What is a Business Analyst at Ameritas Life Insurance?

At Ameritas Life Insurance, the Business Analyst role—often operating under the internal title of Senior Financial Analyst—is a highly strategic, hybrid position positioned at the critical intersection of Finance and Information Technology. You are not just gathering requirements; you are serving as a vital business partner to IT leadership. Your core mission is to enable data-driven decision-making by optimizing financial planning, budgeting, and operational efficiency across our technology organization.

Your impact in this role is profound and immediate. As Ameritas continues to modernize its infrastructure and expand its digital offerings, managing IT spend becomes increasingly complex. You will directly influence how we allocate resources for major system implementations, software expenditures, and cloud migrations. By building robust total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) models, you ensure that every dollar spent on technology aligns with our broader corporate strategy and our ultimate purpose of "fulfilling life" for our customers.

This role is ideal for a detail-oriented professional who thrives in a dynamic environment. You will be dealing with the scale and complexity of a major insurance and financial services provider, tackling challenges ranging from cloud cost modeling to multi-year financial forecasting. If you are passionate about driving continuous improvement in IT cost structures and translating complex data into actionable insights, this role offers a unique platform to shape the future of technology at Ameritas.

Common Interview Questions

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

To succeed in our interview process, you need to demonstrate a blend of strict financial rigor and adaptable business partnering. Preparation should focus on how you apply analytical frameworks to real-world IT and operational challenges.

Financial & Analytical Acumen – You must deeply understand financial planning and analysis (FP&A). Interviewers will evaluate your ability to perform variance analysis, track capital vs. operational expenditures (CapEx/OpEx), and build accurate financial forecasts. You can demonstrate strength here by clearly walking through past examples where your analysis identified cost drivers and led to corrective actions.

Technical & Systems Proficiency – Because you will be working with complex datasets, your comfort with financial systems is critical. Interviewers will look for hands-on experience with tools like Excel, Oracle ERP/EPB (or similar systems like Hyperion), and Power BI. Strong candidates will confidently discuss how they have automated reports or built dashboards to visualize data.

Business Partnering & Communication – You will act as the bridge between Finance and IT. We evaluate your ability to translate dense financial data into actionable insights for non-financial stakeholders. You shine in this area when you can explain complex financial models (like cloud cost scenarios) simply and persuasively to technical leaders.

Culture Fit & Continuous Improvement – Ameritas values an inclusive, problem-solving mindset. We look for candidates who proactively seek ways to optimize processes and resource allocation. Demonstrating a history of driving continuous improvement and a collaborative attitude will strongly align you with our values.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for the Business Analyst / Senior Financial Analyst role at Ameritas is designed to be thorough, collaborative, and reflective of the cross-functional nature of the position. You will typically begin with an initial screening call with a talent acquisition partner, focusing on your background, your understanding of FP&A, and your alignment with the hybrid work expectations in Lincoln, NE.

Following the screen, you will progress to a hiring manager interview, which dives deeper into your experience supporting IT or technology functions. Expect a mix of behavioral questions and technical probes regarding your familiarity with tools like Oracle Financials and Power BI. If successful, you will advance to a final panel interview. This stage often involves cross-functional stakeholders from both the Finance and IT departments. Here, the focus shifts heavily toward scenario-based questions, assessing how you handle variance analysis, build ROI models, and communicate findings to leadership.

Throughout the process, Ameritas emphasizes a data-driven yet highly collaborative philosophy. We want to see not just how you crunch the numbers, but how you use those numbers to influence strategy and build relationships across departments.

This visual timeline outlines the typical stages you will navigate, from the initial recruiter screen to the final cross-functional panel. Use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you review your technical modeling skills early on while saving your strategic, cross-departmental narratives for the final rounds. Keep in mind that depending on the specific IT vertical you will support, you may be asked to complete a brief take-home data exercise or Excel assessment prior to the final panel.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

This is the bedrock of the role. Ameritas relies on accurate budgeting and forecasting to maintain operational stability and fund strategic IT initiatives. You will be evaluated on your ability to partner with leadership to develop multi-year financial plans and perform rigorous monthly variance analysis. Strong performance means you don't just report the variance—you identify the root cause and recommend corrective actions.

Be ready to go over:

• Budgeting & Forecasting – How you build from the ground up and align with strategic objectives.
• Variance Analysis – Your methodology for comparing actuals vs. budget/forecast and isolating key drivers.
• Cost Tracking – Managing IT spend, specifically differentiating and tracking CapEx and OpEx.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Zero-based budgeting techniques, scenario-planning for macroeconomic shifts affecting IT spend.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through your process for conducting a monthly variance analysis. How do you handle a situation where an IT project is significantly over budget?"
• "Describe a time you identified a negative trend in operational expenditures. What corrective action did you recommend, and what was the outcome?"
• "How do you approach building a multi-year financial forecast for a department with highly variable software expenditures?"

IT Cost Drivers & Strategic Modeling

Because this role directly supports the Information Technology department, a generic finance background is not enough. You must understand the unique financial mechanics of technology. Interviewers will test your knowledge of software capitalization, cloud usage spend, and vendor outsourcing scenarios. A strong candidate can seamlessly pivot from discussing server depreciation to modeling the ROI of a SaaS implementation.

Be ready to go over:

• TCO and ROI Modeling – Calculating the Total Cost of Ownership and Return on Investment for major IT projects.
• Cloud Cost Modeling – Understanding consumption-based pricing models and forecasting cloud spend.
• Capitalization Rules – Knowing what phases of a software development lifecycle (SDLC) can be capitalized versus expensed.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Outsourcing vs. insourcing financial impact analysis, vendor contract negotiation support.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "If IT leadership wants to migrate an on-premise system to the cloud, how would you structure the financial model to evaluate this decision?"
• "Explain how you calculate the Total Cost of Ownership for a new enterprise software implementation."
• "What are the key differences in how you track and report CapEx versus OpEx in an IT environment?"

Systems, Data, and Visualization

Your ability to extract, manipulate, and present data is crucial. We evaluate your hands-on experience with enterprise financial systems and data visualization tools. Strong performance in this area involves demonstrating not just familiarity, but proficiency in using these tools to automate reporting and create actionable dashboards for leadership.

Be ready to go over:

• Oracle Financials – Experience with Oracle ERP, EPB, or Hyperion SmartView.
• Advanced Excel – Utilizing complex formulas, pivot tables, and data modeling.
• Power BI – Creating dashboards, data modeling, and report automation.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – SQL for basic data extraction, integrating API data into Power BI.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you used Power BI to automate a previously manual reporting process. What was the impact?"
• "How have you utilized Oracle ERP or Hyperion in your past roles to streamline month-end close or forecasting?"
• "Describe a complex financial model you built in Excel. What made it complex, and how did you ensure its accuracy?"

Business Partnering and Stakeholder Management

As a Senior Financial Analyst supporting IT, you are a translator. You must enforce internal controls and audit requirements while acting as a trusted advisor to IT managers. Interviewers will look for high emotional intelligence, the ability to push back gracefully, and a talent for making financial concepts accessible.

Be ready to go over:

• Cross-functional Collaboration – Working with procurement, accounts payable, and IT managers.
• Influencing without Authority – Guiding IT leaders toward cost-efficient decisions.
• Communication – Delivering financial reports to non-finance audiences clearly and concisely.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex financial constraint to an IT leader who wanted to purchase new software. How did you handle it?"
• "Describe a situation where you had to coordinate with procurement and AP to resolve a delayed vendor invoice that was impacting an IT project."