Business Analyst in Essex

Affinia is a UK Top 35 Accounting firm, where we support our clients with everything from day-to-day Accounting, Audit and Tax planning, to strategic business advice, compliance and specialist services such as Cloud Accounting, Payroll and Mergers & Acquisitions across a wide range of sectors. We are committed to delivering excellence in every aspect of our work, adapting to the evolving regulatory landscape while consistently exceeding client expectations.

Purpose of the role: Affinia is seeking to recruit 2 highly organised Business Analysts to come and join the Integration Management Office, to manage the integration of multiple businesses per year as part of our private equity growth journey. These are newly created roles where the Business Analyst will play a critical role in our organisation by bridging the gap between business needs and where applicable, technology solutions. The BA position is responsible for understanding the objectives of the company and translating them into actionable requirements for Business Change and IT projects/initiatives. The role will require flexibility with travel expected to most office locations including Brighton, the South East, Essex and East Anglia.

This Critical Role Will Be Responsible For:

• Ensuring we have documented end to end business processes across the organisation for the different client and employee journeys.
• Collaborating with key stakeholders at all levels of the business up to and including C-Suite.
• Understanding how a target acquisitions business processes map to the Affinia standard and identify where there are gaps and changes required post-acquisition.
• Supporting the Organisation in identifying opportunities to drive business value through optimising processes, enhancing system functionality, and driving continuous improvement initiatives by bringing a holistic view of change.

Accountabilities:

• Build strong relationships working closely with business SMEs, department heads, and other key stakeholders to understand business needs and priorities.
• Support the facilitation of workshops, meetings, and interviews to elicit and capture requirements, identify challenges, and explore opportunities for improvement.
• Facilitate the communication of complex concepts and solutions in a clear and concise manner appropriate for the audience.
• Act as a transformation partner for our multiple business areas - helping them understand how change impacts themselves and our new acquired offices.

Business Analysis:

• Responsible for leading, planning, execution, monitoring, controlling and closing the analysis components for projects and programmes that are deemed high complexity.
• Conduct research in the discovery phase, defining problems, crafting propositions at a service design level and taking a human centred lens to embedding products and services.
• Facilitate the creation of design artefacts - e.g. personas, as-is and future state customer journeys, service blueprints, storyboards, prototypes, etc.
• Support and contribute to the elicitation, documentation, and analysis of business requirements, ensuring they are comprehensive, accurate, and aligned with business goals.
• Collaborate with technical teams to ensure that requirements are understood and translated into system design and functionality.
• Ensure comprehensive documentation of acceptance criteria to enable meaningful testing, support defect triage to validate that solutions meet business needs and requirements.
• Ensure that all deliverables meet the highest quality standards and comply with organisational standards and industry best practices.
• Support reviews and walkthroughs of business requirements and functional specifications with stakeholders and project teams.
• Analyse and document business processes, identify inefficiencies, and recommend solutions to optimize performance and enhance productivity.
• Support activities and initiatives to streamline workflows, reduce inefficiency, and improve overall business operations.
• Utilise data-driven analysis to support decision-making and provide actionable insights.
• Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in business analysis and project management.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement by identifying opportunities for innovation and implementing best practices.

Skills And Experience:

• Extensive experience in business process designs and facilitation and proficiency in business analysis tools and methodologies.
• Experience in both Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• Curiosity and tenacity to explore beyond the immediate circumstances to identify further improvements.
• Ability to manage and prioritise workload.
• Experience within Accounting or other Professional Services businesses.

Desired Experience:

• Experience working within an M&A environment integrating multiple business together.
• BCS Diploma or relevant certifications in Business Analysis.
• Good understanding of Project and Change Management.

Benefits & Culture:

• Opportunity to purchase 3 extra days holiday per year.
• Auto enrolment Pension Scheme with True Potential.
• Death in Service.
• Professional membership support.
• Paycare – claim money back for Dental / Optical / Professional Therapies.
• Dress for your Diary Policy.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested. Affinia is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion, or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, or maternity, or sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.