FMS-ACES Senior Business / Functional Analyst (SETA Advisor)

This position supports the Foreign Military Sales - Army Case Execution System (FMS-ACES) Product Office. FMS-ACES is the first Defense Business System (DBS) program in the DoDI 5000.87 Software Acquisition Pathway, within Capability Program Executive (CPE) Enterprise Software and Services (CPE ES2), located in the PMO Acquisition, Training & Readiness (AT&R) portfolio. FMS-ACES is a cloud-based Platform as a Service (PaaS) providing a user-centric journey design that will modernize the Army's FMS case execution and management processes from end to end. By stream-lining business processes, data standardization, integrated through state-of-the-art interface management, FMS-ACES will provide accurate case management and business analytics enabling real-time, accurate and informed data-drive decisions for Senior Leaders. FMS-ACES is in development and once fielded subsumes capabilities of a 50-year-old legacy system and consolidates two disparate systems into a single source of Army FMS data. The new system will exchange information with 26 distinct financial and logistic systems of record partners for end-to-end process execution. FMS-ACES will support 2000 users, incorporating 6,200 active FMS cases and 88,000 active requisitions. Key Features and Capabilities: Developed using Agile methodologies, FMS-ACES provides a unified environment for managing the full lifecycle of an FMS case: - Case Management: Streamlines everything from initial case implementation to closeout. - Real-Time Data: Connects to over 20 government data source systems to provide case officers with accurate, real-time information. - Enhanced Reporting: Includes advanced automated workflows, data visualization, and comprehensive reporting capabilities. - Transparency and Collaboration: Allows better end-to-end transparency and coordination between stakeholders like the Department of State and other military departments. Position Overview: We are seeking an accomplished, highly analytical Senior Business / Functional Analyst with at least 15 years of progressive experience to serve as a trusted Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) advisor to Department of the Army program leadership. In this role, you will represent the government's best interests by providing objective technical oversight, quality evaluation, and strategic governance across contractor development teams. Rather than performing routine sprint-level backlog grooming, you will operate as an authoritative evaluator and coach-ensuring development vendors adhere to rigorous requirements engineering, SAFe execution, and deliverable quality standards. Additionally, you will directly lead targeted discovery and elicitation for complex, high-uncertainty capabilities situated far out on the multi-year solution roadmap. The ideal candidate brings deep mastery of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) principles, extensive experience evaluating technical integration artifacts (APIs, schemas, data models), formal deliverable (CDRL) review discipline, advanced proficiency in Jira, and an operational mindset ensuring seamless transition to operations (O&M). Core Responsibilities: Contractor Evaluation, Assessment & Functional Oversight - Artifact & Backlog Auditing: Audit contractor epics, stories, and acceptance criteria to enforce INVEST standards, DoR/DoD, and mission alignment. - Demonstration & Acceptance Verification: Evaluate vendor sprint reviews, demos, and increments against contractual requirements prior to government sign-off. - Non-Functional Verification: Partner with enterprise architects to verify stories incorporate throughput, data integrity, error-handling, and idempotency needs. - Product Lead Support: Serve as primary functional evaluator supporting the Product Lead in reviewing formal contractor deliverables and CDRL items. - Rigorous Document Analysis: Critically evaluate contract deliverables and provide constructive feedback to vendors and insights and observations to government leads. Advanced & Far-Horizon Requirements Elicitation - Long-Range Discovery: Lead targeted discovery and elicitation sessions for complex, ambiguous capabilities situated far out on the solution roadmap. - Executive Stakeholder Alignment: Engage operational leads to translate policy mandates and CONOPS into structured functional baselines. - Architectural Runway De-risking: Author functional white papers, roadmaps, and user journeys to de-risk future capabilities before engineering handoff. SAFe Ceremony Guidance & Facilitation - Ceremony Advisory: Mentor and guide contractor Scrum and Value Stream teams in the disciplined execution of SAFe ceremonies. - PI Planning Oversight: Evaluate proposed team PI objectives, assess dependency management, and advise government leadership on delivery confidence. - System Demos & I&A: Validate that system demos prove working software value; guide teams through structured root-cause analysis during I&A events. Requirements - Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, Systems Engineering, or related analytical discipline. - Experience: Minimum of 15 years of progressive experience in business/systems analysis or functional architecture on large enterprise software programs. - Agile & SAFe Mastery: Proven track record guiding, mentoring, or assessing enterprise agile delivery and ceremonies within SAFe and Scrum frameworks. - Far-Horizon Requirements Elicitation: Proven skill leading discovery, scoping, and roadmap elicitation for complex, ambiguous future-state capabilities. - Story & Criteria Standards: Expert knowledge of user story conventions and structured acceptance criteria (Given/When/Then, Gherkin, BDD). - Tooling Proficiency: Advanced proficiency in Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence. - Clearance: Active U.S. Government security clearance (Secret or higher preferred) Key Professional Competencies - Technical Objectivity: Ability to provide candid, evidence-based assessments of contractor deliverables without bias. - Advisory Influence: Strong executive presence to advise senior officials and guide contractor leads within non-personal services boundaries. - Mission-to-Technical Translation: Ability to bridge communications seamlessly between software engineers, program leadership, and end users. Place of Performance: - The contractor will follow a hybrid work environment for the Place of Performance: - On-site performance of services by the Contractor at Government facilities shall be accomplished primarily in northern Virginia, when required. Quarterly workshops at New Cumberland or northern Virginia. Benefits - Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision) - Retirement Plan (401k, IRA) - Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D) - Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays) - Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity) - Short Term & Long Term Disability - Training & Development - Wellness Resources