Senior Business Analyst Ref. 2493

Stonewall Top Employer AwardSocial Mobility Foundation AwardDisability confident leaderThe Prince's Responsible BusinessThe Times Top 100

Technology Roles
London, Greater Manchester
Permanent
£50,986 - £58,091 depending on skills, experience and location
About us

We’re MI5 and MI6. We work together to protect the UK from a range of different threats like terrorism, espionage and cyber-attacks. MI5 do this by collecting intelligence from within the UK, and MI6 work overseas and with foreign partners to gain intelligent insights.

The role 
         
Technology is at the forefront of everything we do. While this leadership role relies on your skills and experience, we’re also looking for your passion and potential. So if you have relevant skills and are keen to learn, we’ll support you to set strategies and deliver large-scale transformation.

Joining a welcoming and multi-disciplinary team, you’ll get to grips with a range of large and complex business problems. Collaborating with stakeholders, you’ll understand relevant needs, challenges and opportunities. As part of this, you’ll champion the programme and/or product vision and drive development of strategies and roadmaps to support this. As part of this, you’ll map, model and review business processes, always looking for ways to optimise them.

You’ll also have an input into organisational designs, modelling different options and championing the case for change and business improvement. As part of this, you’ll undertake impact analysis, draw together themes and make recommendations. Plus, you’ll define critical success factors and manage analysis artefacts through the lifecycle.

When it comes to putting the right solutions in place, you’ll work with user experience professionals and business and delivery. You’ll ensure that software development considers human factors, and solutions can be properly embedded. With an eye for detail, you’ll be aware of any potential knock-on effects, and you’ll use data to assess change landscapes in different business areas.

A big part of this leadership role will see you building effective relationships with stakeholders. You’ll become a trusted advisor and bring everyone along on the journey. With your influencing skills, stakeholders will become truly excited about the programme or product vision.  

Keen to develop your skills, you’ll stay up to date on the latest process and IT advancements. And you’ll pass your knowledge on to the wider business analysis profession, helping to mentor and coach other colleagues. You’ll be a key colleague and actively contribute to the Business Analysis Community of Practice.

About you

With significant experience as a business analyst, plenty of passion and the right skills, we’ll support you to become an influential leader. We’re not looking for a specific amount of experience. Instead, it’s important that you’ve led the analysis of large and complex business problems, and you’ve recommended a range of technical and non-technical solutions. In a previous role, you’ve also helped to maintain and develop frameworks and methodologies.

You’ll have experience of user-centred design, championing user research and defining the best approaches, tools, and methods. You’ve led the design and faciliation of workshops.
This means you can use a range of tools and you understand the impact of change on business process modelling and business architecture. And you also know the importance of balancing analysis with delivery.

You also have experience of working with – and managing – a range of technical and non-technical stakeholders. This means you’re able to communicate and present information clearly, explain complex matters succinctly and instil confidence. Plus, you’ll be able to manage contractors and define their tasks.  

Ideally, you’ll have experience of mentoring or coaching. And you’ll also have a breadth of experience working across various delivery approaches – Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid and particularly Agile/SAFe delivery. Importantly, you’ll be motivated and proactive. With the ability to see the bigger picture, you’re able to adapt quickly. And with excellent attention to detail, you can plan for the short and long-term.

Training and development

We’re hugely committed to your personal development, so you’ll benefit from a broad range of development and training opportunities. As soon as you join, we’ll help you understand what we do and how we do it – and we’ll support you to achieve your full potential. This might mean you grow as a leader, or you develop within a business analysis specialism. Either way, you’ll enjoy having a real sense of purpose. With a wide variety of classroom and online learning available, you’ll have plenty of tools and support to take advantage of.

Rewards and benefits

Depending on experience, you’ll receive a starting salary between £50,986 - £58,091 plus other benefits including:

-    25 days’ annual leave, automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days’ public and privilege holidays
-    Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
-    Opportunities to work flexibly, subject to business needs
-    Interest-free season ticket loan
-    Excellent pension scheme
-    Cycle to work scheme
-    Paid parental and adoption leave
-    Facilities such as a subsidised gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars

Culture and working environment

As part of our team, you’ll discover an inclusive workplace that’s welcoming, supportive and encouraging. You’ll be part of an organisation where people want to support one another and make a difference. Aside from fostering an open culture, we’ve got a range of growing affinity groups. For example:
 
•    Ethnic Minority and gender equality networks
•    Groups supporting wellbeing, mental health, neurodiversity and disability
•    Faith/No Faith communities for staff to come together
•    LGBTQ+ support networks

You’ll also find a variety of sports, activity and social groups to help you settle in and connect with people with similar interests.

Before you apply

To work at MI5 and MI6, you need to be a British citizen. We do have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

Honesty and integrity are really important if you want to work at MI5 and MI6. Take some time to read about the vetting process and make sure you meet the criteria in the vetting pages of the ‘How to Apply’ section. The process can take some time, but this is just because it’s thorough. Giving misleading information and omitting or concealing information during the recruitment and vetting process is viewed very seriously.

The role is based in London or Manchester, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application.

Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application.

Equal opportunities

At MI5 and MI6, diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce.

We’re Disability Confident

MI5 and MI6 are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview where practicable; this is known as ‘Offer of an Interview’. To secure an interview for this vacancy, you’ll need to show (as a minimum) you have experience of working across various delivery methods (Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid and in particular, Agile/SAFe delivery) and have led business problems recommending technical and non-technical solutions.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply, you must be a British Citizen. One of your parents must be a British Citizen or must have the nationality or citizenship from our approved list of countries (for more info link to website / JD). If you hold dual nationality, of which one component is British, you will nonetheless be considered. (for more info link to website / JD). Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for seven out of the last ten years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. You can apply at the age of 17 years and 6 months, if successful you will not be offered a start date prior to your 18th birthday. Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member. Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside of the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. Further information on our eligibility criteria can be found on the Applying section.

What to expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

•    We’ll sift applications and assess your suitability.
•    If you pass, you’ll be invited to a technical telephone interview.
•    If you pass, you’ll be invited to an assessment centre.
•    If you pass, you’ll start out vetting process.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Our vetting

To work in this role you will need the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community has to go through and it can take some time. As part of the DV process you will be asked to fill in a detailed questionnaire and attend an interview with a vetting officer. In your interview the vetting officer will have a thorough, compassionate and honest discussion with you about you as a person and your life experiences, to ensure holding a DV clearance is right for you. You don’t need to do any preparation for your vetting interview, just be honest and be yourself. All applicants for DV are treated impartially and consistently, irrespective of gender, race, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics.

Right to withdraw:

Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

This Program / Vacancy is closed to applications.