Senior Business Analyst – Financial Services

Introduction

At IBM CIC, we provide technical and industry expertise to a wide range of public and private sector clients in the UK. A career in IBM CIC means you’ll have the opportunity to work with leading professionals across multiple industries to improve the hybrid cloud and AI journey for the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. You will get the chance to deliver effective solutions, driving meaningful business change for our clients, using some of the latest technology platforms. Curiosity and a constant quest for knowledge serve as the foundation to success here. You’ll be encouraged and supported to constantly reinvent yourself, focusing on skills in demand in an ever changing market. You’ll be working with diverse teams, coming up with creative solutions which impact a wide network of clients, who may be at their site or one of our CIC or IBM locations. Our culture of evolution centres on long‑term career growth and development opportunities in an environment that embraces your unique skills and experience.

We Offer

• Many training opportunities from classroom to e‑learning, mentoring and coaching programs and the chance to gain industry recognized certifications
• Regular and frequent promotion opportunities to ensure you can drive and develop your career with us
• Feedback and checkpoints throughout the year
• Diversity & Inclusion as an essential and authentic component of our culture through our policies and process as well as our Employee Champion teams and support networks
• A culture where your ideas for growth and innovation are always welcome
• Internal recognition programs for peer‑to‑peer appreciation as well as from manager to employees
• Tools and policies to support your work‑life balance from flexible working approaches, sabbatical programs, paid paternity leave, maternity leave and an innovative maternity returners scheme
• More traditional benefits, such as 25 days holiday (in addition to public holidays), private medical, dental & optical cover, online shopping discounts, an Employee Assistance Program, life assurance and a group personal pension plan of an additional 5% of your base salary paid by us monthly to save for your future.

Your Role And Responsibilities

We are seeking an experienced Senior Business Analyst with a strong background in financial services to join our team. This individual will lead the analysis and documentation of business requirements, particularly within banking, payments, wealth management, insurance, or related financial domains, and will facilitate collaboration between stakeholders and development teams to deliver high‑quality solutions.

Responsibilities

• Gather, document, and analyze complex business requirements from diverse stakeholders within financial services operations, regulatory compliance, risk management, and customer experience functions.
• Define project scope, objectives, and success criteria in collaboration with business leaders, product owners, and technical teams, ensuring alignment with financial industry standards and regulatory requirements.
• Support cross‑functional teams in translating financial business needs—such as transaction processing, account management, and reporting—into functional and technical specifications.
• Contribute to the creation of business cases, process flows, and user stories, with a focus on financial product workflows, payment processes, and compliance procedures.
• Facilitate workshops, meetings, and training sessions to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and process improvements within financial service teams.
• Obtain both functional and non‑functional requirements by conducting thorough requirement‑gathering sessions with business and technical stakeholders; document and map processes, including financial transaction lifecycles and reconciliation flows.
• Work with stakeholders to investigate operational issues, analyze alternatives, and recommend optimal solutions that meet financial industry best practices.
• Serve as a liaison between business stakeholders and technology teams, ensuring solutions meet financial regulations (e.g., AML, KYC, PCI‑DSS) and industry standards.
• Partner with Project Managers to define scope, objectives, and deliverables for financial systems projects.

Preferred Education

Bachelor's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

As a Senior Business Analyst in the financial services domain, you will play a critical role in bridging business needs with technology solutions across areas such as banking operations, payments, regulatory compliance, risk management, and customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

Requirements Elicitation & Analysis

• Gather, validate, and document functional and non‑functional requirements by engaging with stakeholders across front‑office, middle‑office, and back‑office functions, as well as technology and compliance teams.
• Map end‑to‑end financial business processes such as transaction lifecycles, payment workflows, account management, reconciliation, and reporting.
• Ensure requirements align with regulatory obligations (e.g., AML, KYC, Basel III, PSD2) and industry best practices.

Solution Design & Evaluation

• Collaborate with stakeholders to assess current‑state processes, identify gaps, and evaluate solution alternatives for core banking systems, trading platforms, financial data feeds, and risk management tools.
• Recommend optimal solutions that balance operational efficiency, compliance requirements, and customer experience.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Communication
• Act as a liaison between business units, operations, compliance, risk, and IT to ensure clear understanding and alignment of requirements.
• Facilitate workshops, requirements review sessions, and sign‑offs to drive consensus on deliverables.

Project Management Support

• Partner with Project Managers to define project scope, objectives, timelines, and deliverables for financial systems implementations or enhancements.
• Track progress, manage risks, and ensure projects remain aligned with strategic business goals.

Work Eligibility

As an equal opportunities’ employer, we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds. However, for you to be eligible for this role, you must have the valid right to work in the UK. Unfortunately, we do not offer visa sponsorship and have no future plans to do so. You must be a resident in the UK and have been living continuously in the UK for the last 5 years. You must be able to hold or gain a UK government security clearance.

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Proven experience as a Business Analyst within Financial Services Sector (FSS) projects, ideally in banking, payments, wealth management, insurance, or capital markets.
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and critical‑thinking skills with the ability to interpret complex financial data and workflows.
• Proficiency in tools such as Microsoft Visio (for process mapping), JIRA (for backlog management), and Confluence (for documentation and collaboration).
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts into business language and vice versa.

Preferred Business Analyst Certifications

• Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)
• Certification of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA)
• Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA)
• PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI‑PBA)
• Agile Analysis Certification (AAC)
• Certified Agile Business Analyst (CABA)
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt / Black Belt
• BPM Certification
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)