Example Company
Software engineer
- Location
- San Francisco
- Type
- Full time
- Compensation
- $150k-$200k
- Posted
- 2 days ago
Join a team building useful software. Work closely with engineering and design to turn new ideas into products.
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Business Analyst
- Type
- Full time
- Posted
- 5D AGO
About the role
Job Purpose/Summary
The Business Analyst (BA) supports Knowmadics’ Applied Research group by keeping the work of its hardware and software engineering teams visible, organized, and understood across the organization. Working on-site at the Wichita, KS office as needed and co-located with the engineering team, the BA captures status, questions, constraints, and requirements as they surface, turns them into well-structured Jira work items, translates technical progress into artifacts that internal leadership, government sponsors, and other stakeholders can act on, and conducts market research and competitive analysis as tasked. The BA will initially support the group’s Counter-UAS (CUAS) and Electronic Warfare (EW) efforts, which combine sensors, RF and embedded hardware, edge processing, and software, and is expected to flex into other domains and programs as the portfolio evolves.
Applied Research work in these domains moves between the lab, the integration bench, and the field, and progress depends on hardware availability, partner integrations, test windows, and sponsor timelines as much as on code. The BA works hand-in-hand with the Product Manager, who sets product direction and priorities, alongside the Engineering/Tech Lead, who owns technical architecture and implementation decisions, and the Project Manager, who governs schedule, budget, and contract deliverables. Rather than owning those decisions, the BA keeps everyone working from the same, current picture of what is being built, where it stands, what is blocking it, and what comes next, and helps coordinate internal field testing and demos with the Wichita team, from acceptance criteria through results.
What this Role Owns: Accuracy and currency of Jira work items for supported efforts (engineering updates, questions, constraints, and requirements captured as well-formed, up-to-date tickets); stakeholder-facing content derived from engineering work (e.g., status report content, briefing inputs, test readouts, technical one-pagers); acceptance criteria and verification requirements; coordination of internal field tests and demos with the Wichita team; tracking of open questions, risks, decisions, and action items; research briefs and analyses as tasked (e.g., competitive and market assessments).
What this Role Supports: Product scope, priorities, and backlog (Product Manager); technical architecture, integration, and implementation (Engineering/Tech Lead); schedule, budget, hardware and milestone tracking, external event coordination, and status report and contract deliverable submission (Project Manager); leadership and sponsor communications (Product Manager and Director of Product Development); product strategy and business development pursuits (Product Manager and Sales/BD).
Duties and Responsibilities
Jira & Backlog Management
- Translate engineering updates, questions, constraints, and requirements into clear, well-structured Jira work items (e.g., epics, stories, tasks, bugs) with the context and acceptance criteria engineers and stakeholders need, and keep them current as work progresses so Jira reflects ground truth rather than intent.
- Partner closely with the Product Manager to refine the backlog, keeping items clearly written, appropriately sized, and sequenced to the Product Manager’s priorities.
- Capture requirements that span hardware and software and maintain traceability from contract deliverables to requirements, work items, and test-verified capability.
- When requirements or scope change (e.g., following internal tests or sponsor feedback), assess the impact on existing requirements and work items and route it to the Product Manager for prioritization and to the Project Manager for schedule and budget decisions.
- Maintain supporting documentation in Confluence, such as decision logs, meeting notes, integration notes, and requirement pages, using the team’s working process.
On-Site Engineering Coordination & Field Testing
- Work on-site at the Wichita office as needed, co-located with hardware and software engineers, building a working understanding of how the system fits together (e.g., sensors, radios/SDRs, embedded and edge compute, firmware, software services, and the user-facing application) sufficient to track where things stand and represent the work accurately.
- Flag technical risks and dependencies early to the Product Manager and Tech Lead, and provide the Project Manager with Wichita-side updates on hardware status and anything that may affect schedule or budget.
- Work with the Product Manager and Tech Lead to define acceptance criteria and verification requirements for hardware and software capabilities.
