Business Analyst
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
We are looking for another Business Analyst to join our busy Digital & Business Systems Product Delivery Team based in Howden, Yorkshire. As a FTSE 100 business with an ambitious growth agenda, this role offers an excellent opportunity to work closely with the Digital & Business Systems team on a broad range of manufacturing, digital or trade projects
The team work in the office 4 days a week with 1 day from home.
What will I be doing as a Business Analyst?
- Build strong relationships with stakeholders and understand their needs.
- Run workshops to gather requirements and identify risks and dependencies.
- Create process maps (current and future) and documentation to support changes.
- Document requirements in tools like Azure DevOps and turn them into user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
- Work with architects to define non-functional requirements and project metrics.
- Refine user stories with product, development, testing, and architecture teams to prepare for upcoming sprints.
- Validate requirements during delivery to ensure they meet business needs and acceptance criteria is met.
- Actively participate in team meetings, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.
- Act as a bridge between business and technical teams for clear communication.
- Maintain strong stakeholder relationships and provide regular updates.
- Promote and lead best practices in Business Analysis across the team and department.
What do we need from you
- Minimum of 3 years Business Analysis experience is desirable.
- Proficiency with BA tools and techniques, i.e. Visio, Lucid chart, Azure DevOps, Jira, facilitation and elicitation.
- Experience managing complex business solutions.
- Understanding of both Agile and Waterfall principles, and when to use the right methodology.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- Experienced in meeting facilitation, with the ability to run successful sessions with various groups of people to ensure a successful outcome
- Prioritise effectively and be comfortable taking ownership of issues and facilitating their resolution.
- Ability to challenge technology and business process, when necessary, to ensure the right solution delivers the optimal business process.
- Qualification in Business Analysis is desirable i.e. Requirements Engineering, Business Process Modelling, Agile Business Analysis.
- Experience in the Trade, Retail and Digital sectors desirable.
About Howdens:
Howdens Joinery is the UK’s number one trade kitchen supplier providing thousands of products across kitchens, joinery, and hardware. We have over 950 depots throughout the UK and Europe – making us the first choice for more than 460,000 loyal trade professionals. Last year our sales reached circa 2.4bn, and we have an ambitious growth agenda.
#LI-SW1
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Highlight your Azure DevOps and Jira experience prominently as these are the specific tools mentioned for requirements documentation
📊 Quantify your BA experience: '5+ years managing complex business solutions across 12 manufacturing projects'
🏗️ Emphasise both Agile and Waterfall experience as the role requires understanding when to use each methodology
🎯 Showcase workshop facilitation skills with concrete examples of stakeholder groups you've managed
🤝 Demonstrate trade/retail/manufacturing sector experience if you have it, as Howdens is the UK's number one trade kitchen supplier
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Facilitated 15+ stakeholder workshops using Azure DevOps to document requirements for manufacturing system upgrades, delivering projects 20% ahead of schedule
- •Created comprehensive process maps and user stories in Jira for trade sector digital transformation, supporting £2.8M in operational efficiency gains
- •Led Agile sprint planning sessions with cross-functional teams of 12+ members, maintaining 95% acceptance criteria compliance across 8 major releases
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Howdens Joinery. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Howdens Joinery
Dear Hiring Manager,
Howdens Joinery's position as the UK's number one trade kitchen supplier with ambitious growth plans makes this Business Analyst role particularly compelling. My experience with Azure DevOps and Agile methodologies aligns perfectly with your Digital & Business Systems team's requirements for managing complex manufacturing and trade projects.
My background in business analysis includes extensive work with stakeholder management, process mapping, and requirements documentation using tools like Jira and Visio. I have successfully facilitated workshops across diverse teams and translated business needs into clear user stories with acceptance criteria.
Free signup, no card needed. Export to PDF/Word requires a £1.99 trial (14 days).
Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›How do you use Azure DevOps for requirements documentation and user story management?
- ›Explain the difference between functional and non-functional requirements with examples
- ›When would you choose Agile over Waterfall methodology for a project?
- ›How do you create effective process maps for current and future state analysis?
- ›What techniques do you use in Jira for backlog management and sprint planning?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you had to facilitate a difficult workshop with conflicting stakeholder views
- ›Describe a situation where you had to challenge a business process or technology solution
- ›Give an example of how you managed stakeholder relationships during a complex project
- ›Tell me about a time you had to prioritise competing requirements from different teams
- ›Describe how you've promoted best practices in Business Analysis across a team
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you had to facilitate a difficult workshop with conflicting stakeholder views
Describe a situation where you had to challenge a business process or technology solution