Business Analyst, CRM (12-Month Fixed-Term Contract)

Cognita Schools; United Arab Emirates; Hybrid; AED 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognita is seeking a Business Analyst to shape how CRM works for its global network of schools. You’ll translate business needs into buildable specifications and ensure IT delivers as intended, from the HubSpot rollout to ongoing enhancements.

You’ll gather requirements from CRM and Commercial stakeholders, map processes, maintain a prioritized backlog, and support solution design through UAT across multiple markets and time zones.

Qualifications

• Experience as a Business Analyst or similar role in CRM or customer-data context.
• Ability to write clear functional requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Experience partnering with IT through solution design and UAT.
• Experience managing a requirements backlog and prioritising against a roadmap.
• Degree-level education or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Gather and document CRM and Commercial requirements as the intake channel for the CRM product roadmap.
• Map current and future-state processes where a change affects how CRM is used, not just what it does.
• Translate requirements into clear, structured specifications for IT’s Solutions Architect.
• Define acceptance criteria and test scenarios to be validated at UAT.
• Maintain a live, prioritised requirements backlog aligned to the CRM product roadmap.
• Assess business impact and lead fair, structured trade-off conversations when requests compete for the same release.
• Stay involved through solution design and UAT, confirming that what IT builds meets the agreed criteria.
• Keep stakeholders informed of status and decisions, and maintain a central record of requirements and process definitions.

Skills

Requirements elicitation

Process mapping

Functional specification writing

Backlog management

Stakeholder facilitation

UAT coordination

Education

Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience

Tools

Jira

Azure DevOps

Confluence

HubSpot

Job description

Working with us

Cognita is a global family of 86 schools across 21 countries, with more than 100,000 students, 22,000 colleagues, 14 curricula and 9 languages of instruction. Our strength lies in our diversity. There is no single model of a Cognita school because education is inherently local. When families choose a school, they are making a deeply personal and community-based decision, and our schools reflect this.

Working with us

Cognita is a global family of 86 schools across 21 countries, with more than 100,000 students, 22,000 colleagues, 14 curricula and 9 languages of instruction. Our strength lies in our diversity. There is no single model of a Cognita school because education is inherently local. When families choose a school, they are making a deeply personal and community-based decision, and our schools reflect this.

What unites us is a shared ambition to deliver consistently high-quality education, alongside an exceptional experience for students and parents. We define this clearly through group-wide standards that articulate what “great” looks like, while allowing schools the freedom to express their local identity.

We have recently launched a new vision and strategic plan. It is ambitious and sets a clear direction for the years ahead.

Job Overview

Help shape how CRM works for schools around the world

Cognita is a global community of schools committed to making a lasting difference in education. We believe great schools are built by great people, and we want you to help build the CRM capability that supports them.

As our Business Analyst, you’ll be the vital link between Commercial’s needs and IT’s technical delivery. You’ll turn “what we need” into clear, buildable specifications, and make sure what gets built matches what the business intended. This is a role at the heart of how our CRM platform evolves, from the HubSpot global rollout through to ongoing enhancement.

Contract Type

Fixed-Term Contract (12 Months)

What You’ll Do

• Gather and document business requirements from CRM and Commercial stakeholders, acting as the formal intake channel for the CRM product roadmap
• Map current and future-state processes where a change affects how CRM is used, not just what it does
• Translate requirements into clear, structured specifications for IT’s Solutions Architect
• Define acceptance criteria and test scenarios to be validated at UAT
• Maintain a live, prioritised requirements backlog aligned to the CRM product roadmap
• Assess business impact and lead fair, structured trade-off conversations when requests compete for the same release
• Stay involved through solution design and UAT, confirming that what IT builds meets the agreed criteria
• Keep stakeholders informed of status and decisions, and maintain a central record of requirements and process definitions so rationale isn’t lost between releases

You’ll work closely with the CRM Optimisation Manager and the wider CRM team, IT’s Solutions Architect, the HubSpot Global Rollout Programme Manager, and Marketing, Sales, Admissions and Parent Experience teams across our clusters and schools.

What you’ll bring

Essential

• Experience as a Business Analyst, or in a similar requirements-gathering or process-mapping role, ideally in a CRM, commercial or customer-data context
• Strong fundamentals in requirements elicitation, process mapping and turning business needs into clear specifications
• The ability to write unambiguous functional requirements and acceptance criteria that both business and technical colleagues can act on
• Experience partnering with IT teams through solution design and UAT
• Experience managing a requirements backlog and prioritising competing demands against a roadmap
• A structured, impartial approach to facilitating trade-off conversations
• Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience

Desirable

• Familiarity with HubSpot or a similar CRM platform’s data model and configuration
• Experience with tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps or Confluence
• A business analysis certification (e.g. BCS International Diploma, IIBA CBAP/CCBA)
• A professional certification in HubSpot, Salesforce or an equivalent CRM
• Experience in K-12, independent or international education, or another multi-site consumer/service sector
• Experience supporting large-scale, multi-market CRM or system rollouts

Working arrangements

This role involves flexible working across time zones, regular engagement with central IT and cluster stakeholders, and occasional international travel to schools and clusters, particularly during active rollout phases.

We understand the value of AI tools and recognise the benefits they can offer to people who may need support with their writing. However, please be aware that we are increasingly rejecting CVs, expressions of interest and applications where the use of AI has resulted in content that feels generic, lacks personality or is indistinguishable from other submissions.

By using your own words, experiences and ideas to demonstrate your motivation for applying and your alignment with the role, you will give yourself the best opportunity to stand out in a highly competitive field.

Cognita is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and expects the same from its employees. All new staff will be subject to detailed and enhanced pre-employment clearance, including identity checks, criminal background checks for all countries lived in, qualification checks, employment checks to include an exploration of any gaps in employment, and satisfactory reference checks for all employment in the last 10 years.