Senior/Lead Business Analyst

Job Title: Senior Business Analyst Department: Business Change & Transformation Location: Sheffield Working Pattern: Hybrid, includes 3 days each week in the office Contract Type: Full time, permanent Salary: Up to £70,000 per annum Role Overview As a Senior Business Analyst, you will serve as the critical link between our strategic vision and project delivery. Your purpose is to help translate our change agenda into something meaningful – helping us define business needs & understanding expected outcomes into requirements that meet both user and business expectations. You will own our Business Analysis playbook, defining our processes & methodology that helps underpin our ambition to deliver value faster through our delivery lifecycle.

You will lead a team of up to 6 Analysts of varying experience and be accountable for what they do and more critically how they do it. Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership & Analysis Lead end‑to‑end business analysis activities across complex, high‑impact projects within the transformation and delivery portfolio. Act as the principal analytical authority within the business, setting standards, frameworks, and best practice for all BA activity.

Partner with senior stakeholders to translate strategic objectives into actionable requirements, shaping the product and delivery roadmap. Requirements, Design & Solution Definition Own the requirements lifecycle—elicitation, documentation, validation, and change control—ensuring clarity, quality, and alignment with business goals. Facilitate workshops, interviews, and data analysis to understand customer, user, and operational needs across diverse Education and SaaS stakeholder groups.

Produce high‑quality artefacts (process maps, user stories, acceptance criteria, service blueprints, data models) that guide design and engineering teams. Challenge assumptions and propose well‑reasoned solutions that balance customer value, operational efficiency, and technical feasibility. Cross‑Functional Collaboration Serve as the analytical conduit between Product, Technology, Commercial, Customer Success, and Operations teams to ensure cohesive delivery.

Provide analytical leadership during sprint planning, backlog refinement, UAT planning, and release readiness. Data‑Driven Insight & Continuous Improvement Use data and insight to validate hypotheses, prioritise features, and measure the success of delivered solutions. Identify inefficiencies or gaps across business processes, recommending and championing improvements with measurable impact.

Contribute to the development of KPIs and success metrics for product and business outcomes. Governance, Risk & Quality Lead impact assessments, risk identification, and dependency mapping for complex cross‑functional initiatives. Ensure all analytical outputs meet governance, compliance, and audit standards relevant to an EdTech SaaS environment (e.g., safeguarding, data protection).

Act as quality gatekeeper of requirements and BA deliverables across the portfolio. Coaching & Practice Development Manage other Business Analysts and uplift analytical capability across the delivery function. Drive the evolution of the BA practice — tools, templates, methodologies, and ways of working.

Support recruitment, onboarding, and development of junior and mid‑level BAs. What will you need to succeed? Experience Extensive experience operating as a Senior or Lead Business Analyst within complex, multi‑product SaaS or technology‑enabled organisations.

A proven track record of delivering large‑scale change and transformation initiatives end‑to‑end, ideally within environments that blend product development, agile delivery, and operational improvement. Knowledge Deep knowledge of business analysis methodologies, requirements engineering, process design, and end‑to‑end delivery frameworks. Strong understanding of agile practices, product‑led development, and modern SaaS operating models is essential.

Familiarity with data‑driven decision‑making, customer journey design, and service blueprinting will be important. Skills Exceptional analytical, conceptual, and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to break down complexity and communicate insights clearly to technical and non‑technical stakeholders. Adept at facilitating workshops, eliciting requirements, modelling processes, and producing high‑quality artefacts that guide design and delivery.

Strong interpersonal, negotiation, and influencing skills are vital, alongside the ability to lead cross‑functional collaboration and mentor less‑experienced analysts. A bias for clarity, critical thinking, and delivery excellence is key. Qualifications Qualifications such as BCS, IIBA (CBAP/CCBA), Lean Six Sigma, or agile certifications (e.g., Scrum, Product Owner), though equivalent practical experience will be valued equally.

Formal education to degree level in a related field—such as Business, Technology, or Data disciplines—would be beneficial but is not essential - what matters most is behaviours, experience & capability. What do you get in return? 25 days annual leave rising to 30 5% pension after probation State of the art offices Access to a range of benefits via My Benefits World Free eye care cover Life Assurance Cycle to Work Scheme EAP (Employee assistance programme) Quarterly Tes Socials Access to an extensive Learning and Development menu #J-18808-Ljbffr