Business Consultant

We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!

Are you looking for a fresh challenge? Do you have strong analytical and problem-solving skills? We’re on the hunt for an experienced Business Consultant to support stakeholders with the identification and definition of value-driving opportunities. You’ll be responsible for delivering high-quality consultancy services that align with the organisation's goals, ensuring the definition of high-quality business plans.

The Business Consultant will facilitate business strategy development, collaborating with Enterprise Architects to enable business and technology investment decisions. We value flexible working arrangements, so you can choose to work remotely or maybe you live within a commutable distance from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, and want to work in the office occasionally.

Core skills we’re looking for to succeed in the role:

• Significant experience in Business Consultancy and/or Business Architecture
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong anticipatory, statistical and information analysis skills
• Strong workshop and meeting facilitation skills
• Experienced at building relationships with and managing internal and external stakeholders
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Able to communicate, influence and persuade — both business and technology leaders, as well as peers. Uses the language of business leaders.
• Strong analytical and conceptual skills; ability to create original concepts and theories for a variety of projects
• Ability to quickly understand the objectives, structures, operations and policies of a business area

What’s involved:

• You’ll support business strategy development, including internal and external analysis, opportunity identification, technology and business cases, and business innovation development
• You’ll collaborate with Enterprise Architects in the definition of target operating models
• You’ll support the definition and continuous improvement of Business Consultancy & Analysis services
• You’ll ensure the delivery of high-quality business solutions that align with organisational goals.
• You’ll engage business stakeholders to identify business and technology innovation opportunities that enable and drive business strategy and value
• You’ll work closely with Enterprise Architects to construct deliverables that help business leaders identify and make business and technology investment decisions.
• Deliverables include, but are not limited to, business outcome statements, strategy on a page, scenario plans, business capability models, value-streams maps, business process models, ecosystems models, customer and user profiles, journey maps, human-centric design and investment roadmaps.
• You’ll help business stakeholders build effective communication and targeted messaging to support transformation objectives.
• You’ll review current and target business-states, applying business modelling and analytical techniques (e.g. process mapping, SWOT analysis, options analysis, statistical and database analysis) in order to identify and prioritise gaps.
• You’ll collaborate with delivery teams to ensure continuous delivery of business value, as well as to leverage shared technologies, tools, and processes that impact speed to value and time to market.
• You’ll instigate, prepare, facilitate and lead meetings, workshops and presentations for a wide range of audiences, demonstrating consistently high qualities of communication and strong powers of influence.
• You’ll develop close working relationships with Subject Matter Experts, Sponsors and Senior Stakeholders to support and drive change decisions.
• You’ll comply with the requirements, and act in accordance with the Group Code of Conduct and Fitness and Propriety policies at all times.
• You’ll ensure compliance with Company Policies, Values and guidelines and other relevant standards/regulations at all times.

Experience & knowledge:

• Significant experience with strategy formulation/translation and business consultancy/architecture, ideally within an agile change framework
• Experience developing and monitoring delivery of efficient and effective solutions to diverse and complex business problems.
• Knowledge of EA tools to develop business architecture deliverables.
• Experience in the application of business architecture techniques including business models, capability mapping, value streams, information mapping and operating model definition.
• Experience in facilitating change within a business, to include defining/re-engineering existing and new processes as well as the development of new services and products.
• Experience in financial analysis and business case development.
• Strong problem resolution, negotiation and influencing skills.
• Ideally an insurance or financial services background, although other backgrounds will be considered.
• Knowledge of FCA requirements (including Consumer Duty).

Skills:

• Significant experience in Business Consultancy and/or Business Architecture
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong anticipatory, statistical and information analysis skills
• Strong workshop and meeting facilitation skills
• Experienced at building relationships with and managing internal and external stakeholders
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Able to communicate, influence and persuade — both business and technology leaders, as well as peers. Uses the language of business leaders.
• Strong analytical and conceptual skills; ability to create original concepts and theories for a variety of projects
• Ability to quickly understand the objectives, structures, operations and policies of a business area

Qualifications:

• Business Analysis and/or Business Architecture certification/formal qualification
• Formal training/certification in one or more Agile frameworks is preferred

Behaviours:

• Understands, advocates and augments the business and technology strategies — and, more specifically, EA development and service delivery.
• Is prepared to “sell” the EA process (overall, not just for enterprise technology architecture), its outcome and ongoing results, and to lead the communication or marketing activities needed to ensure enterprise success and use.
• Highly collaborative and supportive of business and of its ideals and strategies.
• Organisationally savvy — comfortable, experienced and accomplished at working with business executives, and able to push back in a professional and diplomatic manner.
• Self-motivated and enthusiastic with an organised and pro-active approach.
• Highly innovative with aptitude for foresight, and design and systems thinking.
• Emphasis on attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strives to drive business improvements to contribute to the success of the business.

So, if you’re up for the challenge and would like to join our vibrant and busy team, we want to hear from you today.

What can we do for you? People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive.

To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here.

Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.