recruitment team at 602-255-2903 or by email at recruiting@azdcs.gov.  The State of Arizona is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer.