Business Analyst
Salary Competitive
Location London
The Vacancy
Function / Area: Development Team, IT & Operations
Reports To: Development Manager
Position Summary
This is a technical Business Analyst role and is responsible for a full range of activities which ensure the successful delivery of IT and related change programmes to the CNA Hardy business.
The holder of this job profile is committed to excellence in the delivery of business analysis artefacts and the provision of business analysis services. They are expected to become a functional expert on a range of processes and applications used within the organisation, whether developed internally or by third party vendors.
Typically work is delivered as part of assignments to projects being delivered by the IT Development team , potentially in conjunction with one or more third party vendors. Additionally, you may also be required to assist with small projects, and with normal and standard releases for a range of applications, in co-ordination with internal and/or external teams as appropriate.
Specific tasks require such skills as facilitation, influencing, planning, logical thinking, requirements gathering, prioritisation, initiative taking, multi-tasking, problem analysis, solution design, and test planning, all in combination with superb written and oral communication skills.
Key Responsibilities
- Analysis of business problems and requirements and their translation into structured documentation suitable for use by 3rd parties or internal development teams.
- Act as a bridge between business and the development team to ensure that the requirements are well captured, and system changes are well executed as per the requirements.
- Challenge proposed solutions to ensure that they fit within CNA Hardy’s strategy and appetite for risk, solving genuine problems that deliver enhanced business value.
- Breakdown and explain complex concepts to senior stakeholders.
- Apply appropriate tools and methodologies to document, analyze and maintain traceability of business requirements.
- Proactively identify and resolve business process and IT issues.
- Identify and analyse existing ‘business as usual’ inefficiencies.
- Liaise between the business, IT and external parties.
- Adhere to and champion analysis best practices.
- Coordinate user involvement at all stages of the business change cycle, from initial problem analysis through to user acceptance testing, warranty period and beyond.
- Work with the support team to ensure that change initiatives transition smoothly into the live environment, with all appropriate documentation and business as usual processes in place.
- Work with internal or external development teams to ensure that deliverables are of excellent quality and within the scope of the appropriate change initiative.
- Prepare and present training materials using methods appropriate to the audience.
- Assist and support the business with new systems/processes because of project delivery.
- Manage your own time and workload in line with project plans.
- Update management on the progress of owned tasks.
- Escalate issues as appropriate.
- Manage assigned risks and issues.
- Adhere to change, project, and analysis standards defined by CNA Hardy’s management functions.
- May perform other duties as required.
Skills, Knowledge & Abilities
- Requirements Gathering & Documentation: Proficiency in gathering business requirements from underwriters, actuaries, finance, and other stakeholders, translating them into clear technical specifications. Ability to work independently with users to define requirements or under the direction of development Managers. Capable of prioritizing and managing multiple tasks simultaneously.
- Stakeholder Management: Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with internal teams (e.g., developers, testers) and external stakeholders (e.g., underwriters, third-party vendors like Verisk) to ensure alignment on project objectives. Experience in demonstrating the changes to the key stakeholders before users test change changes in UAT.
- Experience with Digitization/Transformation Projects: Prior experience working on digitization or automation projects, ideally within the insurance industry, focusing on process improvement and efficiency.
- Agile/Scrum Methodology: Familiarity with working in Agile environments, participating in sprints, and ensuring timely delivery of features and functionality. Capturing the requirements in epics, user stories and collaborate with the development and QA teams in ensuring that the user stories are well understood and ensure the changes are delivered with good quality.
- Functional Testing & UAT Support: Involvement in functional testing and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phases, ensuring that the developed solutions meet the business requirements and are fit for purpose with Experience in writing UAT test cases.
- Experience in Insurance: Strong understanding of insurance products and rating engines. Experience working with Subscribe, Rulebook or any other policy admin, rating platforms is a good to have. Exposure to a variety of business application systems such as finance, ERP, transaction/data processing, document management, workflow, data warehouses/marts
- Additional requirements:
- Excellent analytical skills, including a thorough understanding of how to interpret customer business needs and translate them into structured documentation suitable for use at all organizational levels.
- Experience of the full software development lifecycle, gained over multiple assignments to a variety of change programs.
- Basic SQL skills and an understanding of relational databases
- Basic skills in understanding and testing the APIs using tools like Postman.
- Ability to analyze and solve problems quickly and effectively while obtaining consensus to the proposed solutions.
- Good matrix management skills and ability to balance competing priorities in time sensitive situations.
- Exposure to a variety of business analysis and project management methodologies.
- Solid interpersonal, consultative and communication skills. Ability to interact effectively at all levels with clients, consultants, vendors, peers, and IT management and staff.
Company Description
Company Overview
CNA Hardy is a leading specialist commercial insurance provider for clients within the Lloyd’s and company markets. We are part of CNA Financial Corp, the 8th largest U.S. commercial property and casualty insurance company. Established in 1897, CNA has approximately 7,000 employees, serving businesses and professionals in the U.S., Canada and Europe. We offer a wide range of products and services, providing a superior suite of insurance solutions that any organisation conducting business requires.