Senior Business Analyst in Preston

We are looking to strengthen our Change Team by welcoming a Senior Business Analyst to LPPA. This is an exciting opportunity to proactively drive change and business improvement by documenting, understanding, analysing and challenging key processes and delivering change. You’ll gain an in-depth understanding across end-to-end business processes, services provided to clients, employers and members, the roadmap and the context in which the business operates.

Reporting into our Head of Change Governance, this role will be key to proactively seeking opportunities and capturing the business requirements needed to deliver change aligned with our business plan, address business challenges and drive operational efficiencies.

A bit about us: Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA) is a multi-award-winning organisation and one of the UK’s leading pension administration companies. We strive to deliver the best experience for over 2,100 employers and more than 700,000 members of Local Government, Police and Firefighter pension schemes, keeping them fully informed about their pensions whilst working closely with employers to continuously educate and support them.

What we can offer you:

• Competitive salary £55k – £65k DOE & inclusion in Annual Bonus scheme
• 25 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays and 2 additional concessionary days and ½ day for your Birthday, with the ability to buy and sell leave
• Access to an excellent pension scheme (Local Government Pension Scheme) with generous employer contributions
• Access to Health or Dental Plan
• Access to our Enhanced Employee Assistance Programme for when you or your family might need some support
• Access to our bespoke Reward Discount Scheme – ‘Your Perk Site’
• Opportunities to attend Wellbeing webinars and social events
• Daily free fruit and snacks available to you in our office
• Free Car Parking in Preston City Centre

What you’ll be doing:

• Support the pensions administration business change programme by producing clear business and system requirements, process maps and, where relevant, test plans.
• Identify, manage and help deliver process design changes by conducting business and systems process analysis and design, focusing on quality improvement and operational efficiency.
• Provide and lead on the implementation of business solutions by building relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders; identifying business needs; determining and carrying out necessary processes and practices; recognising and capitalising on improvement opportunities; and adapting to competing demands, organisational changes and new responsibilities.
• Be an interface between the business and Systems, translating business requirements into functional specifications. Collaborate closely with developers to implement the requirements, and work with Systems and the business to ensure the testing of the solution is robust and thorough, prior to release.
• Pro-actively identify improvement opportunities (proactive and reactive).
• Ability to analyse and synthesise business requirements, including recognising patterns in data and conceptualising processes.
• Support system conversions, upgrades, and enhancements.
• Prepare clear and timely management information, reporting to relevant stakeholders as appropriate.
• Develop and manage all aspects of acquiring and documenting business requirements from planning, resources, documenting, approvals, risks and issues.
• Develop and manage operational process changes, including new processes, measurement & reporting, and continuous improvements.
• Provide status reporting regarding change project milestones, deliverables, dependencies, risks and issues, communicating across stakeholders.
• Understand interdependencies between technology, operations, client and business needs.
• Comply with LPPA’s Data Protection and Information Security policies and any relevant GDPR legislation.

What we need from you:

• A proactive, self-motivated manager who can work independently with minimal supervision, manage a high personal workload with multiple deadlines and continually strive for improvements in quality, efficiency and presentation.
• Must have a proven track record for managing, coaching and developing a team of business analysts.
• Must have exceptional people management skills.
• Must have management experience of working in a business analysis role and demonstrate the successful delivery of large projects as well as day-to-day operational requests from the business.
• Highly developed problem-solving and analytical thinker is essential with the ability to present reasoned and convincing arguments to support and/or challenge a proposal.
• Excellent level of numerical, analytical, ICT, and report writing skills to assist in the communication of key messages and to facilitate discussions and decision making.
• Proficiency in MS Office (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Knowledge of Microsoft Visio is essential.
• Experience of working in Pension Administration would be desirable, although not essential.
• Knowledge of working in the public sector is preferred but not essential.

Working with and upholding our values:

• Working together
• Committed to excellence
• Doing the right thing
• Forward thinking