Functional Technical Analyst Jobs in Chicago, IL

Your Journey at Crowe Starts Here:
At Crowe, you can build a meaningful and rewarding career. With real flexibility to balance work with life moments, you're trusted to deliver results and make an impact. We embrace you for who you are, care for your well-being, and nurture your career. Everyone has equitable access to opportunities for career growth and leadership. Over our 80-year history, delivering excellent service through innovation has been a core part of our DNA across our audit, tax, and consulting groups. That's why we continuously invest in innovative ideas, such as AI-enabled insights and technology-powered solutions, to enhance our services. Join us at Crowe and embark on a career where you can help shape the future of our industry.
Job Description:
Responsibilities:

• Assist in facilitation of meetings with business stakeholders to refine project objectives and demonstrate preliminary results.
• Participate in client engagements, including workshops, training sessions, and requirements gathering, to ensure that clients understand the potential of GenAI and can articulate their needs effectively.
• Assist the team and work closely with clients to identify and prioritize AI use cases, guiding them in aligning these with their business objectives and ensuring feasibility from both a functional and technical perspective.
• Demonstrate the viability of potential solutions and seek to disprove assumptions through data exploration, experimentation, and lightweight Proof of Concept buildout.
• Your key contributions are to user stories, testing requirements, and supporting documentation, in addition to the thorough analysis and validation of requirements to minimize ambiguity and support effective collaboration across development teams.
• Engage with your team to derive realistic effort estimates, embracing the iterative nature of early-stage AI development.
• Assist in serving as the liaison between the functional team and the technical development team, ensuring that client requirements are accurately translated into technical specifications and that the solutions delivered meet client expectations.
• Assist in the functional aspects of AI projects, including timelines, resource allocation, and deliverables, ensuring that projects are completed on time and within budget.
• Assist in communicating with internal and external stakeholders, providing updates on project status, risks, and opportunities.
• Assist in continuously assessing and improving the methodologies and tools used by the functional team to enhance client engagement and project outcomes.
• Success in this role looks like detailed, well-maintained requirements aligned to a solution's vision and strategic goals; it looks like productive collaboration with both business and technical stakeholders.
• Assist in developing and delivering training programs for both clients and internal teams on the capabilities and use cases of GenAI, ensuring a high level of competency and understanding.
• Actively engage in professional learning within the constantly evolving AI landscape, with an emphasis on the Microsoft ecosystem.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
Support Workshops & Requirements Gathering

• Participates in requirements-gathering sessions and workshops to understand AI project objectives and user needs.
• Documents findings (business use cases, data needs, solution feasibility) for review by senior team members.

Assist in AI Use Case Prioritization & Feasibility

• Helps compile a list of potential AI use cases aligned to client business goals.
• Validates feasibility (technical constraints, data availability) by supporting preliminary data analysis or proof-of-concept activities.

• Contribute to Requirements & Testing Artifacts

• Drafts user stories and acceptance criteria, incorporating feedback from more experienced consultants.
• Assists with test plan creation and test execution, capturing outcomes to ensure solutions meet functional requirements.

• Basic Project Support & Documentation

• Tracks project tasks and timelines within team tools (e.g., task boards, trackers).
• Maintains documentation for solution pathways, data exploration results, and POC findings.

Environment & Tools Familiarity

• Gains exposure to Microsoft AI services (e.g., Azure AI, Cognitive Services) and enterprise tools (e.g., Power Platform).
• Learns foundational product/software development practices (e.g., DevOps pipelines, version control).

REQUIRED / RELEVANT SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• 1+ years in a client-facing or internship role.
• Understanding of Generative AI/ML fundamentals and potential business applications.
• Basic familiarity with Microsoft technologies (Power Platform, Azure AI).
• Working knowledge of documenting business/user/functional requirements.
• Awareness of software development lifecycles (Agile or Waterfall).

RECOMMENDED CERTIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL ENRICHMENT

• Microsoft Fundamentals certifications (e.g., AI-900: Azure AI Fundamentals).
• Introductory business analysis certifications (e.g., ECBA - Entry Certificate in Business Analysis).

