Marti Merkens

Partnering daily with cross-functional teams in gathering, refining, and analyzing data, business, and technical requirements, developing associated analysis and design artifacts, and supporting development, testing, and delivery of strategic solutions.

Demonstrated abilities to analyze business and technical processes, develop and present innovative recommendations for consideration, and lead initiatives to streamline processes and deliver strategic solutions.

Engaged in backlog refinement, prioritization, cost-benefit analysis, risk identification and mitigation, and development of process controls.  Lead teams in designing and building run-to-run controls to ensure data completeness and accuracy. 

Adept in identifying, analyzing and coordinating process improvements, including automation of manual processes, troubleshooting and root cause analysis, and associated cost reductions.  Lead teams in identification and build of process improvements to substantially reduce incident tickets, associated pain points and costs. 

Extensive experience in financial data analysis and forecasting. 

Engaged in periodic audit and compliance reviews and coordinating responses and collection of associated evidence. 

Recognized for establishing and expanding valuable partnerships as trusted advisor with Business and IT teams and stakeholders.  

Proficient in SQL query capabilities (e.g. Oracle, Snowflake), Jira, MicroSoft Office products.

Concurrently supported 3 Agile teams as Scrum Master and Analyst, including facilitating SAFe ceremonies, building and supporting Jira boards, Jira work items (e.g. spikes, stories, bugs) and associated workflows and reporting.  

Coordinated cross-functional brainstorming and problem-solving sessions to generate ideas, mitigate risks and impediments, and ensure adherence to controls. 

Proficient in Jira and Agile practices.  

Recognized for excellent collaboration with Business and IT partners.

Began USAA career as software engineer, supporting processes throughout the Software Development Lifecycle, including analysis & design, development, testing, change and release management.  Developed expertise in troubleshooting, problem-solving, and providing actionable options and recommendations with outlined benefits.