Expert analysis. Cross-functional collaboration. Resolving complex challenges. 

Lead Business Analyst

£55,000 - £63,000 (+ Benefits)

Department: Chief Operating Office

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London. Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship. 

Closing date: 13 December 2024 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: Two competency-based interviews

Interview date: From the 02 January 2025

How do I apply? We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

Cancer Research UK has an extensive technical estate that underpins the charity’s ability to deliver our vision and strategy. The Business Analysis team play an essential role in our mission by bridging the gap between our technology department and the wider organisation. The team ensure we maximise the value of all our technical resources while delivering operational transformation & management and an employee experience that enables us to be an inclusive, well-governed, agile, and sustainable organisation so that we can achieve our mission of beating cancer. This involves championing innovation, providing analytical insight, and driving change across a range of products and services used by 4,000+ staff, 600+ shops, and thousands of supporters who raised £463m towards our life-saving research in 2023/24.

As a Lead Business Analyst, you will lead and coordinate the BA team and the wider technology directorate to deliver a range of large/complex technology and change projects whilst rotating across a range of products; ultimately improving our services and products for the charity’s supporters and staff. This will involve partnering with stakeholders at all levels and the portfolio leadership team to ensure alignment with the technical needs of the charity and its strategic direction.

This is an opportunity for you to lead the development of our Business Analysis team by finessing existing practices and engaging with emerging techniques to improve our ways of working and ensure we deliver in an agile and value-focused way. As a leading expert in the Business Analysis capability, you will drive a culture of knowledge-sharing and continuous improvement by mentoring and line-managing Business Analysts and Senior Business Analysts.

If you are a Lead or Senior Business Analyst who has managed direct reports and simulatanously led and coordinated multiple BA projects across a wide range of business domains and technologies, we’d love for you to join our mission.

What will I be doing?

Line management and capability management:

• Line managing, leading, and developing an inclusive and high functioning team. As a line manager, you will be responsible for creating a positive culture which recognises success, rewards results, and develops and drives high performance to retain talent.

• Collaborating with the capability Head to develop and agree on standard working practices and processes while ensuring end-to-end alignment and utilising Agile and Lean ways of working.

• Proactively facilitating knowledge sharing within the team while leading on the optimisation of the capability, contributing to toolkits, and forming a culture of continuous improvement.

• Maintaining an understanding of the capabilities, processes, and services which make up the Cancer Research UK business and technology landscape with an awareness of current and emerging technologies to ensure that compatible solutions are designed and re-used where suitable.

Business Analysis Practitioner:

• Partnering with stakeholders at all levels to understand the underlying needs of the business as a whole and its strategic direction. 

• Identifying and assessing strategic options for both technical and business suitability, ensuring solutions provide the highest benefit/ cost ratio, and using strong influencing skills when needed. 

• Collaborating with departments across the charity to ensure correlation between requirements, Information Architecture and User Experience, and reengineering processes to ensure alignment across teams.

• Actively contributing to quarterly planning and prioritisation processes to ensure teams are focusing on areas that will provide the best value to the charity. When needed, also enabling the removal of any blockers hampering progress.

• Developing a strong understanding of the business teams and their strategy and using this knowledge to influence decisions while representing both the business and technology appropriately. 

• Defining measures with the wider business to monitor the effectiveness of processes and enable greater efficiency. This will also involve assisting in the development of investment appraisals and providing decision support to ensure that the solutions designed deliver maximum value to the charity.

What skills will I need?

• A Lead or Senior Business Analyst who has managed direct reports

• Simultaneously led and coordinated BA projects across a wide range of business domains and technologies while acting as the bridge between business teams and technology.

• Strong understanding and experience in business analysis skills, techniques, and practices.

• Proven ability to understand, correlate, and bring together business requirements, data, Information Architecture, and User Experience (UX).

• Can bring technical knowledge to the team with a knowledge of data mapping, Development teams, and Architecture.

• Strong communication and stakeholder management with a proven ability to understand stakeholder needs and influence decision-making at all levels within various contexts. 

• Agile and flexible in the management of own day-to-day workload with minimal guidance and supervision, high professional standards, and an awareness of impact beyond own team.

• Able to deliver using an Agile mindset and methodologies.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination  

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism   

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people  

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

Additional Information

For more information about working with us please visit our website or contact us at [email protected].  

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact [email protected] or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.