Lead Business Analyst

At WHSmith our people are at the heart of everything we do. They are the ones that go the extra mile for our customers. The ones that enable our growth. That’s why our IT team works closely with stakeholders to develop and implement technology solutions.

As a Lead Business Analyst you will be accountable for the support of strategic initiatives across Agile and Waterfall project environments. The ideal candidate will possess strong analytical capabilities, stakeholder engagement skills, and a proven ability to deliver business value through structured analysis and collaborative delivery.

What you'll be doing:

• Set standards, principles, ways of working and collaboration approach for all Business Analysts.
• Providing guidance or coaching to other Business Analysts.
• Elicit, analyse, validate, prioritise, and document functional and non-functional requirements using structured techniques.
• Facilitate workshops and interviews with stakeholders to understand business needs and translate them into actionable requirements.
• Model current and future state business processes and identify improvement opportunities.
• Collaborate with Product Owners, Delivery Leads, and cross-functional squads to define MVPs, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and backlog refinement.
• Support iterative delivery by ensuring alignment between business goals and technical implementation.
• Contribute to high-level and low-level design documentation, impact assessments, and business readiness planning.
• Manage requirements traceability and controlled change throughout the project lifecycle.
• Support UAT planning and execution, ensuring business acceptance criteria are met.
• Identify and analyse stakeholders impacted by change, assess their perspectives, and manage expectations.
• Communicate effectively across business, IT, finance, and procurement teams to ensure alignment and transparency.
• Define and support the creation of data models and business process diagrams to illustrate system interactions and business flows.

What we are looking for:

• Minimum ten years in business analysis roles across Agile and Waterfall projects.
• Team leader or leadership of project-related teams.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• Proactive problem-solving and critical thinking.
• Experience in retail or multi-site organisations is a plus.
• Degree in Business, IT, or related field.
• Proficient in Agile (Scrum, Kanban) and Waterfall delivery frameworks.
• Familiar with BPM and PCF (ACPQ) type frameworks for Business Process
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, Visio, and other BA tools.
• Desirable certifications include CBAP, PMI-PBA, or Agile BA certifications.

How we reward our teams:

• Hybrid Working Model from home and in our Aldgate East office
• 4pm Friday Finish
• Flexible Working
• 25 days holiday, plus your Birthday off, plus Bank Holidays with an opportunity to buy extra days holiday
• Family Friendly Leave
• Competitive Pension Contribution
• Annual Bonus based on company and personal performance
• Competitive Salary

About us

WHSmith have occupied our place in our customers’ hearts for over two decades. You’ll find our stores and our family of brands in airports, hospitals, railway stations, on high streets and in shopping centres – as well as right across the world! We are an ambitious team that thrives on pace, collaboration and innovation resulting in a real entrepreneurial culture.

Celebrating 230 years, we’re proud to have grown and evolved into a globally recognised brand present in over 30 countries around the world, and we’re proud to be that air of familiarity people love and trust on their journey, both in life and through life. As a diverse group of over 12,000 colleagues, we are all on the same journey to a better business through our commitments to our planet, people and the communities we serve.

WHSmith are proud to be an inclusive employer, we want our colleagues to feel welcome, and free to be themselves with us.