Required Skills

• Understanding of Generative AI and its business applications.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts and their application in various industries.
• Experience working with Microsoft technologies, particularly in relation to AI and Power Platform.
• Common understanding of Product Development and Software Development Life Cycles.
• Proven experience creating artifacts and documenting requirements for software projects, ensuring that business, user, functional, and non-functional requirements are clear, concise, testable, and traceable.
• Ability to build and maintain client relationships, ensuring high levels of client satisfaction.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a focus on aligning AI solutions with business needs.

Preferred Skills

• Background in business analysis, with a knack for translating business needs into technical requirements.
• Experience with analysis techniques/methods (including scope diagrams, process models, data models, use cases, user stories, acceptance criteria, storyboards, prototypes, state diagrams, CRUD matrix, etc.).
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical or unfamiliar audiences, both written and verbal; you support the creation of client-facing deliverables and documentation.
• Ability to maintain technical documentation for developed solutions, including user guides, technical specifications, and process documentation.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and tools.
• Familiarity with the software development lifecycle and AI Ops best practices.
• Experience with Azure services, particularly Azure AI, Machine Learning, and Cognitive Services.
• Familiarity in prompt engineering and with tools like Enterprise ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Azure AI Studio.
• Experience with DevOps practices and tools within the Microsoft environment.
• Familiarity in a professional services environment.
• Actively looks for opportunities to try and learn new things. Hungry to try new tools and techniques or try new areas of the business to test yourself.
• You want to stay fresh in AI. You aren't afraid to take a stab at Large Language Model papers before they become blog posts (even if you don't have experience in it quite yet) or try out the latest tools. You're probably subscribed to several newsletters or podcasts about AI topics.
• You enjoy sharing what you learn, whether by offering cross-training opportunities, giving internal team "lightning talks," or by writing detailed comments on tickets when you close them.

We expect the candidate to uphold Crowe's values of Care, Trust, Courage, and Stewardship. These values define who we are. We expect all of our people to act ethically and with integrity at all times.
In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. Crowe is not sponsoring for work authorization at this time.
The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. At Crowe, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $62,000 - $100,000 per year.
Our Benefits:
Your exceptional people experience starts here. At Crowe, we know that great people are what makes a great firm. We care about our people and offer employees a comprehensive total rewards package. Learn more about what working at Crowe can mean for you!
How You Can Grow:
We will nurture your talent in an inclusive culture that values diversity. You will have the chance to meet on a consistent basis with your Career Coach that will guide you in your career goals and aspirations. Learn more about where talent can prosper!
More about Crowe:
Crowe provides professional services through two separate entities: Crowe LLP delivers audit and attest services, and Crowe Advisory LLC provides tax, advisory, consulting, and other nonattest services.
The Crowe Global network consists of more than 300 independent accounting and advisory services firms in more than 150 countries around the globe, making it one of the largest accounting networks in the world.* As independent members of Crowe Global, Crowe LLP and Crowe Advisory LLC serve clients worldwide.
*As of July 2026.
Crowe LLP and Crowe Advisory LLC (and their respective subsidiary entities) provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics, national origin, disability or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
Crowe LLP and Crowe Advisory LLC (and their respective subsidiary entities) does not accept unsolicited candidates, referrals or resumes from any staffing agency, recruiting service, sourcing entity or any other third-party paid service at any time. Any referrals, resumes or candidates submitted to Crowe, or any employee or owner of Crowe without a pre-existing agreement signed by both parties covering the submission will be considered the property of Crowe, and free of charge.
Crowe will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws.
Please visit our webpage to see notices of the various state and local Ban-the-Box laws and Fair Chance Ordinances, where applicable.
We are committed to a merit-based hiring process, evaluating all candidates consistently using objective, job-related criteria such as relevant experience, demonstrated skills, measurable impact, and alignment with the role's responsibilities, and making employment decisions in a fair and inclusive manner free from discrimination.
If you are interested in applying for employment with Crowe and are in need of an accommodation or require special assistance to navigate our website or to complete your application, please visit our Applicant Assistance and Accommodations page for more information: https://careers.crowe.com/crowe-applicant-assistance-and-accommodation