Role Title: Technical Business Analyst
Team: Product & Operations - Directory
Reports to: Head of Directory
Employment Type: Full time - Permanent
ABOUT OPEN BANKING LTD (OBL)
Open banking is a simple, secure way for businesses and consumers to take control of their financial data, and share it with third party organisations, so they can access products and services that help them move, manage and make more of their money.
Open Banking Limited (OBL) built the UK’s world-leading Open Banking Standard on which these products and services are based. The nine biggest current account providers were mandated to establish OBL to create, implement and monitor the performance of the Standard following a Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the supply of personal current accounts and banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim was to drive competition, innovation and transparency in this market.
We are also responsible for fuelling the growth of a vibrant ecosystem of fintech firms, banks, and technical providers which deliver open banking-enabled products and services. This includes access to affordable credit, budgeting apps, and new ways to save and invest. You may also see ‘Pay by bank’ or ‘Pay by link’ options offered by organisations as an alternative way to pay using open banking. Many SMEs use open banking via their accounting software to get paid faster, and to see an up-to-date view of all their finances, helping them to make better business decisions.
OBL and the majority of the CMA9 have completed the implementation phase of the CMA Order and we are now working with key stakeholders, such as HM Treasury and regulators, to transition to a new future entity that will be defined by the end of 2024. The future entity will be overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator.
You can find out more on the ‘About us’ , ‘Delivering the roadmap’ and ‘JROC and the future entity’ sections of our website.
ROLE PURPOSE
The OBIE is looking for a Technical Business Analyst to work within the Directory Area in the Technical Delivery Team to work closely with the Product Owner to define the technical requirements for Technical Development and DevOps to assist with ‘As Is’ analysis against the desired future state based on the OB proposition in order to define the current gaps.
To then define and document a set of technical requirements in JIRA following an Agile methodology to address the identified technical requirements. The Technical Business Analyst will take direction from and work closely with the Product Owner and Delivery Manager and third parties where appropriate.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACTIVITIES
- Undertake an ‘As Is’ analysis and ‘To Be’ based on the OB proposition in order to define the current gaps. Define a set of requirements, processes and procedures to address the identified gaps.
- Assist with ongoing industry Working Groups to refine and deliver any Requirements or Specifications relating to future Directory enhancements, working with the Product Owner to deliver clear and concise requirements leading to assisting in the development of the Directory.
- Assist with analysis and documentation for wider OBIE Operations, Release Management, Service Support, Information Security and Incident Management.
- Assist the Scrum Master, or the development team directly in the absence of a Scrum Master, with ‘grooming user stories’ with acceptance criteria to the level they can be actioned by the Scrum team including QA.
- Other Business Implementation activities as and when defined
Elaboration
- Lead elaboration sessions and activity to ensure story readiness against Definition of Ready (DoR) including:
- Draft user stories/tasks with clear descriptions and acceptance criteria's for implementation
- Work with developers and dev ops team members to ensure technical design artefacts are completed
- Ensure Cross Team Elaboration is completed once a new feature has been defined to ensure cross team understanding
- Work with testers to ensure support for development of test approaches and test cases.
- Map updates needed to Business Documentation to support implementation
- Work collaboratively with internal/external teams to refine requirements when required.
Developer & Tester Support
- Provide adhoc query support to developers and testers to provide clarity
- Support review of Test Approaches and Test Cases to ensure appropriate levels of coverage
- Assist with identifying inter-dependencies between pieces of work.
- Assist testers with preparation of testing strategy (this might involve identifying the right tools to use).
- Assist with updating swagger documentation.
Technical Impact Assessments
- Ensure that Technical Impact Assessments for each release are conducted ahead of build so that implementation dependencies can be identified and approve in line with the Release Management process
- Ensure the services and components to be deployed are flagged on JIRA tickets and release note pages and participant facing comms pages
- ID any comms or education requirements around new functionality (Output of elaboration & PO direction)
Communications & Documentation
- Draft Communications on upcoming releases for Product Owner review and approval (in line with the Communications Process)
- Draft updates to internal and external documentation to communicate around additional functionality (in line with the Communications Process)
- Work with delivery manager/scrum master/product owner to identify and notify relevant internal parties/teams upcoming releases and possible impact on internal processes.
- Write documentation required by the Change Delivery Framework and Release Management Process
- Support the Product Owner in the development of benefits cases and tracking of benefits realisation
- Work with delivery manager/scrum master/product owner and outsourced partner to align development/release plans and identify interdependencies.
Defect Management
- On a daily basis ensure incoming defects are triaged by working with developers, testers and DevOps to identify causes of issues, and provide recommendation to product owner on priorities
- Ensure new defects are allocated to a release ( PO alignment needed ) by tagging the Fix Version
Operational Queries
- Provide responses to service desk queries
- Ensure items are added to the backlog following queries raised where follow up action is required
Ceremonies
- Attend & Contribute to Team Meetings and Ceremonies as per Meeting Framework
- Attend & Input to Backlog Grooming
- Chair and provide agendas for Elaboration 2 working days in advance ( Notes page TBC)
- Attend & Contribute Retrospective meetings for your feature team(s)
- Attend & Contribute to Daily Stand-up meetings
General Team Ways of Working
- Align to ways of working - general team principles as per confluence pages General Team Ways of Working.
EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
Essential:
- A minimum of 3-5 years business analysis experience
- Strong documentation and communication skills
- Experience with agile software development + Development Operation philosophies
- Experience with Atlassian tools (JIRA/Confluence)
- Ability to work in an organised, structured and proactive manner
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and work-streams simultaneously
Desirable:
- A background as a senior developer with experience of technologies such as AWS, Java, APIs, oAuth, IAM, Digital Certificates, LDAP etc.
- Experience within an Information Governance, Data Protection and regulatory change role
- Recognised Agile qualifications
- Proven customer relationship building and management experience in a complex stakeholder environment
- Experience with development and testing tools: IntelliJ, Github etc
SKILL SET
- A team player with excellent inter-personal skills
- Analytical
- Tenacious
- Impact and influence in team work
- Prioritisation and time management
- Confident in engagement with people at all levels and across multiple disciplines.
- Attention to detail.
A very competitive company benefits package is provided.
Open Banking Limited is committed to promoting equal opportunities in employment and building an inclusive and diverse workforce. You and any (All) applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (Protected Characteristics).
We are also open to flexible working including job share, part-time and agile working.
