Senior Business Analyst - UCD

Hippo Digital; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A digital services partner is seeking a Senior Business Analyst in Manchester to lead user-centred design initiatives and Agile processes. The role involves collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, analyzing user needs, and ensuring effective delivery of solutions that meet client demands. Ideal candidates will have experience in user research and Agile methods, and be ready to contribute to both client and team development.

Benefits

Contributory pension scheme

25 days holiday plus public holidays

Flexible benefits scheme

Cycle-to-work scheme

Salary sacrifice electric vehicles scheme

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in user-centred design and Agile environments.
• Ability to analyze data and share findings effectively.
• Proficient in facilitating workshops and collaborative sessions.

Responsibilities

• Lead workshops with clients to align on goals.
• Develop visual maps like user journeys.
• Manage work based on client needs and solutions.

Skills

User-centred design

Agile methodologies

Data analysis

Stakeholder management

Collaboration

Facilitation skills

Job description

About The Role

Hippo is recruiting for Senior Business Analysts with expertise in user-centred design.

As a senior consultant, you’ll come to Hippo as an expert in business analysis and working in multidisciplinary teams; and a leader of people.

You’re confident using different analysis and modelling techniques to clearly identify and articulate both user and business requirements to our diverse range of clients.

Hippo will provide exciting opportunities to share your expertise and influence clients and team members, and become a better leader.

Please note, we are looking for candidates who are looking for growth at this level (Senior), therefore the advertised salary band is the lower end of our full banding for this level of position, allowing for progression in the role.

As a Senior Business Analyst at Hippo, you’ll:

• Work with designers to create and test early versions of products, making sure they solve user problems
• Lead on the creation of visual maps like user journeys and process flows, to understand the as-is landscape and provide clear, actionable recommendations for improvement
• Work closely with colleagues to translate user research findings into actionable user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
• Lead workshops and other collaborative sessions with teams and clients to align on goals and solutions
• Build strong, lasting relationships with stakeholders
• Support your team and the client with developing their knowledge of user-centred design best practice
• Collaborate with Product Owners, Delivery Managers and other stakeholders to establish and manage a prioritised backlog
• Identify and apply the best Agile processes for projects, measuring outcomes effectively
• Coach and mentor colleagues and other team members
• Actively participate in and shape Hippo’s BA community of practice by sharing best practices, attending events and contributing to internal initiatives
• Be open to occasional travel to client locations to support project activities

About the Candidate

While you don’t need formal qualifications, we’re looking for someone who can show their skills in the following areas:

User-centred design

• You can give advice on how to design things with the user in mind and explain the Business Analyst\'s role in this
• You can work well with designers, influence how user research is planned, and question the research methods used
• You’re familiar with service design standards, such as the Government Digital Service (GDS) standards or equivalents
• You know different ways of gathering requirements, and you can choose the best ways of doing so for a project
• You can analyse data from different sources including website analytics and research findings, and share your findings to help others make decisions
• You've worked in a user-centred design environment before

Agile and multidisciplinary teams

• You can build trust with your team to work well together and have a positive influence
• You’ve got experience planning, running, checking, and changing Agile ways of working for projects
• Understand the overall goals and can adjust the Agile process to fit them
• Explain to clients how different roles contribute to Agile and help them solve problems
• You can communicate your ideas clearly in both spoken and written form, in different situations

Consultancy and business experience

You'll need to:

• Manage your work by focusing on what clients need and making sure solutions meet those needs
• Understand what clients want, write clear proposals, and involve the client in choosing the best options
• Use your own skills and learn from others
• Build new and good relationships with clients and keep them going
• Understand the goals of Hippo and its clients and use this in your daily work and client projects.
• Help set project goals and make sure everyone's work helps achieve them

Professional development

You'll need to:

• Regularly contribute to the Business Analyst group by sharing ideas and starting discussions
• Manage your time to balance your professional development with project work
• Contribute to other professional groups within Hippo
• Regularly share your work and project experiences with the Business Analyst group
• Offer chances for others in the group to get feedback on their work
• Take a leading role in some group activities, being responsible for timelines and delivery

About The Company

As well as a competitive salary which we’re transparent about from the outset, you can also expect a range of benefits:

• Contributory pension scheme (Hippo 6% with employee contributions of 2%)
• 25 days holiday plus UK public holidays
• Perkbox access for a wide range of discounts
• Critical illness cover
• Life assurance and death in service cover
• Volunteer days
• Cycle-to-work scheme for the avid cyclists
• Salary sacrifice electric vehicles scheme
• Season ticket loans
• Financial and general wellbeing sessions
• Flexible benefits scheme with options of:
  • private health cover
  • private dental cover
  • additional company pension contributions
  • additional holidays (up to an extra 2 days)
  • wellbeing contribution
  • charity contributions
  • tree planting

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Hippo

At Hippo, we’re dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace that works for everyone. We understand that having a diverse team unlocks our capacity for innovation, creativity and problem solving. Only by building a community of diverse perspectives, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds can we create an environment where all can contribute and thrive.

We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and people with disabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process that reflects our workplace culture. We are a registered Disability Confident Employer, Mindful Employer, Endometriosis Friendly Employer and a member of the Armed Forces Covenant. Hippo continually strives to remove barriers, provide accommodations and offer reasonable adjustments to ensure equity throughout our practices.

Hi, we’re Hippo.

At Hippo, we design with empathy and build for impact. We do this by combining data-informed evidence, human-centred design and software engineering. We're a digital services partner who is genuinely invested in helping our clients thrive as modern organisations. Our delivery methodology is truly agile, from concept to reality, supporting innovation and continuous improvement to achieve your desired outcomes.

We firmly believe that technology should serve humanity, not the other way around. We take a human-centred approach to everything we do because we understand that complex problems require a service design approach. This means understanding how users behave and ensuring our solutions work for them in the real world.

Our combination of data, design, and engineering delivers bespoke digital services that make a positive and meaningful impact on organisations and society. We're confident in our abilities, authentic in our approach, and passionate about what we do. If you're looking for a digital services partner that can deliver real results, let us help you build for the future and make a lasting impact.

Hippo locations

We are headquartered in Leeds and have offices across the UK in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Bristol. We're on the lookout for top talent nationwide but you need to be located within reasonable travelling distance from one of our offices which will be your contracted office location. Given the dynamic nature of a consulting business, you may be required to work on-site at a Hippo office or at an in/out of town client location for a number of days per week (client dependent) and therefore candidates will need to be open/flexible to travel. Plus, we offer a generous relocation support package of up to £8k (please ask for terms and conditions) to help make your move a smooth one.