Specialist Solution Analyst

1001 Absa Bank; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Absa Bank is seeking a capable Business Analyst to work within a DevOps team, translating business needs into actionable user stories and specifications for cross-system integration.

You will define acceptance criteria, prioritise the backlog, and collaborate with Tribe Leads to build roadmaps while supporting manual testing and providing mentorship across analysts.

Qualifications

• Proactively build relationships to elicit and validate business needs.
• Translate elicited needs into user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
• Define and prioritise backlog aligned to product roadmaps.
• Collaborate with Tribe Leads to shape product vision and scope.

Responsibilities

• Elicit and document business requirements for Full Stack and cross-system integrations.
• Translate requirements into usable user stories and specifications for DevOps squads.
• Prepare backlog and acceptance criteria for proposed solutions.
• Define testing requirements and support manual testing activities.
• Provide coaching within the DevOps team and across analysts.

Skills

Business Analysis

Requirements Elicitation

User Stories

Backlog Management

Stakeholder Engagement

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

Tools

UML

BPMN

Job description

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time. With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Belonging at Absa Absa is committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from suitably qualified individuals from diverse backgrounds. In support of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) commitments and Employment Equity objectives, preference may be given to candidates from underrepresented designated groups, including persons with disabilities. We encourage applicants who may require reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process to let us know so that appropriate support can be provided.

Job Summary

Work as part of a DevOps team, leverage specialist analysis & testing tools, frameworks, techniques and practices to elicit, define and organize business requirements. Translate & document 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 during design & delivery activity including assuming responsibility for manual application testing processes, frameworks & outcomes

Job Description Analysis (including Business Case)

• 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
• 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 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)
• 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 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

People

• Provide coaching & mentoring across the DevOps team as well as to developing analysts across the estate
• Conduct peer reviews & problem solving within and across the broader team

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

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.