Systems Thinking Business Analyst

PA Consulting; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A global consulting firm is seeking experienced Business Analysts to join their dynamic team in Manchester. This role involves hybrid working and providing critical business insights to clients in diverse sectors, including defence and transport. Candidates should have a minimum of two years of relevant experience and a strong background in stakeholder management and problem-solving. You will engage in exciting projects that challenge existing systems while working collaboratively to unlock better decision-making and business outcomes.

Benefits

Health and lifestyle benefits

25 days annual leave plus additional days

Generous company pension scheme

Annual performance-based bonus

PA share ownership

Tax efficient benefits like cycle to work

Qualifications

• Minimum of two years' experience as a Business Analyst or related field.
• Ability to facilitate workshops and elicit requirements from stakeholders.
• Competence in industry-recognized tools for data handling and analysis.

Responsibilities

• Define and steer business analysis workstreams across various projects.
• Capture and manage process requirements to ensure alignment with objectives.
• Build compelling cases for change and manage transformation efforts.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Problem solving

Critical thinking

Communication skills

Education

Business Analysis certification

Relevant Bachelor's degree

Tools

Data handling tools

Requirements management tools

Job description

Company Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.

As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity.

Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

Job Description

• Hybrid working - our approach is to be in the office or on client site a minimum of 2 days per week. However, the actual time you spend and where you spend it will vary by role or assignment, including up to 5 days per week on a client site.
• We work flexibly at PA, but your work base will be whichever of the following offices is nearest to you : , , ,
• Apply asap closing date 5th January 2026

Systems Insight & Solutions at PA

Our Systems Insight and Solutions team combine deep industry insights with innovative systems approaches, across engineering, architecture and modelling, and methods to help organisations achieve exceptional results that have a lasting impact on businesses, communities, and people worldwide. Our Business Analysts play a key role in delivering practical solutions which help to achieve these results. We are looking for security cleared Business Analysts across a variety of levels who wish to develop their career. You will be a part of a team providing direction, guidance, and support to both clients and PA's wider business.

Business Analysts at PA work on some of the most exciting and diverse projects across a wide-ranging set of clients. We have been crucial in the delivery of large-scale defence platforms, the development of cutting-edge transport solutions which are shaped by the requirements of modern societies, and helped to map processes and systems in complex environments, enhancing data capabilities and analytics of a strategic client. These are just a few examples of some of the inspiring and ground-breaking work we do.

The scope of your involvement with projects will be vast and varied, helping organisations to define their needs and optimise their business. You will have the opportunity to :

• Work with our clients to define and steer business analysis workstreams across programmes and projects
• Work with clients to ensure processes are defined and requirements are captured and managed effectively
• Help clients build a compelling case for change and manage transformation in a controlled and effective way
• Provide support to programme and project implementation
• Work with clients to unlock better decision making that ensures alignment between strategy and delivery
• Analyse and help clients maximise the complex and connected systems within which they operate
• Develop personal knowledge and skills by attending and delivering training

Qualifications

Ideally, you will have :

• A minimum of two years' experience of working as a Business Analyst or using business analysis skills as a Systems Engineer or Systems Thinker, and have worked in the following sectors :
• Defence and Security
• Transport
• Energy and Utilities
• Public Services
• Demonstrable experience employing the approaches, tools, and responsibilities of a business analyst in complex system and programme environments
• Translate stakeholder needs into clear functional and non-functional requirements and ensure traceability between business objectives, system requirements, and design decisions
• Facilitating workshops and interviews with key stakeholders to elicit requirements and key information
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, particularly as a bridge between business stakeholders and technical teams
• Exceptional interpersonal skills to build strong relationships with top-level stakeholders
• Strong problem solving and critical thinking skill with the ability to navigate highly ambiguous environments
• Excellent communication skills including ability to translate complex system and business concepts to wider audiences
• Competence in industry recognised tools used for data handling, analysis and requirements management
• A desire to support PA's internal capabilities and develop PA's Business Analysis expertise

Desirable experience

• Performing gap analyses, and devising strategies to tackle complex challenges
• Designing future-state processes aligned with systems thinking principles
• Mediating between low-level technical detail and higher-level objectives
• Understanding test approaches and experience in supporting testing activities, including development and execution
• Certifications in Business Analysis (, BCS)
• Defining the business analysis approach for large scale programmes and complex procurements
• Experience of coaching and developing teams to adopt business analysis approaches and frameworks
• Analysing operational and performance data to identify patterns and inform system design
• Informing decision-making with evidence-based insights, recommendations and scenario modelling
• Conducting options analysis, including impact analysis for system and risk considerations
• Completing a current state analysis of business functions to inform strategy execution
• Establishing metrics to measure system performance and business outcomes

For more senior roles we would expect you to have led teams of BAs, workstreams and interactions with key clients, managed commercial aspects of assignments, managed bids and business development and delivered internal projects.

This is a fantastic opportunity to grow and develop yourself and your career at PA, so we are also looking for excellent interpersonal skills and the drive to succeed

We know the skill-gap and ‘somewhat need to tick every box’ can get in the way of meeting brilliant candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply – we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today

Please be aware that some of our UK roles at PA Consulting require a UK security clearance.

All PA people are required to undergo background checks and to achieve the Baseline Personnel Security Standard however, some UK roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting, where applicants must have at least 5 years of continuous residency in the UK.

We therefore ask that you only apply if you meet the residency requirements ( you are a British citizen or have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years), as this is the prerequisite for a security clearance. If you're unsure about your eligibility, we encourage you to review the UK Government’s guidance on security vetting before applying.

#LI-KP1

Additional Information

Life At PA encompasses our peoples' experience at PA. It's about how we enrich peoples’ working lives by giving them access to unique people and growth opportunities and purpose led meaningful work.

Our purpose guides how we work with our clients and our teams, and support our communities, to deliver insight and impact, solving the world’s most complex challenges. We're focused on building a workplace that values human difference and diverse mindsets, and a culture of inclusion and equality that unlocks the potential in our people so everyone can be their best self.

Benefits

• Health and lifestyle perks accompanying private healthcare
• 25 days annual leave (plus a bonus half day on Christmas Eve) with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days
• Generous company pension scheme
• Opportunity to get involved with community and charity-based initiatives
• Annual performance-based bonus
• PA share ownership
• Tax efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn)

We’re committed to advancing equality.We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity (or expression), political belief, veteran status, or any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups.

Adjustments or accommodations - Should you need any adjustments or accommodations to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us on