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

Milbourne Lodge; United Arab Emirates; Hybrid; AED 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognita is a global network of 86 schools across 21 countries, seeking a CRM Business Analyst for a 12-month fixed-term contract. You will translate business needs into clear CRM specifications, acting as the bridge between Commercial and IT during the HubSpot rollout and ongoing enhancements.

You will gather requirements, map processes, define acceptance criteria, and maintain a prioritised backlog while collaborating with Marketing, Sales, Admissions and IT teams across clusters.

Qualifications

• Experience as a Business Analyst, or in a similar requirements-gathering role.
• Strong fundamentals in requirements elicitation, process mapping and turning business needs into clear specifications.
• Ability to write unambiguous functional requirements and acceptance criteria for business and technical teams.
• Experience partnering with IT through solution design and UAT.
• Experience managing a requirements backlog and prioritising competing demands against a roadmap.

Responsibilities

• Gather and document business requirements from CRM and Commercial stakeholders, acting 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.
• Stay involved through solution design and UAT, confirming IT builds meet criteria.
• Keep stakeholders informed of status and decisions, maintaining a central record of requirements.

Skills

Requirements elicitation

Process mapping

Functional specifications

Backlog management

Stakeholder engagement

CRM experience

Education

Degree-level education

Tools

Jira

Azure DevOps

Confluence

HubSpot

Job description

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

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 shapehow CRM works for schools around the world

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

As our BusinessAnalyst, you’ll be the vital link between Commercial’s needs and IT’s technicaldelivery. You’ll turn "what we need" into clear, buildable specifications, andmake sure what gets built matches what the business intended. This is a role atthe heart of how our CRM platform evolves, from the HubSpot global rolloutthrough to ongoing enhancement.

Contract Type: Fixed-Term Contract (12 Months)

What you’lldo

• Gather and document business requirements from CRMand Commercial stakeholders, acting as the formal intake channel for theCRM product roadmap
• Map current and future-state processes where achange affects how CRM is used, not just what it does
• Translate requirements into clear, structuredspecifications for IT’s Solutions Architect
• Define acceptance criteria and test scenarios to bevalidated at UAT
• Maintain a live, prioritised requirements backlogaligned to the CRM product roadmap
• Assess business impact and lead fair, structuredtrade-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 sorationale isn’t lost between releases

You’ll workclosely with the CRM Optimisation Manager and the wider CRM team, IT’sSolutions Architect, the HubSpot Global Rollout Programme Manager, andMarketing, Sales, Admissions and Parent Experience teams across our clustersand schools.

What you’llbring

Essential

• Experience as a Business Analyst, or in a similarrequirements-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 functionalrequirements and acceptance criteria that both business and technicalcolleagues can act on
• Experience partnering with IT teams throughsolution design and UAT
• Experience managing a requirements backlog andprioritising competing demands against a roadmap
• A structured, impartial approach to facilitatingtrade-off conversations
• Degree-level education or equivalent professionalexperience

Desirable

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

Workingarrangements

4 days per week in Dubai office, 1 day working from home.This roleinvolves flexible working across time zones, regular engagement with central ITand cluster stakeholders, and occasional international travel to schools andclusters, particularly during active rollout phases.

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.