Business Analyst Remote
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Type of role
Architecture and Data
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About the job
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About the job
Job summary
Job Title – Business Analyst
Profession- Digital Data & technology
Directorate – Analytics & Data Science
Full Time equivalent - 37.5 hours
No of Roles – 1
Contract Type – Permanent
Location – Home Working
UKHSA offices are located across the country, with large hubs in London and Leeds. There are many homeworkers within the organisation, but all staff will be required to attend the office on occasion. The balance between home and workplace working is to be agreed with the line manager, determined primarily by business needs and in line with departmental policy
Working Pattern – Full Time /Part Time / Flexible Working/ Hybrid Working/ Job Share
Grade & Salary – Grade HEO. National banding £29,160 - £35,612. Outer London – £31,070 - £37,829 Inner London - £32,978 - £39,691
New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.
The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.
This role is to be appointed under Civil Service Terms & Conditions. Full details on the T&C’s are found https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/.
Closing Date – 24/09/2023. 23:55pm. Unfortunately, late applications will not be considered
Interview Date – W/C 09/10/2023 Please note, these dates are subject to change.
Introduction
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is recruiting a Business Analyst at the level of Higher Executive Officer (HEO) to help us support our data science teams to deliver high quality products. The UKHSA has been set up to provide health security and health protection for the nation by protecting from infectious disease and external hazards.
You will be joining the Analytics and Data Science Directorate within the Data Analytics and Surveillance (DAS) Group. The role sits within the Data Science Quality Assurance (DSQA) team in the Data Science & Geospatial division. The DSQA team works collaboratively across teams to improve the maturity of quality assurance of analytical work by embedding QA best practices.
The DSQA team are responsible for:
- working collaboratively with data science and modelling teams to make planning, running and documenting their own QA activities easier by providing training, guidance and tools
- supporting and developing the UKHSA’s Model Register and its related processes and guidance. The Model Register captures metadata about business critical models across UKHSA and aims to provide an overview of residual risk in crucial modelling activities.
- promoting a best practices and QA culture where “quality is everyone’s responsibility”.
We are seeking a productive, motivated, and forward-thinking person with strong interpersonal and organisational skills. The person must enjoy working collaboratively across teams to work towards agreed outputs. Our ideal candidate will thrive in a challenging environment and be motivated to make an impact. The HEO Business Analyst role presents an opportunity for skill development within a supportive and friendly team environment. UKHSA offers a range of learning opportunities with a view to advancing career development within and beyond the role.
Job Overview
Working to the Modelling QA Lead in the Data Science QA team, you will be responsible for ensuring the appropriate management of the team’s portfolio of work, including helping groom the team’s product backlog, defining new tickets and iterating on ways of working
You will ensure requirements raised by users are adequately investigated and translated into agreed measurable inputs against delivery timelines. All work will be completed in close collaboration with technical colleagues employing Agile practices to deliver agreed work in a way that aligns both with team capacity and user needs. You will have particular responsibility for ensuring the population and maintenance of model metadata information in the UKHSA Model Register, and iterating on its related processes to suit stakeholder needs.
As the HEO Business Analyst, you will track team capacity and highlight any risks to the delivery of products against agreed timelines. You will work closely with colleagues and stakeholders to ensure delivery of agreed objectives. You will regularly update partners and users to ensure they are aware of any issues identified.
You will Identify gaps and opportunities for enhancements across Agile projects, business systems, workflows and processes to ensure proportionate QA activities are delivered, and assist with the evaluation of the team’s work.
You will ensure projects are appropriately documented and disseminate a common understanding of ways of working.
The postholder will use a range of approaches and strategies to consolidate relations with internal and external stakeholders. These strategies include the regular compilation and sharing of documentation and products in the form of presentations shared across teams. The postholder will require excellent skills in verbal and written communication.
Job description
You’ll join a small friendly team, working to the Modelling QA Lead. You will organise and manage a portfolio of work within the team. The key responsibilities will include activities in the following key areas:
Decision making
- Work portfolio management including disseminating a common understanding of ways of working and supporting the team to prioritise and allocate work appropriately
- Map, capture and update work in Confluence and Jira, ensuring projects are appropriately documented and tracked
- Facilitate team daily stand-ups
- Ensure team are aware of upcoming work
Collaboration with external stakeholders:
- Facilitate stakeholder meetings and focus groups to scope new work
- Collaborate with technical teams who use our DSQA products and guidance resources across the A&DS Directorate and DAS group, receiving feedback on our outputs and requesting additional guidance, training or features.
