Campaign Finance Applications Analyst

Agency

State Board of Elections

Division

State Board of Elections

Job Classification Title

Applications Systems Analyst I (NS)

Position Number

65043057

Grade

DT07

About Us

The N.C. State Board of Elections is the statewide agency that supervises elections administration, enforces campaign finance requirements, and conducts associated investigations. The State Board ensures uniform implementation of state and federal election laws and appoints local officials serving on county boards of elections. The board is composed of 5 individuals appointed by the State Auditor from list of nominees submitted by the chairs of the two political parties having the highest number of registered affiliates. Agency staff are civil servants subject to the State Personnel Act.

Description of Work

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit

The Campaign Finance Division of the North Carolina State Board of Elections administers the State’s campaign finance disclosure and compliance program. The division supports committee registration, campaign finance reporting, records and public access, education and training, and compliance and audit functions. It provides statewide direction and technical guidance to the 100 county boards of elections.

With implementation of the modernized Campaign Finance Reporting System, county election offices will have increased responsibilities for user administration and assistance to filers. The division must maintain effective support for county administrators and agency staff while ensuring that statewide workflows, configured application functions, and reporting requirements are applied consistently.

Primary Purpose of Position

Serve as the agency’s principal functional and technical application support resource for the modernized Campaign Finance Reporting System. Develop expert knowledge of the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product, the vendor’s standard features, and North Carolina-specific configurations, and provide advanced support to county administrators and State Board personnel. Analyze application issues and business needs; assist with approved configuration changes, software enhancements, testing, releases, documentation, and vendor coordination. This is an ongoing operational position spanning implementation, deployment, and steady-state support.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities/Management Preferences

· Considerable knowledge of configurable COTS or SaaS enterprise applications, including administrator functions, workflows, role-based permissions, data validation, vendor functionality, and agency-specific configurations.

· Ability to troubleshoot complex application problems, reproduce defects, identify root causes and workarounds, and distinguish software defects from configuration, process, or training issues.

· Skill in analyzing business processes, gathering and documenting requirements, preparing user stories and acceptance criteria, and communicating enhancement priorities to program staff, IT, and vendors.

· Ability to develop and execute test cases, evaluate releases and fixes, investigate reporting or data discrepancies, and maintain accurate issue, configuration, and technical documentation.

· Ability to explain complex technical issues clearly to county administrators and agency staff, provide responsive service, and collaborate with Campaign Finance, IT, Learning Management, and external vendors.

***Recruitment Range $ 70,528 - $90,000***

Note: This is a time-limited position funded through a special appropriation. The position may last up to three years, depending on funding availability.

Description of Work

· Provide advanced application support and county assistance. Serve as the technical escalation resource for county system administrators and designated agency staff; investigate application errors, access and permission issues, filing workflow problems, and unexpected system behavior. Reproduce issues, determine whether they relate to user actions, local configuration, application defects, or training needs; document solutions and workarounds; maintain and monitor support tickets; and coordinate timely escalation and resolution with the vendor or agency IT. Help counties use their authorized administrative features while maintaining their responsibility for routine filer assistance.

· Support application configuration and administration. Build and maintain thorough knowledge of standard COTS functionality and North Carolina-specific business rules, workflows, validation controls, role-based permissions, notices, forms, and reporting settings. Maintain a configuration inventory and document approved changes. Assist with configuring and validating authorized application settings; assess downstream impacts on counties, filers, compliance operations, reporting, and data integrity; and coordinate access controls, security-sensitive changes, integrations, and vendor-restricted functions with agency IT and the vendor under established change-control procedures.

· Perform business analysis and manage enhancements. Work with the Campaign Finance Director, program subject-matter experts, counties, IT, and project staff to gather and document business requirements, process maps, user stories, acceptance criteria, and operational impacts. Evaluate requests to distinguish an existing configurable feature from a product defect, policy question, training issue, or new development requirement. Maintain and help prioritize the defect and enhancement backlog; assess proposed changes for operational benefit and statutory or policy implications; and provide clear requirements and examples to the vendor for review and implementation.

· Conduct system testing and support releases. Develop and execute functional, regression, role-based, and user-acceptance tests of workflows used by county and State Board administrators and filers. Validate defect fixes, enhancements, configuration changes, reports, data migration results, and permissions. Document test results and unresolved risks; participate in vendor release reviews; support business-owner acceptance decisions; and coordinate post-release verification, issue triage, and corrective follow-up.

· Maintain technical documentation, training support, and vendor knowledge transfer. Develop and update configuration references, administrator instructions, troubleshooting guides, FAQs, release summaries, and support procedures. Work with Learning Management and Campaign Finance personnel to provide technical accuracy and examples for county administrator training and job aids. Participate in vendor-led demonstrations, administrator training, and technical knowledge-transfer activities to retain internal expertise. Analyze recurring tickets and support trends and recommend improvements to configuration, guidance, training, or processes.

Minimum Education and Experience

Some state job postings say you can qualify by an “equivalent combination of education and experience.” If that language appears below, then you may qualify through EITHER years of education OR years of directly related experience, OR a combination of both. See the Education and Experience Equivalency Guide for details.

Bachelor's degree in computer science or an IT related field from an appropriately accredited institution, or Associate degree in computer science or an IT related field or related technical degree from an appropriately accredited institution and one year of experience in business application consulting or development, or High School or General Educational Development (GED) diploma and four years of experience in business application consulting or development; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

EEO Statement

T he State of North Carolina is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and dedicated to providing employees with a work environment free from all forms of unlawful employment discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. The state provides reasonabl