Feature Analyst

Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (SA) Ltd; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 350,000 - 500,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services organization in Cape Town is seeking a Feature Analyst to facilitate business requirements and translate them into user stories. This role involves collaborating with business stakeholders and agile teams to enhance the overall customer experience. The ideal candidate has 4-6 years of experience and strong skills in agile methodologies. A commitment to continuous improvement is essential.

Qualifications

• 4 to 6 years’ experience in business applications and exposure to IT functions.
• Broad experience in understanding end to end IT solution designs.
• Business analysis certification is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate the clarification of business requirements into user stories.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to analyze needs and produce user story requirements.
• Support agile practices and encourage continual improvement.

Skills

Agility and adaptability

Problem solving

Teamwork/collaboration

Stakeholder management

Education

NQF Level 7 - Degree, Advance Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate

Tools

JIRA

Confluence

Miro

Draw.IO

Job description

Old Mutual is a firm believer in the African opportunity and our diverse talent reflects this.

Job Description

• The Feature Analyst is accountable for facilitating the clarification of the business requirements and for translating the requirements into user stories with acceptance criteria and the related artifacts. The feature analysts work in close collaboration with the business stakeholders, and the agile team to ensure end to end understanding of the epics, features and the value it delivers.
• Support prioritizing and planning work activities within the agile team.
• Facilitate and participate in discovery/inception workshops to create a shared understanding of user needs and the potential technology solution required to deliver to these needs.
• Identify and document user journeys, which map out how a user will navigate through the system.
• Define problem or opportunity statement.
• Work in close collaboration with the PO to define and maintain the backlog.
• Work ahead of the team to get clarity on some (not all) requirements before the next iteration.
• Facilitate requirement analysis through elicitation workshops, design thinking sessions.
• Ability to demonstrate how product features address customer needs and deliver tangible benefits to enhance the overall customer experience.
• Decompose features into user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Deliver artifacts using analysis techniques.
• Create user journeys and system workflows demonstrated through wireframes, detailed process maps, and functional prototypes that demonstrate feature requirements visually and allow stakeholders to validate designs through hands-on testing.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams comprised of product management, UI/UX, technology, support, testing and other subject matter experts to gather and analyse functional and system needs and producing user story requirements.
• Groom user stories through business interviews, workshops or procedures and map user stories ensuring they come together as a cohesive whole.
• Ability to quantify the value of the recommended solution.
• Provide the Product Owner with key information for prioritization and estimation.
• Facilitate and participate in iteration meetings (product backlog grooming, planning meeting, daily stand up, review meeting and retrospective).
• Review and refine user stories with PO, Developers and testers.
• Support showcasing stories to stakeholders.
• Assists and give input in the prioritization of user stories and acceptance criteria for optimal business value.
• Support agile practices and encourage the improvement of service.
• Participate in the various agile events such as sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospectives, sprint review, daily stand-ups, and PI planning.
• Seeks feedback from the team to continuously improve user story development and Agile practices.
• Clarify the goals and business value of Minimum Marketable Features/Minimal Viable Products.
• Provide regular feedback by testing the deliverables against a user story’s acceptance criteria.
• Provide regular feedback by validating that the product meets the business goals.
• Test cases for system
• Ability to create testable acceptance criteria.
• Provide support and input into system testing activities including participating in the development of the testing approach, test cases as well as support the creation of testing scenarios.
• Create a shared understanding of what the product is supposed to do.
• Collaborate with the rest of the feature team to ensure that stories are delivered effectively, and quality standards are adhered to.
• Collaborate with developers, testers and user experience team to ensure that they are engaged ‘in the work’ to understand business context.
• 4 to 6 years’ experience in business apps & exposure to IT functions.
• Has broad knowledge and experience understanding end to end IT solution designs.
• BA / IT Qualification
• Business analysis certification
• Agile certification and experience would be preferred
• Experience working with JIRA & Confluence, Miro, Draw.IO
• Agility and adaptability.
• Planning and prioritization.
• Problem solving and decision-making skills.

Let's Write Africa's Story Together!

Old Mutual is a firm believer in the African opportunity and our diverse talent reflects this.