- Regularly communicate with modellers across UKHSA wishing to update their structured metadata in the UKHSA Model Register including key risks, and to iterate on their QA processes.
Problem solving:
- Document ongoing and completed work, and problem solving by choosing appropriate ways to iterate on existing processes to address blockers
- Map workflows for internal dissemination, in particular understanding the modelling workflows within UKHSA to inform the UKHSA Model Register process.
Autonomy
- Work alongside a Project Support Officer to maintain the UKHSA Model Register and its related processes.
- Ensure activities are completed on time to required standards
Impact
- Encourage and implement Agile practices in the team and more broadly within the Data Science community
We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.
UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
- Experience of using Agile methodologies to develop and manage requirements and deliver business products
- Knowledge and experience of applying Agile principles, methods, and tools. Ability to identify and compare the best processes or delivery methods to use, including measuring and evaluating outcomes
- Strong interpersonal skills being able to identify, analyse, manage and monitor relationships with and between internal and external stakeholders
- Experience of communicating risks, timelines, and benefits effectively across technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Ability to apply structured approaches to identify, investigate, analyse and communicate complex business problems, including quality issues, and identify root causes of bottlenecks and the scale of their impacts as well as opportunities for improvement
- Experience of using a range of techniques to gather user requirements and in translating user needs into clear work plans
- Able to develop process models for the common understanding of workflows based on best practice
- The use of Jira and Confluence for the design and documentation of epics, features, and stories
Desirable criteria:
- Experience of working across multidisciplinary analytical teams (data scientists, developers, QAs, analysts, modellers)
- Experience in applying a QA Framework to projects
- Experience in using Git, and an interest in analytical projects and/or in using R and Python
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Experience of facilitating stakeholder focus groups and workshops for problems solving and to identify where improvements can be made
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Stage 1: Application & Sift
This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Experience at sift, and Experience/Technical skills and Behaviours at interview.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide information within the ‘Employer/ Activity history’ section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history.
You will also be asked to provide a Personal Statement / Statement of Suitability in no more than 750 words. The Statement of Suitability should outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the Experience criteria.
During the sift for interview, your CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed and scored against the job description and Experience criteria.
Please note, only information provided within the stated word count will be considered. You must provide the ad reference number (UKHSA00481) in your Statement. We may discard any applications without this information.
The highest scoring candidates at the sift stage will progress to interview. At interview stage, candidates will be assessed on a mix of the Behaviours listed below, Technical skills and the essential Experience as outlined. Candidates will be asked to give a short Technical presentation.
Stage 2: Panel Interview
All applicants that progress to interview will be assessed on Behaviours through Success Profiles, and on Experience/Technical skills.
The Civil Service application process has a standardised method for assessing candidates, we strongly recommend that you read the descriptions of the civil service behaviours. Strong interviewees will present these in the Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) method. For these examples it is best to make clear where you did the work / activity which means in general using "I" instead of "we" if it is appropriate.
The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace
- Changing and Improving
Candidates will be asked to prepare a short presentation on a Technical topic relating to Essential experience, and candidates will also be asked a Technical question.
Reserve List:
Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post will be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be contacted if similar roles become available.
If you are interviewed for the post and do not meet the required threshold for the specified grade, your application may be assessed against a similar, lower grade role and you may be offered the post should one be available.
DBS - People working with government systems must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks which includes a disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed for this role is BPSS however there may be a requirement for this role to be SC cleared and you should familiarise yourself with the criteria of security clearance.
This role is Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants. Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Government baseline personnel security standard
It’s important to note that there are currently exceptions to applications being considered if your conviction relates to any of the following:
- life sentences
- arson
- sexual offences
- hate and terror offences
Some departments will also consider the specific offence against the nature of the business, i.e., a conviction for fraud may rule you out for a finance role
Contact Details – [email protected]
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
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