Business Analyst (Discovery) in Sunderland

We are looking for a Business Analyst to join a short discovery into content request and publishing processes. You will uncover the real problems behind slow, poor-quality requests and define the requirements used to assess service-desk and chatbot options.

What you will do

• Plan and run interviews, workshops and process walkthroughs with team members and stakeholders.
• Document the current end-to-end request journey: submission, triage, validation, prioritisation, allocation, escalation, publishing and closure.
• Quantify, where evidence allows, request volumes, hand-offs, delays, rework, failure demand, deadline risks and data quality issues.
• Identify pain points and root causes, such as front-door inefficiency, poor-quality requests and limited auditability.
• Create current-state and future-state process maps, including a manual process using a helpdesk and a structured intake form.
• Define requirements for intake forms, queues, agents, statuses, service levels, dashboards, escalation, approvals and audit records.
• Specify the validation rules the chatbot or intake process should apply, such as content formatting, missing source data, broken links and deadlines that fall short of agreed service standards.
• Develop personas, user journeys, use cases, user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Keep traceability between problems, requirements, prototype features and findings.
• Support prototype testing, capture structured feedback and assess whether the options solve the original problems.
• Record assumptions, dependencies, risks, decisions and open questions.
• Contribute to the options assessment, operating model implications, roadmap and final recommendations.

Expected outputs

• Current-state and future-state process maps.
• Stakeholder, user and operational needs.
• Prioritised business and functional requirements.
• Business rules and validation requirements.
• Personas, user journeys, use cases and user stories.
• Prototype acceptance criteria and feedback findings.
• Requirements traceability and input to the options assessment.

What you will bring

• Strong Business Analyst experience in digital discovery, service design, workflow or process transformation.
• Process mapping using techniques such as BPMN, SIPOC, value-stream mapping or service blueprints.
• Ability to gather requirements from operational, content, product and technical stakeholders.
• Experience writing user stories, acceptance criteria, business rules, functional requirements and traceability artefacts.
• Strong analytical skills, including telling symptoms apart from root causes.
• Experience supporting prototype definition, user testing and options evaluation.
• Strong workshop facilitation, stakeholder management and written communication.
• Ability to work at pace and focus on the minimum evidence needed in a short discovery.
• Experience in UK government, public services or a regulated delivery environment.

Desirable

• Experience with content publishing, request management, workflow or service-desk services.
• Familiarity with government content standards and accessibility requirements.
• Understanding of Microsoft Power Platform, Dynamics 365 or similar case management tools.
• The BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis or equivalent practical experience.