Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as strategic partners to the University, enables courageous curiosity by empowering students, staff, and faculty to do more than thought possible with technology that boosts productivity, strengthens security, and enhances research outcomes. 

The university offers flexible work arrangements; access to the university’s recreation services; ongoing professional development; and a comprehensive benefits and pension program.

Primary Purpose: Reporting to the Research Information Management Systems (RIMS) Coordinator, the Systems Analyst (RIMS Operations) plays a key role in ensuring the effective operation of institutional research administration solutions within the broader research administration ecosystem. This ecosystem spans multiple platforms, processes, and stakeholder groups, requiring flexible thinking and an understanding of how technology supports institutional goals. In collaboration with the RIMS team, the Systems Analyst supports research administration operations by providing direct user support, managing support tickets, and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders and vendors. In addition to contributing to business analysis efforts that support process improvement and technology adoption, the role also delivers training, ensures effective operational use of tools within the RIMS ecosystem, and configures, troubleshoots, and operates related systems.

Nature of Work: The Systems Analyst plays a collaborative role within the RIMS team, contributing to the successful delivery of the RIMS Program in support of USask’s research mission. They will work closely with research, network, infrastructure, security, integration, and RIMS teams to deploy new SaaS solutions and maintain the operation of legacy systems. Their day-to-day activities involve maintaining legacy systems currently in operation, as well as monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing SaaS solutions within the USask RIMS technology ecosystem. As part of a continuous improvement program, the Systems Analyst will also assess the current RIMS technology ecosystem to identify weaknesses, recommend improvements, and implement enhancements to RIMS services while USask transitions to new technologies.

This position will be based in-person at the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The position may be eligible for hybrid work under the terms of USask's Alternative Workspace Guidelines.

Typical Duties or Accountabilities:

Works with the RIMS Coordinator and RIMS team to deliver IT services supporting research administration. Collaborates effectively as a key member of cross-functional teams, including with stakeholders, vendor teams, and colleagues within ICT. Implement SaaS solutions: Configures new SaaS solutions to meet business requirements. Collaborates with ICT teams to provision services and liaises with vendor and project teams to plan and execute the production implementation and go-live strategy. Conducts and coordinates thorough technical and functional testing. Identifies and maps data for migration to new SaaS solutions, ensuring its quality and accuracy. Utilizes best practices that are compliant with relevant industry standards and regulations throughout the implementation process. Supports and maintains SaaS solutions: Develops and maintains comprehensive understanding of USask’s RIMS SaaS architecture and diagnoses and resolves issues in collaboration with vendor support teams Manages vendor changes to the product, informs stakeholders of planned changes, and adapts the USask environment to minimize disruption to users. Leverages subject matter expertise and utilizes different performance metrics to monitor / optimize SaaS resource usage and performance. Creates and maintains clear and concise technical documentation and troubleshooting manuals. Facilitates communication between the vendor, the RIMS team, and stakeholders regarding upgrades, changes, or issues. Performs analysis of RIMS products to verify compliance with relevant regulations and standards. Supports and maintains legacy systems: Diagnoses, analyzes, and resolves software issues, and utilizes debugging tools and techniques to troubleshoot application issues. Maintains and extends documentation of legacy systems, including configurations, procedures, and troubleshooting guides, to enhance supportability. Develops and executes plans for the decommissioning of legacy systems, including data archiving and migration, and system retirement. Performs other duties/responsibilities as assigned.

Education & Experience: A minimum of 5 years of education, training, and experience in a relevant related field.

A diploma, certificate, or degree in a related discipline is required (e.g., computer science, engineering, etc.). The successful candidate will have experience showing progression through positions with increasing responsibility and independence in areas like SaaS services and/or information technology. While not required, IT service management experience or certification (e.g., ITIL Foundation) is an asset.

We appreciate that non-traditional career paths may have developed a candidate’s competency, and alternate combinations of education and experience may be considered.

Skills:

Excellent problem-solving skills, including possessing the ability to weigh risks and apply sound judgment to decision making. Effective interpersonal, communication, and organizational abilities in both team and client settings with a proven ability to develop exceptional stakeholder rapport. Ability to work effectively both independently and as a member of a distributed and cross-functional team spanning several university units.

Specialized expertise demonstrating:

Proficiency in applying IT Service Management principles across diverse business functions, with hands-on experience using ITSM tools/platforms Analyzing logs and utilizing tools to effectively monitor, analyze, troubleshoot, and report on service performance metrics (e.g., response times, uptime, error rates) Working knowledge of tools and technologies used for data migration, system integration, and SaaS implementation, including analyzing and mapping data from the source system to target system Working technical knowledge with one or more scripting/programming languages (e.g., JavaScript)

Additional experience would also be valuable:

Familiarity with University business processes and/or campus-scale software implementations Managing and troubleshooting reporting tools and/or search tools Basic knowledge of MySQL and PostgreSQL, including the ability to execute basic queries for data retrieval and manipulation

Additional post-secondary research support experience would also be valuable:

Familiarity with research administration technologies Understanding of research administration service delivery processes for areas such as grants and awards, research involving human or animal subjects, and research safety compliance