Business Analyst

Job Title Business Analyst

Reporting to Head of Business Analysis

Job Type Permanent, full time

Location Home based (This role will require regular UK travel and at times need you to stay away from home)

Since our establishment in 1990, Methods has partnered with a range of central government departments and agencies to transform the way the public sector operates in the UK.

Our mission is to improve and safeguard public-facing services. We apply digital thinking to ensure the future of our public services is centred around our citizens.

Our human touch sets us apart from other consultancies, system integrators and software houses - we have a customer-centric value system whereby we focus on delivering what is right for our clients.

We passionately 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.

Requirements

The Business Analyst will typically work as part of a DDaT multidisciplinary team, within agile and waterfall project environments, applying analytical and problem-solving tools to help assess situations and understand problems, eliciting, analysing and validating business requirement and user stories. The role will receive direction from more senior Business Analysts and be responsible for undertaking a variety of business analysis tasks, working independently to deliver the required outputs, and supporting stakeholder relationship management.

The ideal candidate will have experience applying business analysis skills in digital transformations. They will have experience and knowledge in the effective use of supporting frameworks and methodologies to perform as an effective analyst. They will broadly understand the UK public services landscape, with understanding and experience of a specific sector. In addition to business analysis skills, they will have an interest in emerging technologies and how innovation can benefit the delivery of improved public services.

The role will be home based and will include work on client sites. It is expected that the Business Analyst will quickly acquire a detailed understanding of Methods Portfolio offering and develop a set of skills, competencies, and knowledge to operate effectively within their role.

The 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.
• Essential Skills and Experience:
• Demonstrably experienced in working as an effective member of a multi-disciplinary team
• Able to select and work with a range of business modelling techniques that are most effective to help people understand the situations, problems, and solutions.
• Can recommend improvements to business structures, processes and information flows supported appropriately with automation and technology.
• Techniques in defining and managing requirements, prioritisation, and scope with others in a range of different types of change methodologies and situations.
• Working to standards and applying appropriate techniques to elicit and document requirements.
• Managing traceability of, change to and refinement of requirements, identifying issues and omissions and managing escalations.
• Managing work to deliver effectively and efficiently in fast paced environments, in agile and waterfall project methodologies
• Practical experience of working in project methodologies
• Excellent stakeholder management
• Business Analysis or relevant knowledge gained from recognised bodies (BCS, BABOK, Agile PO)
• Pro-active approach to personal and professional development.
• Desirable Skills & Experience:
• Practical experience and knowledge of Lean practices.
• 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
• 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

Benefits

• Holiday: 25 days a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy 5 extra days each year
• Pension: 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution
• Discretionary bonus: based on company and individual performance
• Life assurance: 4 times base salary
• Private medical insurance: non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)
• Worldwide travel insurance: non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave after 18 months service
• Wellness: 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme, including counselling
• Social: Parties and social events, and commitment to charitable causes
• Professional development: access to LinkedIn Learning, and discretionary training budget
• Travel: season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme