Job Description

Company Description

Join our dynamic team and kickstart your career as an Associate Business Analyst. We are a forward-thinking company dedicated to innovation and excellence. Our team is passionate about driving business success through data-driven insights and strategic analysis.

SOCOTEC’s Central Services team provides essential support across HR, Finance, IT, Digital, Marketing, Communications and Operations, enabling our business and technical teams to deliver high-quality services to clients across the UK. By managing recruitment, staff development, payroll, financial planning, digital systems, and internal communications, we ensure smooth operations, efficiency and innovation throughout the organisation. Our people-focused, collaborative culture empowers colleagues to contribute ideas, work safely, and grow their careers while supporting SOCOTEC’s mission to deliver trusted, market-leading services in infrastructure, environmental, and technical sectors.

What's in it for you?

Your expertise deserves recognition. Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a comprehensive benefits package including 25 days holiday (with the option to buy more), an electric car scheme (where applicable), employee recognition programmes, family-friendly support, exclusive retail discounts, employee assistance programmes, and an enhanced company pension. SOCOTEC UK & Ireland are proud to be Disability Confident accredited.

Job Description

Associate Business Analyst (Product)

Central Services

Bretby- with travel to other SOCOTEC sites as required

Purpose

At SOCOTEC UK, we have 2 types of Business Analyst.

• A Product Focused Business Analyst,
• A business area aligned Business Analyst

A Product Focused Business Analyst may work cross functionally and the key understanding they should have is of their product. A business focused Business Analyst should have a key understanding of their business area. This role is a Product Focused Business Analyst at Associate level. You will work on individual pieces of work within the product with review and support from a more senior Business Analyst, building towards working unsupervised.

Key to your role:

• Understanding the Product and the Business: You will need to build a comprehensive understanding of your product, who uses it across the functional areas of the business, and how it supports the Company’s services. Understanding your stakeholders and key users, their needs and expectations, to help understand business requirements.
• Analysing and Identifying Improvements: A key aspect of this role is to work with the business to identify 'as is' and 'to be' processes around the product, pinpoint gaps, and propose solutions that drive improvements and efficiency gains. This includes helping to judge whether a request belongs in the core product for every user or is specific to one business area.
• Collaborating with Delivery/Development Teams: As a Business Analyst, you will work closely with the product’s internal or external development teams or Delivery Partners, within their sprint cadence. Helping to draft User Stories and acceptance criteria, and translating Business Requirements into Technical Specifications. This involves understanding the needs of the business and ensuring that the development/delivery team has a clear and actionable plan to work from.
• Creating Specification Documentation: You will be responsible for creating detailed specification documentation for the development teams, with review from a senior Business Analyst. This documentation will guide the development process and ensure that the final product meets the business requirements.
• Testing and Verification: Part of your role will involve helping with testing and ensuring that the products and deliverables meet the business needs. This means working with the development team to identify any issues and ensure that they are resolved before the product is delivered.
• Communicating Benefits: You will also need to communicate the benefits of product changes to users and across departments and help address any uncertainty and concern. This involves working with the development team to ensure that everyone understands the value of the changes being made.
• Work with the business to identify as is and to be business processes, help identify gaps and potential solutions with process
• Help identify whether requirements can be met through existing product features, configuration, or new development
• Provide the interface between the business, 3rd parties and the internal IT team
• Help ensure product changes are meeting the requirements and needs of the business

General

Responsibilities:

• Support the scoping of product changes and enhancements, working with senior analysts, the product owner and delivery partners
• Create Specification Documentation, you will be responsible for creating documentation for the development teams, ensuring requirements are clearly defined and aligned with business objectives
• Testing and verification, ensuring final deliverables meet standards and business need
• Analyse business processes and problems relating to the product, drawing out the underlying business need rather than the stated solution
• Build a working knowledge of the product’s capabilities, configuration and integrations, and help evaluate them against business requirements
• Work to understand and identify the right stakeholders for a project, communicating key updates to them
• Help maintain and prioritise the product backlog, applying MoSCoW (or equivalent) with guidance from the product owner or a senior analyst
• Work with users and external stakeholders to understand and investigate feedback into the product
• Recognise when several business areas are asking for similar things, and flag opportunities to consolidate them into a single product feature
• Consider opportunities and potential risks attached to suggestions you make
• Identify the processes and information technology required to introduce your recommendations
• Communicate the benefits of your recommendations across departments and help to address any uncertainty and concern
• Produce written documentation to support your work, report on your findings and to present to stakeholders when necessary
• Support staff and teams in making your recommended changes, including helping to resolve any issues
• Help define and review measures of adoption and use once product features are released

Specific Duties

• Keep product stakeholders updated on the progress of the changes you are working on
• Keep Jira and product backlog items up to date so status is visible without being asked
• Take part in sprint ceremonies (refinement, planning and review) with the product delivery team

Objectives

• Help improve and develop the product to improve business efficiency and the user experience
• Ensure Business Requirements are captured and accurately conveyed to delivery partners
• Ensure smooth delivery of product changes and appropriate communications to users and business teams

Qualifications

Competencies

• Excellent analytical skills and an informed, evidence-based approach
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to talk and present to a range of audiences, sometimes acting as a translator between parties
• A willingness to learn, take on feedback and develop towards working unsupervised
• A passion for creating solutions with a positive attitude to change
• A strong interest in digital products and how they support the business
• Some experience of business analysis, IT projects, product or system support, or transferable experience where relevant skills are demonstrable

Desirable

• Degree qualified in appropriate discipline e.g. information systems or business computing systems or something that demonstrates appropriate critical thinking and analysis
• Calm, Energetic and Enthusiastic
• Eager to be innovative and keep up to date with latest IT developments
• Awareness of Agile/Scrum ways of working and tools such as Jira

Additional Information

Why SOCOTEC?

Join a thriving community of over 2,000 industry professionals who are passionate about making a real difference. At SOCOTEC UK, we're not just delivering services - we're shaping the future of testing, inspection, and certification across the nation.

What sets us apart? Our people. We've built our reputation on attracting exceptional talent like you and empowering them to deliver excellence at every turn. Our comprehensive range of TIC services means you'll have the opportunity to work on diverse, challenging projects that truly matter.

In this role, you won't just be another employee - you'll be a key player in our continued success story. Your expertise will directly contribute to our mission of building a safer, more sustainable world, while you grow your career alongside some of the industry's finest professionals.

Your Career, Your Way

Build a traditional career path or explore opportunities across multiple disciplines - all within SOCOTEC. Your choice, your direction.

Work Your Way

Local, national, or global projects. Office-based, remote, or hybrid. We offer the flexibility that empowers you to perform at your best.

Committed to Your Growth

From day one, you'll have access to comprehensive training, mentorship, and development programs. We support every step of your professional journey. #YouGrowWeGrow

Think you've got what it takes to add value to our success? We would love to hear from you and look forward to receiving your application.

Building a safer and more sustainable world is the core mission we set out to achieve at SOCOTEC, it is at the heart of everything that we do. We are committed to acting as a key player in society, investing in innovative solutions to ensure social and environmental concerns are at the forefront of all of our business operations.