Senior Business Systems Analyst

Manulife John Hancock; Southwestern Ontario; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Manulife John Hancock is seeking a Senior Business Systems Analyst to own requirements for medium-sized initiatives, connecting strategy with delivery. You will lead discovery with senior stakeholders, document cross-system processes, and ensure solutions address core business needs.

You will guide data analysis, participate in design sessions, and mentor less experienced analysts. A strong communicator with solid judgment in ambiguity is essential for success in a collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience in business analysis and business systems analysis.
• Experience owning requirements for medium-sized initiatives from inception through benefits realization.
• Advanced elicitation and facilitation; user stories and acceptance criteria; business rules; gap and root-cause analysis; and requirements traceability.
• Process mapping for cross-system processes; BPMN or equivalent notation; process simplification and redesign.
• Agile Delivery: Scrum or Kanban; backlog ownership and refinement; story slicing; DoR/DoD; release planning.
• Data and Query: SQL for independent data analysis; data modelling concepts; integration data mapping; data-based impact assessment.
• Technical Literacy: REST APIs and integration patterns; read OpenAPI/Swagger; understand architecture.
• Documentation and Tooling: Jira, Confluence, Visio/Lucidchart, wireframes.
• Testing and Validation: UAT strategy; entry/exit criteria; test scenarios; defect triage; sign-off.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Facilitation: Workshop facilitation; stakeholder mgmt; presentations to senior audiences.
• Proven experience owning requirements end to end; adapting to scope changes.
• Mentoring or coaching less experienced analysts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to explain needs and options to engineers and executives.
• Sound judgement in ambiguity; support decisions with incomplete information.

Responsibilities

• Own elicitation, analysis, and documentation of requirements for medium-sized initiatives.
• Facilitate workshops and guide participants to documented decisions.
• Analyze cross-system processes to identify root causes and simplifications.
• Challenge and reframe stated requirements to clarify business problems.
• Perform data analysis to validate assumptions and inform recommendations.
• Define data mappings and non-functional requirements for integrations.
• Partner with engineering to assess feasibility and business impact.
• Make prioritization and value trade-offs clear for scope decisions.
• Own UAT and business validation, including test scenarios and sign-off.
• Maintain requirements traceability and modeling standards; mentor peers.
• Represent business in design sessions and governance forums.
• Lead post-implementation reviews to verify outcomes.

Skills

Elicitation

Facilitation

Process Analysis

Agile Delivery

Data Analysis

SQL

REST APIs

OpenAPI/Swagger

Documentation

Jira

Confluence

Wireframes

Stakeholder Mgmt

Mentoring

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Visio

Lucidchart

Figma

Swagger/OpenAPI

Bruno

Postman

Job description

As a Senior Business Systems Analyst, you will own requirements for business-critical initiatives and connect strategy with delivery for the products our customers and advisors rely on. You will lead discovery with senior stakeholders, analyze the processes and systems behind each request, and ensure solutions address the underlying business need.

You will lead analysis for medium-sized initiatives from inception through benefits realization, influence scope and prioritization, resolve competing stakeholder needs, and strengthen analysis practices across the team. Success in this role requires analytical depth, confidence to challenge assumptions constructively, sound judgement in ambiguity, and a genuine interest in coaching other analysts.

Position Responsibilities :

• Own the elicitation, analysis, and documentation of business, functional, and non-functional requirements across medium-sized initiatives.
• Facilitate workshops involving competing stakeholder interests and guide participants toward clear, documented decisions.
• Analyze complex, cross-system processes to identify root causes and opportunities to simplify work rather than automate inefficiencies.
• Challenge and reframe stated requirements to clarify the underlying business problem and desired outcome.
• Perform and guide data analysis to validate assumptions, estimate impact, and support recommendations.
• Define data mappings, interface requirements, and non-functional requirements for complex integration work.
• Partner with engineering and architecture teams to assess solution options, feasibility, and business implications.
• Make prioritization and value trade-offs clear to support informed scope decisions.
• Own the user acceptance testing and business validation approach, including entry and exit criteria, test scenarios, defect triage, and business sign-off.
• Maintain and improve requirements traceability, documentation quality, and analysis standards within the team.
• Mentor less experienced analysts and lead peer reviews of requirements and analysis deliverables.
• Represent the business perspective in design sessions, governance forums, and prioritization discussions.
• Lead post-implementation reviews to assess whether changes delivered the intended outcomes and benefits.

Required Qualifications:

• 5-10 years of experience in business analysis and business systems analysis, including demonstrated ownership of requirements for medium-sized initiatives from inception through benefits realization.
• Strong hands-on experience across the areas below, with depth in several areas and working knowledge of the others:
• Requirements and Analysis: Advanced elicitation and facilitation; user stories and acceptance criteria; business rules; gap and root-cause analysis; and requirements traceability.
• Process Analysis: Complex cross-system process mapping; BPMN or equivalent notation; process simplification and redesign; and exception and control analysis.
• Agile Delivery: Scrum or Kanban; backlog ownership and refinement; story slicing; Definitions of Ready and Done; and release or increment planning.
• Data and Query: SQL for independent data analysis; data modelling concepts; integration data mapping; and data-based impact assessment.
• Technical Literacy: REST APIs and integration patterns; the ability to read OpenAPI or Swagger specifications; and sufficient understanding of system and data architecture to assess feasibility.
• Documentation and Tooling: Jira, Confluence, process modelling tools such as Visio or Lucidchart, and wireframing tools.
• Testing and Validation: UAT strategy; entry and exit criteria; test scenario design; defect triage; and business sign-off.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Facilitation: Workshop facilitation involving competing interests; stakeholder management; presentations to senior business audiences; and scope negotiation.
• Proven experience owning requirements end to end, including initiatives where scope changed during delivery.
• A track record of constructively challenging requirements and improving the resulting business or delivery outcome.
• Experience mentoring or coaching less experienced analysts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain business needs, options, trade-offs, and outcomes to engineers and senior stakeholders.
• Sound judgement in ambiguous situations and the ability to support decisions when information is incomplete.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Any of the following would be an asset:
• Business Case and Value: Business case development, benefits definition and tracking, and cost-value trade-off analysis.
• Additional Tools: Azure DevOps, ServiceNow, Figma or other wireframing tools, and Bruno or Postman for API exploration.
• Reporting and Insights: Power BI, Databricks, KQL, Azure Data Explorer, and report or dashboard design.
• Methods and Techniques: BPMN 2.0, customer journey mapping, service design, and Lean or Six Sigma process improvement.
• Quality and Test Management: Xray test management