Business Analyst

Citizens Advice SORT Group is a growing and ambitious organisation determined to deliver the highest quality services to the communities we serve. We are leading providers of information, advice and casework services and support tens of thousands of clients every year.

Join our Innovation Team! We're looking for a curious and analytical Business Analyst to join our innovation team and help us understand how our services work, where they can work better, and how technology and data can support the tens of thousands of people who come to us for help each year.

About the Role As a Business Analyst, you will sit at the point where our services, our data and our technology meet. You'll work alongside operational colleagues to understand how things are done today, use our data to show what is really happening, and help shape practical changes that improve outcomes for clients and make life easier for the people delivering advice.

Your work will span:

• Discovery and requirements: running workshops and interviews with advisers, managers and partners to understand needs, map processes and define what good looks like before anything is built.
• Data and reporting: turning information from our case management, telephony and digital systems into clear reporting that services, funders and commissioners can act on.
• Change and improvement: supporting projects from idea through to delivery, including testing, documentation and making sure new ways of working actually stick.
• Working with our developers: acting as the bridge between operational teams and the developers building tools such as Caddy and CaseNote, so that what we build solves a real problem.

You don't need to have held the job title of Business Analyst before. If you have worked in an analytical, insight, performance or service improvement role and you enjoy getting to the bottom of how things work, we would like to hear from you. We will support you to build the formal business analysis skills you don't yet have.

We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination. We encourage and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups, as they are currently under-represented in our workforce.

Other organisations may call this role Business Improvement Officer, Insight & Improvement Analyst, Service Design Analyst, Data & Insight Officer or Systems Analyst. Essential skills and experience:

• Experience in an analytical, insight, performance, service improvement or similar role, or experience as an analyst now looking to move into business analysis.
• Ability to ask good questions, get to the bottom of what people actually need, and write it down clearly so that others can act on it.
• Confident use of Excel to pull apart, check and present data, and a willingness to learn reporting tools such as Power BI or Looker Studio.
• Ability to research, analyse and interpret information and produce clear written and verbal reports for a range of audiences.
• An eye for how a process works in practice and where it could work better, and the curiosity to go and find out.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to earn the trust and respect of colleagues at all levels.
• Ability to work collaboratively and effectively in a team environment, and to manage competing priorities to agreed deadlines.
• Ability to use a variety of IT and digital systems and packages, and to learn new ones quickly.

Desirable skills and experience:

• Demonstrable experience in a business analyst or equivalent role, including requirements gathering, process mapping or writing user stories.
• Experience of supporting the delivery of change or improvement projects.
• Working knowledge of Power BI, Looker Studio, Tableau or an equivalent reporting or visualisation tool.
• Experience of working in the charity, advice or wider third sector, or in another public service setting.
• Experience of working alongside development teams.
• Familiarity with SQL, Python or other tools for querying and manipulating data.
• Awareness of how AI and automation are being applied to service delivery.

Requirements for role

• An understanding and commitment to equity and the positive value of diversity and inclusion and its application to service delivery in the charity sector.

• Ability to commit to and work within the values, aims, principles and policies of the Citizens Advice service in which equity and diversity is embedded throughout.

• A proven commitment to the continuous professional development of self and wider teams.

• Willingness and ability to work unsocial hours on occasion (including weekends), with travel across the North West and other parts of the country.

• Proven ability to keep up to date with technology and take individual responsibility for learning new technologies.

Requirements and analysis• Work with service leads, managers and frontline teams to identify, capture and document business requirements for new and improved services, systems and processes.

• Translate business needs into clear, well-structured documentation including process maps, user stories, functional specifications and acceptance criteria.
• Analyse existing processes and systems to identify inefficiencies, duplication, risk and opportunities for improvement.
• Contribute to options appraisals, cost/benefit analysis and business cases that support decision making at management and board level.

Data and insight • Interrogate data from case management, telephony, digital and finance systems to build an accurate picture of demand, performance and client outcomes.

• Design, build and maintain reports and dashboards that give services and funders the intelligence they need, using tools such as Excel, Power BI, Looker Studio or equivalent.
• Ensure data is recorded consistently and accurately across the group, working with service leads to adapt recording practice where it does not meet reporting needs.
• Provide data and insight to support funding bids, contract reporting, business cases and the development of new services.

Change and continuous improvement• Support the delivery of change and improvement projects from discovery through to implementation and benefits realisation.

• Facilitate workshops, interviews and user research sessions with colleagues, volunteers, clients and partners.
• Test and quality assure new systems and processes, coordinating user acceptance testing and feeding findings back to developers and suppliers.
• Produce guidance, training materials and documentation so that changes are adopted and sustained by the teams who use them.

Innovation and learning• Keep up to date with developments in business analysis, data and technology, including the use of AI and automation in the advice sector.

• Contribute to a digital, data and innovation strategy that drives forward continuous improvement and delivers value for money services.
• Work with your line manager to develop an annual learning and development plan which meets your development needs and the needs of the organisation

This full-time role, working 35 hours per week with first-class benefits:

• A salary of up to £34,376 per annum
• 30 days' annual leave plus bank holiday (progressing to 35 days after 5 years)
• 3% employer pension contribution
• Employee assistance scheme
• Salary sacrifice scheme
• Perks and savings scheme
• Mental health and wider wellbeing support
• Learning, development and growth opportunities
• This is a fantastic opportunity for someone to work collaboratively to deliver data-driven continuous improvement and innovation.
• So, if you're looking for a new challenge and want the opportunity to help cultivate an innovative and client-focused culture, we want to hear from you.