Digital Business Analyst - IT

Position Overview:

To capture business requirements, interpret them into functional and non-functional user stories and acceptance criteria and validate them with the business. To work alongside technical teams using Agile ceremonies to refine, plan, estimate, and take into sprint stories by Epic as agreed. As development is completed, work with the Product Owners to validate the development completed before it reaches an informal and formal UAT test phase. Act as the lynch pin between the business stakeholders and IT teams to ensure a seamless understanding of all requirements for their vertical workstream are completed and fully documented using data to inform decisions made during the requirements / Agile ceremony processes. Where applicable, the business analyst will identify gaps/changes between as-is and to-be processes to facilitate the business change and training function within the programme. The business analyst will work alongside and horizontally between vertical workstreams to ensure the capture of requirements determines a seamless customer journey/experience. Data is always used to validate decisions/requirements where possible.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop strong, collaborative challenging relationships with all key Clarks Business Stakeholders
• Develop strong, collaborative, challenging relationships with all 3rd party partners involved within the programme
• To understand the Enterprise landscape of the re-platform programme as a whole
• To be an SME on their specific vertical workstream and how this “plays into” the overall programme landscape, the dependencies it has and the dependencies it provides on their vertical workstream and on other vertical workstreams
• To capture, document and validate all Clarks Business requirements using a variety of methods
• Critically evaluate information gathered from multiple sources, reconcile conflicts, decompose high-level information into details, abstract up from low-level information to a general understanding, and distinguish user requests from the underlying true business needs.
• To convert all requirements into user stories under specific Epic structures
• User stories must be of a manageable size and contain a full set of acceptance criteria agreed with the Product Owners and business stakeholders
• Work alongside scrum teams to complete all Agile ceremonies pertinent to their vertical workstream
• To use data to inform any decisions that require making where appropriate
• To assist development teams with initial in-dev QA testing prior to release into upstream environments
• To always be in mind of the Clarks Brand and its customer journey not just now but capabilities which should be built for the future
• To challenge and ask questions to validate any development that does not “appear correct”
• To assist the Test team with compilation of test user stories which will effectively confirm the accurate development of their requirements and user stories
• To assist any other Business Analyst with any work as required in any other vertical workstream
• To assist with both the informal and formal business UAT test phase
• Capture any requirements not included within the initial scope for Go-live with as much detail / data to support the requirement
• Leverage your experience, expertise and good judgement to make quick decisions in a fast moving and ever-changing environment
• Proactively communicate and collaborate with external and internal customers
• Map as-is and To-be business processes and identify gaps / changes that will be required with adoption of the new platform and associated products and share with the Business Change team
• Work with tools and applications as provided. Ake recommendations for other tools as / when appropriate with the base argument / rationale for adoption having looked at and assessed any alternatives
• Successfully engage in multiple initiatives simultaneously
• Be able to work under their own initiative as well as collaboratively as / when required
• Avoid assumptions and work through them to determine fact-based outcomes using problem solving techniques
• Contribute to any workstream governance and reporting as required
• Manage the RAIDD log alongside the vertical workstream lead as appropriate
• Maintain an accurate repository for all documentation with appropriate version control
• Actively contribute to the definition of key performance indicators, benefits realisation and how they are materialised
• Keep abreast of best practice and innovation within retail and ecommerce, with a particular focus on the relevant business domain(s). Share knowledge and findings with the broader IS community and business stakeholders, and add any points of interest to the post go-live backlog
• Actively maintain and develop your own Business Analyst skills by self-study and independent research.
• Work with the Lead Business Analyst to improve the overall Business analysis capability within Clarks
• Be an advocate for Agile ways of working and assist the enablement of other Clarks team members

Qualifications:

• University degree or equivalent
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience of delivering support to business-critical systems
• Expert Knowledge of business processes in one or more relevant business areas
• Deep understanding of the design of robust application solutions to support business requirements
• Good Understanding of enterprise architecture and the integration points between application/technology areas
• Deep understanding of business process design and structured analysis techniques
• Deep understanding of the design, build, testing and implementation of application solutions
• Business analyst experience gained in a retailer of equivalent scale and complexity to Clarks, or with a Consulting Partner incorporating a full or part eCommerce Transformation
• Knowledgeable in the business field related to the particular technical vertical workstream and product it covers
• Solid understanding of the business purpose and KPIs of the technical product within the vertical workstream
• Understanding of the issues faced by businesses and experience in working with them to create robust, scalable, flexible, and relevant software solutions
• Deep technical expertise depending on the particular technical product vertical
• Knowledgeable about latest trends in the technical product area and the relevant technologies
• Entrepreneurial self-starter who is self-motivated but also a team player / able to work collaboratively
• Expertise in agile software development and in leading and inspiring business and engineering teams in a technical product-led organisation
• Proven track record of eliciting business and technology requirements
• Experience with designing creative, quality customer technical products by defining business requirements, as well as enabling business capabilities and objectives through technology in an Agile environment
• Experience in leading cross-functional teams and motivate them to go the extra mile working with all teams to produce high quality artefacts as part of the product delivery process
• Strong technical product intuition and user empathy
• Strong skills in the use of IT methodology, tools, and techniques
• Strong analytical and product management skills required, including a thorough understanding of how to interpret customer/business needs together with the technology platform road map into manageable product backlog user stories and acceptance criteria
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with strong attention to detail and the ability to interact professionally with a diverse group, executives, managers, and subject matter experts including the 3rd parties