Operational Readiness Analyst

Apply now: Operational Readiness Analyst, Hybrid (Lake Forest, IL). Start date is ASAP for this 12 month contract position. Job Title: Operational Readiness Analyst Location-Type: Hybrid, Lake Forest, IL (onsite Tuesday-Thursday) Start Date: ASAP, target October 19th Duration: 12 Month Contract Compensation Range: $46-52/hr  Benefits: Eligible for Health, Dental, Vision, and 401K Visa Sponsorship: Not eligible for visa sponsorship Job Description:

• The Operational Readiness Analyst ensures that applications and technology initiatives are fully prepared for handoff to IT operations, supporting a multi-year program dedicated to redesigning, replacing, and retiring applications across the organization.

Job Summary

• Own and manage a 26-task operational readiness process that governs each application handoff to IT operations support.
• Track readiness milestones, collect required documentation and templates from technology owners, and follow up on outstanding items.
• Identify handoff risks and ensure funding and resource needs for supporting new applications are addressed before go-live.
• Coordinate production support handoffs between project delivery teams and operations, verifying service acceptance criteria are met.
• Review and validate operational documentation, including runbooks, SOPs, knowledge articles, and service recovery procedures.
• Maintain ServiceNow dashboards, status reports, and readiness trackers, and provide stakeholder reporting on readiness status and risks.
• Participate in daily program meetings, communicate progress and blockers, and keep readiness work moving between meetings.

Minimum Requirements:

• 3-5 years of experience in IT operations, IT service management, operational readiness, or service transition.
• Hands-on ServiceNow experience, including building service requests, knowledge articles, reports, charts, and dashboards independently.
• Demonstrated experience preparing applications for production handoff and understanding what an operations team needs to sustain ongoing support.
• Familiarity with ITIL-based service management, particularly incident management and change management.
• Strong coordination and follow-through skills, with the ability to gather materials from multiple owners, identify risks, and proactively close gaps without waiting for direction.
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications:

• ITIL Foundation certification.
• Project management or project coordination experience.
• Proficiency in Power BI and Excel for tracking and reporting.
• Experience with OnePlan or similar project management platforms.
• Background in the insurance or benefits industry, or experience in regulated, ITIL-governed environments.