Senior Application Business Analyst, IT

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We are hiring a Senior Application Business Analyst, IT

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Senior Manager of the Business Analysis Community of Practice, within the IT Department, the Senior Application Business Analyst provides support to the IT department by analyzing requirements and ensuring that when the change requests are entered into the ALM system that the required Gap and Impact Assessment have been thoroughly and comprehensibly broken out and clarified. They work closely with the Product Owner and the Scrum team (which may comprise of other BA practitioners) to ensure that requirements are created and understood by the team. The Sr. Application BA is considered as a Requirements Subject Matter Expert executing the BA Playbook seamlessly providing consultative services cross functionally. They leverage their deep understanding of the organization's business processes and technology landscape to maintain a successful track record of project delivery. They will be responsible for leading complex projects, providing strategic guidance to business leaders, and mentoring other BA practitioners. In the BA Community of Practice, the incumbent will exercise effective Leadership in representing the Community through continuous advancement in executing / leading “Self-Directed” programs of further refinement on Business Analysis disciplines and protocols. They are advocators of the Mentorship Partnership in the BA profession as a Mentor and foster a “High-Performing” team by providing guidance and coaching to their peers recognizing their true potential.                                                                                                                                                                                                           

How you will contribute:

• Deliver on the analysis and documentation of business requirements, functional specifications, and user stories for software development projects in the ALM system, MS Azure DevOps
• Partner with the Product Owner or Project / Program Managers and other stakeholders to identify project goals, scope, estimations and constraints.
• Collaborate with Developers, QA Analysts, and project managers to ensure successful project delivery.
• Execute Requirements Management activities in conjunction with Business and Technology partners at all levels or workstreams and support all stages of the Delivery LifeCycle (from Opportunity / Intake Assessment through Post-Implementation activities) including Audit with significant accountability on Requirements Traceability Matrix.
• Monitors project progress by tracking activity; resolving problems; publishing progress reports; recommending actions.
• Provide guidance to technical teams on the interpretation and implementation of business requirements.
• Evaluate and recommend technical solutions to meet business needs.
• Makes sure the planning process is integrated with, and contributes to, the overall business plan.
• Recommend controls by identifying problems, writing improved procedures.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, including system architecture diagrams and data flow diagrams.
• Conduct research and analysis of new technologies and industry trends to inform business and technical decisions.
• Support end-users in the testing, validation, and troubleshooting of software applications.
• Support, coach, and train more junior Business Analysts
• Provides references for QA and developers by writing and maintaining requirements and documentation of changes.
• Uses tools such as MS SQL to extract data analytics to support requirements gathering as well as internal research for projects and initiatives.
• Proactively engage as well as manage impacted lines of business and stakeholders by ensuring the required level of requirements review, evaluations and approvals are obtained to support delivery
• Complete other duties as assigned by the Manager.

The experience you need:

Skills and Attributes:

• Foster exhaustive business analysis experience with repeated practice in a variety of complex situations to bridge the gap between Business and Technology partners
• Considered as SME in the BA foundation irrespective of Product or Services, Technology or Platform and Line of Business they support
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to manage ambiguity, resistance and resignation in any setting.
• Detail-oriented with high degree of accuracy and strong organizational skills.
• Experience in the mortgage and/or financial services industry is preferred.
• Effectively facilitate business meetings and application design sessions with the ability to constructively lead definition and implementation of a vision of the future.
• Ability to create clear documentation, produce supporting artifacts of the analysis and explain complex process flows.
• Exhaustive ability to interpret customer / business needs and translate them into application and operational requirements as well as effectively explain them to internal and external contacts or groups.
• Ability to summarizes and communicates trends and patterns found in organizational initiatives.
• Strong analytical (critical thinking) and problem-solving skills (trouble shooting).
• Ability to work in a dynamic environment blending both new and older technologies.
• Ability to self-learn and take the initiative to learn the required skills.
• Ability to take full accountability and deliver with the same level of velocity and certainty on multiple Enterprise priorities promoting simplification and efficiency
• Ability to self-motivate, prioritize, and meet deadlines in a seamless execution whether on-site or remote.
• Highly resourceful with a proactive / go-getter attitude.
• Advance expertise in delivering and collaborating within a Matrix Environment
• Plans for allocation of resources in line with unit goals, technical and business objectives.
• Self-starter with the ability to work independently and in a team.

Education/Certification/Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience as a Technical Business Analyst (Business Systems Analyst) for software development projects
• Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) required.
• Certified PMP, CSM, CSPO, CDMP and ITIL are all assets
• Strong technical skills, including experience with programming languages, web technologies, and database systems.
• Well versed in Agile methodologies, Scrum framework and software development life cycle.
• Familiarity with the mortgage and/or financial services industry is preferred.
• 4+ years’ experience working with First National systems and practices an asset.
• Prior Consulting experience an asset
• Advance expertise with modeling tools like MS Visio.
• Advance expertise with Analytical tools like MSQL and MS Power BI
• Advance analytical, logical and business knowledge
• Extensive experience in Business Process Modelling (BPM)

Working Environment and Physical Demands Analysis:

• Office environment
• Periods of high volume with tight timelines
• Long periods of stationary position/sitting
• Prolonged periods of repetitive movement (i.e. using a keyboard and mouse)
• Long periods of time in viewing a computer screen
• Multi-tasking may include speaking to customers on a telephone call while looking up information on a computer program.

Why join First National?

• Competitive Compensation
• Comprehensive benefits program (i.e., Health Spending Account, Maternity and Parental Leave Top Up)
• Hybrid working environment (2-3 days in office)
• Extensive training programs to set our employees up for success
• Modern office environment conducive to collaboration
• Supportive teamwork culture
• Opportunities to give back to the communities and work through events focused on a variety of charities
• Ongoing social events throughout the year

The team you’ll join:

Founded in 1988, First National is one of Canada’s largest non-bank lenders. We provide residential mortgages exclusively through the mortgage broker channel and we are Canada’s largest commercial mortgage lender.

First National has been consistently recognized as a great place to work and we are proud that our employee engagement feedback is higher than our industry partners.

We would like to thank all applications for their interest in this existing vacancy but only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

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