Senior Business Analyst

Job Description

Senior Business Analyst (Portfolio Lead)

Location: Warrington (Hybrid – 3 days per week onsite)
Contract: Permanent
Salary: Competitive + bonus + excellent benefits

Lead analysis. Shape transformation. Deliver change that matters.

At United Utilities, our work underpins everyday life for millions of people. As a Senior Business Analyst, you’ll sit at the heart of our change portfolio — setting the direction for business analysis, leading a high-performing team, and ensuring complex change is delivered successfully, on time and to a high standard.

The role

Your core purpose is to provide expert-level Business Analysis leadership across a portfolio of large, complex initiatives. You’ll define and shape the analysis approach, lead and develop a team of Business Analysts, and work closely with Business Change, Transformation, Technology and Delivery teams to ensure solutions are fit for purpose and deliver real value.

This role follows a hybrid working model, with three days per week onsite in Warrington and the remaining time worked flexibly.

What you’ll be responsible for

Delivery & Portfolio Leadership

• Provide senior Business Analysis expertise across large-scale, complex change initiatives
• Act as the central point of contact for Business Analysis within the portfolio
• Build, organise and line-manage a team of Business Analysts, ensuring high-quality outputs are delivered to time
• Shape and govern the Business Analysis approach across initiatives, maintaining alignment to plans and outcomes
• Coordinate and assure the quality of analysis artefacts across the team
• Manage Business Analysis workstreams across the wider portfolio
• Apply and champion standard methodologies, tools and techniques
• Build strong, trusted relationships with delivery teams and senior stakeholders across the business
• Work with Technology and Business teams to define solutions and prioritise features based on business value
• Clearly communicate complex problems, articulating costs, risks and benefits to support informed decision-making
• Collaborate with Test and Technical teams to ensure solutions are robustly tested and accepted
• Partner with Change Management to assess impacts on people, processes and technology
• Coach, mentor and develop Business Analysts through hands-on leadership and continuous learning

Business Analysis Service Development

• Contribute to the ongoing development and maturity of the Business Analysis service
• Provide feedback on service performance across the portfolio to improve how we deliver change
• Work closely with Business Change and Transformation teams to drive continuous improvement

Leadership & People Management

• Line manage a team of Business Analysts working across the portfolio
• Act as a delegate for senior leadership in the absence of your line manager

What you’ll bring

Essential

• Proven experience at Senior / Team Lead Business Analyst level
• BCS Practitioner Certificate in Business Analysis
• Experience delivering both Agile and traditional change
• Experience working on complex transformation initiatives
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• Expert-level competency in Microsoft 365
• Experience using JIRA, Confluence, Visio or similar tools

Desirable

• BCS International Diploma or equivalent
• Agile or SAFe certification (e.g. AgileBA, SAFe BA)
• Experience using Power BI and/or AI to evolve service delivery
• Utilities, finance or large-scale transformation experience

What you’ll get in return

• 21% combined pension contribution
• Up to 10.5% annual bonus
• 26 days annual leave, rising to 30 with service
• Wellbeing days
• Private medical cover
• Awards and recognition schemes
• Retail discounts and Sharebuy