Job Description

• The Feature Analyst is accountable for facilitating the clarification of the business requirements and for translating the requirements into user stories with acceptance criteria and the related artifacts. The feature analysts work in close collaboration with the business stakeholders, and the agile team to ensure end to end understanding of the epics, features and the value it delivers.
• Support prioritizing and planning work activities within the agile team.
• Facilitate and participate in discovery/inception workshops to create a shared understanding of user needs and the potential technology solution required to deliver to these needs.
• Identify and document user journeys, which map out how a user will navigate through the system.
• Define problem or opportunity statement.
• Work in close collaboration with the PO to define and maintain the backlog.
• Work ahead of the team to get clarity on some (not all) requirements before the next iteration.
• Facilitate requirement analysis through elicitation workshops, design thinking sessions.
• Ability to demonstrate how product features address customer needs and deliver tangible benefits to enhance the overall customer experience.
• Decompose features into user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Deliver artifacts using analysis techniques.
• Create user journeys and system workflows demonstrated through wireframes, detailed process maps, and functional prototypes that demonstrate feature requirements visually and allow stakeholders to validate designs through hands-on testing.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams comprised of product management, UI/UX, technology, support, testing and other subject matter experts to gather and analyse functional and system needs and producing user story requirements.
• Groom user stories through business interviews, workshops or procedures and map user stories ensuring they come together as a cohesive whole.
• Ability to quantify the value of the recommended solution.
• Provide the Product Owner with key information for prioritization and estimation.
• Facilitate and participate in iteration meetings (product backlog grooming, planning meeting, daily stand up, review meeting and retrospective).
• Review and refine user stories with PO, Developers and testers.
• Support showcasing stories to stakeholders.
• Assists and give input in the prioritization of user stories and acceptance criteria for optimal business value.
• Support agile practices and encourage the improvement of service.
• Participate in the various agile events such as sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospectives, sprint review, daily stand-ups, and PI planning.
• Seeks feedback from the team to continuously improve user story development and Agile practices.
• Clarify the goals and business value of Minimum Marketable Features/Minimal Viable Products.
• Provide regular feedback by testing the deliverables against a user story’s acceptance criteria.
• Provide regular feedback by validating that the product meets the business goals.
• Test cases for system
• Ability to create testable acceptance criteria.
• Provide support and input into system testing activities including participating in the development of the testing approach, test cases as well as support the creation of testing scenarios.
• Wear different hats: designer, tester, facilitator, product owner, scrum master, etc.
• Create a shared understanding of what the product is supposed to do.
• Collaborate with the rest of the feature team to ensure that stories are delivered effectively, and quality standards are adhered to.
• Collaborate with developers, testers and user experience team to ensure that they are engaged ‘in the work’ to understand business context.
• 4 to 6 years’ experience in business apps & exposure to IT functions.
• Has broad knowledge and experience understanding end to end IT solution designs.
• BA / IT Qualification
• Business analysis certification
• Agile certification and experience would be preferred
• Experience working with JIRA & Confluence, Miro, Draw.IO
• Financial Services experience
• Agility and adaptability.
• Strong behavioural skills.
• Planning and prioritization.
• Problem solving and decision-making skills.
• Oral & written communication skills.
• Teamwork/collaboration.
• Facilitation skills.
• Stakeholder management / relationship building skills.
• Continuous improvement.

The Feature Analyst II is responsible for translating moderately complex business
requirements into clear, actionable user stories and functional specifications.
Working with a level of autonomy, the incumbent facilitates the elicitation and
clarification of requirements through collaboration with business stakeholders and
agile delivery teams. This job contributes to the analysis and refinement of epics
and features, ensuring a shared understanding of the business value and the
intended user outcomes. It guides the definition of acceptance criteria, produces
relevant analysis artifacts, and supports the agile team throughout the delivery
cycle. This job applies analytical thinking and facilitation skills to ensure alignment
between business goals and technology solutions, while identifying opportunities to
continuously improve both user experience and product performance.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Business Requirements Identification | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/DIGITAL | BUSINESS AND SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

Collect business requirements using a variety of methods, such as interviews, document analysis, workshops, and workflow analysis, to express the requirements in terms of target user roles and goals.

Feature Product and Solution Development | PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT | PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Contribute to the analysis and evaluation of complex features and user stories to ensure alignment with business goals and delivery priorities across multiple teams or workstreams. Supports defining the breakdown of epics into features, and features into user stories with clearly defined acceptance criteria, ensuring alignment with Program Increment planning cycles. Work closely with business and technical stakeholders to refine and shape product solutions

Agile Backlog Management | PROJECT AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT | PROJECT/PROGRAM/PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Review the backlog of work for a small project and reprioritize the work and deployment of project resources to reduce costs and increase the value of the work delivered to the business.

Business Case | GENERAL | ADVICE

Carry out feasibility and assessment work for proposed and current projects to contribute to the development and continuous review of business cases.

Requirements Management | PROJECT AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT | PROJECT/PROGRAM/PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Identify, elicit, and document project/process requirements, using appropriate modeling technique, if required. Analyze requirements and validate with original users, eliminating confusion. Maintain documentation and traceability throughout project.

Analysis of "As Is" and "To Be" | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/DIGITAL | BUSINESS AND SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

Document "as is" and "to be" processes and describe the changes required to migrate to the "to be" capability to record accurately the change required.

Documentation and Backup | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/DIGITAL | DATA MANAGEMENT

Create and maintain technical and/or user documentation to a high standard, and back up files to ensure instant recovery if problems occur.

Enterprise Business Analysis | PROJECT AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT | PROJECT/PROGRAM/PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Interpret the business need and identify solution recommendations to business problems at a business unit level.

Feasibility Studies | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/DIGITAL | BUSINESS AND SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

Contribute to and support feasibility studies from a technological and organizational perspective, and document findings.

Prototype Development | PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT | PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Coordinate and deliver prototype development projects

Testing | RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT | RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Develop product specifications and design test procedures and standards. Collaborate with testing teams to develop and validate test cases and ensure alignment with business requirements.

Continuous Improvement | GENERAL | INNOVATION

Review existing operations in own area of work and implement innovation processes to generate new ideas and ensure continuous improvements are delivered. Foster Agile thinking by encouraging feedback loops within the team and continuously improving analysis and delivery practices.

Skills

Adaptive Thinking, Business Analysis Tools, Business Case Development, Business Intelligence (BI) Analysis, Change Readiness Assessment, Current State Analysis, Define Future State/TO-BE State, Performance Gap Analysis, Performance Improvements, Product Change Management, Project Estimations, Project Risk Management, Requirements Elicitation and Facilitation, Requirements Validation, Requirements Verification

Competencies

Education

NQF Level 7 - Degree, Advance Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate or equivalent (Required)

Closing Date

20 August 2025 , 23:59

The appointment will be made from the designated group in line with the Employment Equity Plan of Old Mutual South Africa and the specific business unit in question.

The Old Mutual Story!

About Us

Old Mutual is a premium African financial services organisation that offers a broad spectrum of financial solutions to retail and corporate customers across key market segments in 14 countries. The lines of business include Life and Savings, Property and Casualty, Asset Management and Banking and Lending.
We are rooted in our purpose of Championing Mutually Positive Futures Every Day and believe that a great customer experience is anchored in a great employee experience.