Business Operations Analyst - Research & Stat Officer 3

About Us

The Department of Agriculture's mandate is the development of competitive, sustainable, and profitable agriculture and agri-business industry that contributes to the economic, environmental, and social prosperity of Nova Scotia's rural and urban communities. Our vision is of a Nova Scotia agriculture and agri-food industry that is diversified, market-focused and profitable. We envision an industry recognized for its adaptable, collaborative business approach.

The Business Risk Management (BRM) Division includes the Nova Scotia Crop and Livestock Insurance Commission, which provides agricultural entrepreneurs with insurance products enabling them to manage the risk of financial losses caused by crop failures or animal production losses. It administers 16 crop insurance plans, a dairy livestock insurance plan, a poultry insurance plan, and a Wildlife Compensation Program. The Commission reports to the Minister of Agriculture and is a key component of the business risk management services that the department offers to the industry under the Agrilnsurance platform.

To know more, please visit our website here: Department of Agriculture

About Our Opportunity

The Business Operations Analyst, accountable to the Operations Manager, participates in the design of the Commission’s strategic roadmap and is responsible for leading small project teams to implement its components to modernize, automate and evolve the Commission’s overall insurance business systems. The Analyst provides analytical and problem-solving solutions to the Commission's programs and operational units, documents business needs and coordinates and/or supports changes to existing operational and data systems. Through innovation, implementation, and ongoing operational support, the position provides resolution to complex technical problems related to client relations management, agricultural insurance underwriting, financial management and statistical reporting, The Analyst also provides timely information, advice, and strategies through a range of research and analysis on BRM programs to support program development, policy discussions and improvements to data systems. 

Primary Accountabilities

 As the Business Operations Analyst, you will be responsible for:

• Developing and leading system improvement projects, demonstrating collaborative leadership by working with staff to ensure coordination of priorities and desired outcomes through conception, implementation, and evaluation. 
• Designing and developing business requirements for system functionality changes and business transformation activities.
• Providing decision support for response and resolution of myriad issues related to agricultural insurance underwriting and service delivery.
• Providing leadership in change management and process improvements by leading small project teams on new systems development and use.
• Providing support to research and development activities, underwriting certifications and new plan development through a comprehensive understanding of program design and statistical/data analysis.
• Developing statistical reports, performance metrics and innovative analysis for improving plan design, business operations and informing senior leaders on the current state of BRM programming.
• Working with internal and external partners to support systems development and technical infrastructure initiatives.

Qualifications and Experience

This may be the right opportunity for you if you have a Bachelor's Degree plus five (5) years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus three (3) years of relevant experience.  

As the successful candidate, you have:

• Advanced quantitative skills that can leverage existing database and analysis platforms to perform detailed insurance underwriting and financial calculations, create complex reports and value-added solutions.
• Skills in developing scripts and queries based on prescribed methodologies that leverage large volumes of data for production insurance underwriting.
• The ability to rationalize and align system processes and data management to support long-term improvements to reporting and service delivery.
• The ability to troubleshoot system process issues that impact critical business functionality and lead staff in the analysis and resolution of process gaps, information flow obstacles and data challenges.
• Experience developing analytical strategies and techniques to deliver actionable data and information for evidence-based decision making.
• Strong statistical and quantitative skills with experience programming algorithms to support analysis, business processes, and business solution development.
• Advanced experience in Microsoft Office applications including but not limited to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming, SQL query design, and high-level Excel formula use.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a dynamic team environment and communicate complex topics effectively in both written and oral forms.

Agricultural production knowledge would be an asset, but not a requirement. Knowledge of SQL (relational) databases, Power BI, Python, R or other analytical/statistical platforms would be considered an asset.

Equivalency

Applicants relying on education and experience equivalencies must demonstrate such equivalencies in their application.

Equivalencies include, and are not limited to:

• Bachelors degree in a relevant field plus five (5) years of related experience; OR
• Masters degree in a relevant field plus three (3) years of related experience;

Benefits

Based on the employment status and union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as a Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Health, Dental, Life Insurance, General illness, Short and Long Term Disability, Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs.  For information on all our Benefit program offerings, click here: Benefits for government employees.

Additional Information

What We Offer

• Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.
• Engaging workplace. Our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in. We have forward-thinking policies and strategies.
• Countless career paths.
• A dynamic, client-focused office environment where service excellence and teamwork are our focus