Lead Solution Analyst

Absa Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Absa Bank Limited is seeking a senior Business Analyst to operate in a DevOps environment, driving analysis for complex business areas and translating requirements into ready-to-use user stories for cross-functional squads.

You will build strong relationships, prioritise backlogs, define acceptance criteria and testing requirements, and collaborate with Tribe Leads to map requirements to product roadmaps.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology or equivalent.
• Proven experience leading complex business analysis activities.
• Ability to elicit, validate and translate needs into actionable user stories.

Responsibilities

• Lead the analysis process for complex business areas.
• Translate elicited needs into user stories for DevOps teams.
• Prepare and prioritise backlog of requirements linked to proposed solutions.
• Define acceptance criteria and testing requirements for features.
• Collaborate with Tribe Leads to build roadmaps and solution scopes.
• Support development of business cases with effort estimations.

Skills

Business analysis

Stakeholder management

User stories

Agile

Education

Bachelor's Degree Information Technology

Tools

UML

BPMN

JIRA

Job description

Job Summary

Work in high complexity environments, fully embedded in a DevOps team, leveraging specialist analysis tools, frameworks, techniques and practices to elicit, define and organize business requirements, across multiple stakeholder groups. Translate & document these business requirements into user stories & specifications (Full Stack, Cross System) detailing integration points, business & associated risk / opportunities to be realised. And following this analysis, work collaboratively within squads to ensure the business requirements are met through DevOps design & delivery activity & lead the application of testing processes & frameworks ensuring all products & services are effectively tested.

Business complexity is determined by:

1. Customer Impact
2. Number of integration points:
   • Data
   • Teams to talk to
   • Systems
   • Enabling function
   • 3rd party vs. internal
3. Complexity of business rules & Process
4. Level of operational readiness
5. Introduction of new or changing old Tech (e.g. redo platforms)

Job Description Analysis (including Business Case)

• Lead the analysis process for complex business areas
• Proactively build relationships, apply analytical techniques to elicit and validate business (product & service) needs ahead of demand
• Implement routines to get to know / become an expert in various business processes (e.g. spend time in business & with users)
• Translate elicited needs and knowledge acquired into user story format that is immediately usable for DevOps teams (right languaging, format for building & testing)
• Prepare and prioritise the backlog of requirements for the user stories linked to the proposed solutions
• Proactively scan the internal & external environment to predict change requirements & opportunities for improvement ahead of demand (e.g. market, risk, regulatory, customer, organizational change etc.)
• Work collaboratively with Tribe Leads (Technical Product / Service Owners) to build a roadmap & vision for the products and services (including detailed analysis requirements & solution scope)
• Define measures of success & key outcomes for various solutions / changes including detailed acceptance criteria for all features
• Define testing requirements (pass or fail test cases)
• Support the development of detailed business cases (including defining solution characteristics, effort estimations etc.)

Solution Design (within DevOps Context)

• Translate business requirements into an integrated system vision & detailed systems requirements. Detailed system requirements must include all capabilities, interfaces and functionalities within and across technologies.
• Build detailed user stories to be leveraged for system requirements design (modular)
• Leverage business analysis & modeling tools and apply notation standards such as UML/BPMN to diagrammatically/visually document: business requirements, business processes, system processes & integration .
• Facilitate processes to ensure integrated requirements are socialized, understood & approved across the broad range of stakeholders to be impacted (this includes various processes e.g. risk / governance forums, change council, scrum meetings / DevOps team capability building, solution design sessions etc.)
• Understand & leverage knowledge on the organisations technical landscape, environment and broader architecture to define integration points across tech stacks for various requirements
• Work collaboratively with project / program teams, squads, scrum masters and engineers to define backlog, release & DevOps / project planning implications of the requirements development & roadmap (what should happen when)
• Work as part of the embedded DevOps team to continuously improve system requirements mapping (e.g. leverage input from questions asked etc. to consistently improve the quality of the requirements analysis for easier interpretation by the development teams)
• Work as part of the embedded DevOps team throughout the design process to review solution design (features and functionality)
• Facilitate resolution & decision making during development & testing phases for any change requirements

Solution Delivery & Testing (manual)

• Define the manual testing strategy & test cases for various solutions (where it makes sense to do so)
• Define & validate quality & testing parameters (+/-) & plans for the solution (socialize & translate these to automation testing teams)
• Develop manual testing frameworks and patterns for the solution
• Lead the manual testing process for various solutions (e.g. execute test cases, analyse results)
• Provide real time feedback to the DevOps teams on change requirements identified throughout the testing process
• Review & monitor system stability, resilience etc. throughout the testing process (e.g. integration) & in production
• Define & monitor overall backlog planning for effective solution delivery
• Provide Developer & User support during user acceptance testing

Process Design & Modelling

• Provide input & or lead the development / improvement of organization wide process design approaches, templates & modeling tools

People

• Provide coaching & mentoring across the DevOps team as well as to developing analysts across the estate
• Build strong analysis capability across the analysis team
• Conduct peer reviews & problem solving within and across the broader team
• Provide technical subject matter expertise and support in the attraction and recruitment of Analysts for the organization
• Participate as a subject matter expert in the development & development planning of the broader analyst team
• Support the people change teams in the design of adoption processes (Customer, Employee & 3rd Party Adoption of new system requirements)
• Proactively attract, recruit, develop, retain, reward & deploy & manage a diverse resource base aligned to an ever evolving tech environment (ahead of demand) where you are the leader

Education Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank. Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised At Absa, our story is not a single narrative. It’s thousands of individual journeys unfolding across Africa and beyond. From colleagues serving customers in local communities to teams shaping financial solutions across borders, Absa is built on people who bring their lived experiences, ambitions and perspectives into the workplace every day. Whether you’re starting your career, a seasoned leader or somewhere in between, your contribution is seen, valued and connected to something bigger. Our presence across Africa – which spans personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management, and insurance – exists because of the people who show up in their roles with purpose. Across Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, our colleagues are shaping what Absa becomes in each market. Beyond the continent, teams in global offices and a technology hub support and extend the stories that prove that African talent can lead, influence and innovate on the global stage. At Absa, your story matters because progress is driven by human experience, not hierarchy. When people are enabled to bring their whole selves to work, they don’t just build careers. They help shape the future of Africa’s financial services landscape.