Senior Business Analyst

Methods Business and Digital Technology Limited is a £100M+ IT Services Consultancy that has partnered with a range of central government departments and agencies to transform the way the public sector operates in the UK. Established over 30 years ago and UK-based, we apply our skills in transformation, delivery, and collaboration from across the Methods Group to create end-to-end business and technical solutions that are people-centred, safe, and designed for the future. Our human touch sets us apart from other consultancies, system integrators, and software houses – with people, technology, and data at the heart of who we are, we believe in creating value and sustainability through everything we do for our clients, staff, communities, and the planet. We support our clients in the success of their projects while working collaboratively to share skill sets and solve problems. At Methods, we have fun while working hard; we are not afraid of making mistakes and learning from them. Predominantly focused on the public sector, Methods is now building a significant private sector client portfolio. Methods was acquired by the Alten Group in early 2022.

The Senior Business Analyst will have the following responsibilities:

• Analyse and understand complex user and business needs, including where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
• Map complex processes and information flows into appropriate artefacts for communication with both stakeholders and the team.
• Translate user needs into system functionality requirements.
• Understand the internal and external situation and environment, eliciting and managing any non-functional requirements.
• Track, review and manage requirements with appropriate stakeholders to maintain records of traceability and prioritisation.
• Negotiate with and persuade stakeholders with a balanced consultative approach to ensure that the principles of user-centred design are balanced against service requirements.
• Write clear and concise user stories with clear and testable acceptance criteria.
• Contribute to Methods Business Analysis Community of Practice and mentor other business analysts.

Essential Skills and Experience:

• Extensive Business Analysis or relevant knowledge gained from recognised bodies (BCS, BABOK, Agile PO).
• Leading the analysis as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Demonstrably able to select the appropriate business modelling techniques that are most effective to help people understand the situations, problems, and solutions.
• Can recommend and influence improvements to business structures, processes, and information flows supported appropriately with automation and technology.
• Breadth of effective techniques to define and manage requirements, prioritisation, and scope with others in a range of different types of change methodologies and situations.
• Defining or selecting standards and applying appropriate techniques to elicit and document requirements.
• Managing traceability of, change to and the refinement of requirements, identifying issues and omissions and managing escalations.
• Leading work that delivers effectively and efficiently in fast-paced environments, in agile and waterfall project methodologies.
• Extensive experience of working in different project methodologies and awareness of how to adapt their practice.
• Excellent stakeholder management to understand objectives and resolve tension and conflict.
• Good problem-solving and analytical skills, including the ability to create clear observations, analysis, and conclusions based on customer interviews, published requirements, and data.
• A confident written and verbal communicator.
• Pro-active approach to personal and professional development, and mentoring of others in Business Analysis Best practice.

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• Practical experience and knowledge of Lean practices.
• Systems Thinking.
• Understanding of public services and technology marketplace with knowledge of products, platforms, and emerging technologies.
• Knowledge of Business Architecture (TOGAF, BIZBOK).
• Specialist knowledge in a business domain or other digital specialism.
• Specialist knowledge in security, data, and privacy.
• Knowledge and understanding of GDS Service Standards.
• Knowledge and understanding of software development lifecycles.
• Experience in managing story development in tools such as JIRA, Azure DevOps or similar.
• Experience in collaborative and remote tooling (Teams, Slack, MIRO, Mural).
• Ability to understand complex financial issues combined with deep analytical skills.
• Experience of working in scrum environments with team definitions of ready and done.

Am I the right fit? We're looking for:

• Resilience.
• Strong collaboration and team working.
• Good communication skills.
• Genuine passion/commitment to improving public services.
• A determined and tenacious approach to work.
• A creative approach to problem solving.
• Good listening and comprehension.
• Great stakeholder management.

Benefits:

Methods is passionate about its people; we want our colleagues to develop the things they are good at and enjoy. By joining us you can expect:

• Autonomy to develop and grow your skills and experience.
• Be part of exciting project work that is making a difference in society.
• Strong, inspiring, and thought-provoking leadership.
• A supportive and collaborative environment.

As well as this we offer:

• Development – access to LinkedIn Learning, a management development programme, and training.
• Wellness – 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme.
• Flexible Working – including home working and part time.
• Social – office parties, breakfast Tuesdays, monthly pizza Thursdays, Thirsty Thursdays, and commitment to charitable causes.
• Time Off – 25 days of annual leave a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy 5 extra days each year.
• Volunteering – 2 paid days per year to volunteer in our local communities or within a charity organisation.
• Pension – Salary Exchange Scheme with 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution.
• Discretionary Company Bonus – based on company and individual performance.
• Life Assurance – of 4 times base salary.
• Private Medical Insurance – which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included).
• Worldwide Travel Insurance – which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included).
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay.
• Travel – season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme.

For a full list of benefits please visit our website.