Lead Business Analyst

At our corporate headquarters in Leopardstown, we currently have 850 employees with plans to grow significantly over the next few years. It is an exciting time to be joining an Irish company with 11,000 employees in 37 locations worldwide. Our vision is to be the Global CRO partner of choice for the Biopharma industry by delivering best in class information, solutions and performance in clinical and outcomes research.

SUMMARY

This role requires the individual to take the lead in the analysis of business needs for complex projects.  The Lead Business Analyst, working with the business to clearly define the business problem/opportunity and the benefits to be achieved.  The Lead BA, supervises other business analysts and ensuring that business requirements are accurately elicited and translated into IT solutions that deliver validated benefit realisation. The business analyst lead is expected to participate frequently at an enterprise level, using his/her depth of knowledge and experience to help build solutions in the context of enterprise goals and architectural principles.  The position requires team leadership skills, a commitment to mentoring and an interest in building strategic partnerships with business stakeholders.

FUNCTIONS

Proactively communicate and collaborate with all stakeholders to elicit and analyse business challenge, business benefits and then define requirements, reconcile conflicts, deconstruct high-level information, abstract low-level information  and deliver the appropriate system delivery lifecycle artefacts.*

·       Lead the stakeholder analysis to ensure that the business problem/opportunity is clearly articulated and define business benefits.

·       Develop business analysis communication and requirements management plans, participate in and potentially lead scrum (or other methodology) planning meetings and work with project managers to define the business analysis tasks for a project.*

·       Create and maintain relationships between business objectives, requirements, other team deliverables and solution components to help ensure solution conformance to requirements and to assist in scope and change management, risk management, time management, cost management and communication management.*

·       Successfully engage in multiple initiatives simultaneously, and function as a lead business analyst on large projects.*

·       Act as a liaison and negotiator between the business community and the IT organisation, continually seeking opportunities to increase customer satisfaction, deepen client relationships and manage client expectations effectively.*

·       Act as a senior level consultant and advisor to IT management and business partners on system strategies, requirements and architecture, and evaluate proposed solutions against enterprise architecture principles and objectives.*

·       Assess capability gaps, identify relationships and dependencies between new and existing systems and evaluate proposed solutions against enterprise architecture principles and objectives.*

·       Help to build business cases for new business initiatives, and act as a liaison with high-profile clients.*

·       Review and evaluate delivered solutions to assess whether expected benefits are being achieved.*

·       Act as coach, mentor and advisor to less experienced business analysts, and assist with the training and orientation of less experienced business analysts and project team members.*

·       Monitor and be aware of trends in technology and business practice in the pharmaceutical industry, and provide advice and recommendations on emerging IT trends.

·       Produce innovations for continuous improvement, and facilitate its implementation.

·       Undertake other reasonably related duties as may be assigned from time to time.

·       As a member of staff, the employee is expected to embrace and contribute to our culture of process improvement with a focus on streamlining our processes adding value to our business and meeting client needs.*

·       Travel (approximately 5%) domestic and/or international.

SKILLS

·       To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

·       Strong analytical skills required, including a thorough understanding of how to interpret customer business challenges and translate them into benefits and operational requirements.

·       Excellent verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to interact professionally with a diverse group of stakeholders, including senior executives, managers and subject matter experts.

·       Very good organisational skills, logical and efficient thinking and strong attention to detail.

·       Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment, effectively prioritise and execute tasks while under pressure and work independently with minimal direction and guidance from project leads, consultant staff and managers.

·       Experience working in a team-orientated, collaborative environment, mentoring less experienced analysts and motivating others to provide innovative solutions for team improvement.

·       Adept at using negotiation, facilitation and presentation techniques to build consensus, and skilled at communicating difficult and sensitive information tactfully.

·       Experience supporting large projects and concurrent projects, and a proven track record leading business analysis teams on large initiatives.

·       Strong customer service orientation, strong business acumen and an understanding of budget and return on investment principles.

·       Demonstrated ability to seek alternatives and innovative approaches and to push creative thinking beyond the boundaries of existing industry practices and client mindsets. 

·       Good knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and emerging industry practices, and a deep understanding of the organisation’s processes, goals and objectives. 

·       Good practical knowledge of data manipulation for use in report software, spreadsheets, graphs and flow charts.

·       Good knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite, including Visio.

·       Well-developed process flow designing skills.

·       Knowledge of project management methodologies and tools, particularly Agile Scrum.

·       Some understanding of application programming and database and system design. .

·       US/LATAM/CAN: At least eight years of experience working as a business analyst.

·       EU/APAC: Significant proven experience working as a business analyst.

EDUCATION

·       A degree-level qualification in a relevant discipline.

·       Master level qualification is desirable

BENEFITS OF WORKING AT ICON

We care about our people as they are the key to our success. We provide an open and friendly work environment where we empower people and provide them with opportunities to develop their long term career.   

*LI-PO1 

NEXT STEPS

Following your application you may be contacted by one of our dedicated recruiters and if successful we will be able to provide you with more details about this opportunity. ICON is an equal opportunity employer - M/F/D/V and committed to providing a workplace free of any discrimination or harassment. 

Applicants are required to hold an EU passport or Stamp 4 visa. Applications for this position close on November 11.