Senior Business Analyst

Arrow Global Group; Manchester; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services firm in Manchester seeks a Senior Business Analyst to drive change initiatives and deliver solutions that provide measurable value. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in business analysis, project management, and systems design in complex environments. Strong stakeholder management and communication skills are essential, along with proficiency in tools such as JIRA and Confluence. This full-time permanent role offers an exciting opportunity to lead significant projects and contribute to continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Senior Business Analyst in financial services or a complex environment.
• Experience performing Delivery Lead or Project Management duties on technology-enabled initiatives.
• Strong background in systems analysis and working with architects on system design.

Responsibilities

• Lead business and systems analysis for change initiatives.
• Act as Delivery Lead for assigned projects, owning end-to-end delivery.
• Translate business objectives into clear requirements.

Skills

Business analysis skills

Stakeholder management

Systems analysis

Communication skills

Planning and organization

Education

Relevant professional qualifications (BCS/ISEB Business Analysis, Agile)

Tools

JIRA

Confluence

MS Project

Visio

Job description

Senior Business Analyst

Department: IT & Change

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Manchester, UK

Description

As Senior Business Analyst, you will play a key role in shaping, planning and delivering change across Arrow Global, leading the analysis and, where required, the delivery of complex initiatives that support our strategic objectives. You will work closely with business stakeholders, technology teams and external partners to understand business needs, translate them into clear requirements and ensure solutions are designed and implemented to deliver measurable value.

In addition to core business analysis, you may undertake Delivery Lead responsibilities, owning the end-to-end delivery of specific projects and workstreams, and providing detailed systems and data analysis to support solution design, build and testing. You will champion best practice in business and systems analysis, drive continuous improvement in our change approach, and ensure that risks, dependencies and issues are effectively managed.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading detailed business and systems analysis for change initiatives, including current state assessment, process and data mapping, requirements elicitation and solution design.
• Where required, acting as Delivery Lead for assigned projects and workstreams, owning end-to-end delivery from discovery and business case development through to implementation and benefits realisation.
• Translating business objectives into clear, prioritised and testable requirements (functional and non-functional), including user stories, use cases and acceptance criteria.
• Producing high-quality documentation such as business requirements, functional specifications, interface specifications, data dictionaries and configuration workbooks.
• Working closely with architects, engineers and vendors to understand system capabilities, constraints and integration patterns, and to shape solution options that balance speed, quality and risk.
• Supporting the definition of delivery plans, resource needs, budgets and key milestones, and maintaining RAID logs to ensure effective management of risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies.
• Facilitating workshops, interviews and walkthroughs with stakeholders to clarify requirements, validate solutions and secure decisions through appropriate governance forums.
• Analysing system data flows, interfaces and APIs to ensure robust end-to-end design and to identify impacts on upstream and downstream processes and systems.
• Supporting system configuration, prototyping and solution walkthroughs, providing clear guidance and clarification to development and testing teams.
• Ensuring robust testing and quality assurance activities are planned and executed, including supporting test strategy, test case design, defect triage and user acceptance testing.
• Driving effective change management and business readiness activities, including stakeholder engagement, training content input and implementation planning to support a smooth transition into business-as-usual.
• Identifying and implementing opportunities to improve analysis and delivery methodologies, standards, templates and tooling, promoting a culture of continuous improvement.

About you

• Proven experience as a Senior Business Analyst in financial services, private credit, real estate, or a similarly regulated, complex environment.
• Demonstrable experience performing Delivery Lead and/or Project Management duties on technology-enabled and/or operational change initiatives, with accountability for end-to-end delivery.
• Strong systems analysis background, with experience of working closely with architects and engineers on system design, configuration, integration and data-related change.
• Excellent business analysis skills, including process modelling, requirements elicitation techniques, user stories/use cases, data analysis and solution design.
• Experience of analysing and documenting systems interfaces, APIs, data models and data flows across multiple applications and platforms.
• Strong planning, organisation and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, risks and dependencies in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and challenge constructively at all levels, including senior leadership and external partners.
• Clear and concise communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to present complex business and technical information in a simple and compelling way.
• Experience working in both Agile and more traditional delivery environments, with the ability to tailor approach to context, governance and regulatory requirements.
• Strong understanding of change management and business readiness principles and practices.
• High level of integrity, sound judgement and a strong focus on risk, control and regulatory compliance.
• Proficiency in common change and collaboration tools (e.g. JIRA, Confluence, MS Project, Visio or equivalents). Relevant professional qualifications (e.g. BCS/ISEB Business Analysis, Agile, or similar) are desirable but not essential.