- Coordinate internal field tests and demos of prototype systems with the Wichita team, recording results, observations, and anomalies against acceptance criteria, confirming what was verified and what remains open, and capturing follow-up work in Jira.
Stakeholder Communication & Artifacts
- Translate engineering and technical content into clear artifacts, such as status updates, briefing slides, test readouts, technical one-pagers, and technical content for monthly status reports and contract deliverables, tailoring depth and framing to the audience (e.g., internal leadership, government sponsors and operational stakeholders, partners, Sales/BD) while preserving technical accuracy.
- Support the Product Manager and Project Manager in preparing for program reviews, sponsor meetings, and leadership briefings.
- Serve as a liaison among engineering, product, and project management, making sure questions reach the right person and answers make it back to the team.
- Look for lightweight improvements to how the team captures status and communicates progress, and use AI-assisted tools to speed synthesis and documentation while validating their output.
Market & Competitive Research
- Take on market research and competitive analysis requests from the Product Manager and other internal stakeholders, such as competitive and landscape analyses, comparable-product and technology reviews, and background research ahead of customer, sponsor, and partner engagements.
- Gather and synthesize information from public sources, industry and government publications, and internal materials into concise, decision-ready briefs.
- Frame the question and scope the effort to the decision it supports, and recommend next steps based on findings.
Qualifications
- Eligible to obtain a U.S. Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
- Bachelor's degree in a technical, analytical, or related field (e.g., computer science, electrical or computer engineering, systems engineering, information systems).
- 3+ years of professional experience (or 2+ years with a relevant advanced degree) as a business analyst, systems analyst, technical project coordinator, or in a comparable role supporting hardware, software, or integrated systems development.
- Demonstrated ability to turn ambiguous or evolving engineering input into clear user stories, actionable work items and requirements, and acceptance criteria, and to keep them current as work progresses.
- Experience translating engineering and technical content into clear artifacts for non-engineering audiences (e.g., internal leadership, government sponsors, customers).
- Hands-on, day-to-day experience with agile/hybrid delivery models and tools such as Jira and Confluence.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to facilitate alignment among engineering, product, program, and leadership stakeholders. A true team player.
- Ability to learn new technical and operational domains quickly and to work independently, with limited direct supervision, in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to work on-site at the Wichita, KS office as needed and to travel to field test locations.
Preferred Experience
- Experience supporting R&D or prototype development, including environments where requirements are still emerging.
- Experience supporting product strategy, business development, or capture efforts through market or competitive analysis.
- Experience coordinating testing and verification of hardware or prototype systems.
- Experience with U.S. Government or defense programs, including familiarity with contract structures (e.g., SOW, CDRLs, CLINs) and translating contract deliverables into requirements.
- Prior military service.
- Active DoD Secret, Top Secret, or TS/SCI clearance.
Equivalency and exceptions: The stated experience and education requirements describe the typical candidate for this role. Knowmadics will consider an equivalent combination of education, professional experience, and demonstrated skill, and makes exceptions for candidates who can evidence the scope, complexity, and judgment the level requires.
Working conditions
- Employees may be called upon to participate in in-person meetings, trainings, or company functions at Knowmadics offices or other designated locations. Travel in support of business operations may also be required, and employees are expected to comply with these obligations as part of their position.
- Standard business hours with flexibility to support distributed teams and customers across U.S. time zones. Some weekend or off-hours work may be required to support exercise windows, customer demonstrations, deployment cutovers, or incident investigation.
- Should be willing to work in a variety of settings as needed. Flexible to work long hours on occasion by program milestones, test events, and deployment windows.
Physical requirements
- Ability to work sitting or standing for extended periods, working with computers and technical equipment, occasional lifting or moving of materials and equipment up to 35 lbs, and travel to field, range, or demonstration environments where conditions may include outdoor weather, noise, and the operational tempo typical of defense exercises.
Direct reports
None
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