Senior Functional Business Analyst (Pensions)

Background The client is undergoing a transformation. Restructuring has reduced onshore, in-sourced operational capacity, including SME and Operations Analyst roles, while regulatory and operational demand continues to rise. Senior Business Analysts will fill this gap, bringing both analysis discipline and the ability to work through pensions operational complexity. The role supports the integration of group operations and may include backfill for front-book work.

Role Purpose Provide strong functional business analysis across pensions transformation, regulatory change and operational delivery. The BA will work in the space between analyst and SME, unpicking complex processes, rules and exceptions, and turning them into clear requirements, process designs and delivery-ready outputs.

Key Responsibilities

• Elicit, analyse and document business and functional requirements across pensions administration processes
• Map current and target-state processes, identifying inefficiencies, risks and automation or simplification opportunities
• Work through pensions complexity, including edge cases, scheme rules and exception handling, and translate it into clear, testable requirements
• Partner with Project and Programme Managers on regulatory and transformation initiatives, supporting scoping, impact assessment, planning and RAID management
• Fill the operational analysis and SME gap left by restructuring, acting as a go-to analytical resource for operational teams
• Support the integration of group operations, including process alignment and operating model change
• Provide analysis support for front-book change and backfill where needed
• Work effectively across onshore and offshore teams, ensuring clear handover, documentation and knowledge transfer
• Support UAT, defect triage and business readiness through to implementation
• Engage and manage stakeholders from operations through to senior leadership, communicating clearly and challenging constructively

Essential Skills And Experience

• 7 to 10 years' experience as a Business Analyst, in a senior or lead capacity
• Strong functional BA fundamentals: requirements, process modelling, user stories and acceptance criteria, gap and impact analysis
• Pensions or long-term savings experience (Tier 1 essential; Tier 2 not required, but strong aptitude for absorbing domain complexity is expected)
• Experience in transformation or change programmes, ideally in regulated financial services
• Exposure to regulatory change delivery and its governance
• Confident stakeholder management, with experience working alongside PMs and operational SMEs
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with a structured, evidence-based approach to problem solving

Desirable

• Knowledge of Pensions
• Experience in an outsourced administration or BPO environment
• Background in operations analysis or as a pensions SME before moving into BA work
• Experience of operational restructuring, insourcing or integration
• BA certification (e.g. BCS/IIBA CBAP) or Agile/hybrid delivery experience

Profile Tiers (for sourcing)

• Tier 1 - Pensions-experienced BA: Proven pensions experience combined with strong BA fundamentals. Able to work through pensions complexity and act in an SME or operations analyst capacity where needed.
• Tier 2 - Strong BA without pensions experience: Senior-level BA with excellent fundamentals and a track record in regulated financial services transformation. No pensions background required, but able to learn quickly and work through domain complexity with support.