Business Analyst

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) helps businesses invest, innovate, export and grow across the UK. The Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate helps to deliver this by designing, building and running the services, platforms and technology that businesses and colleagues rely on every day.

Our teams work on a wide range of services and technologies, including:

• digital services that help businesses access government support, guidance and opportunities
• data and AI products that support decision making and enable innovation
• internal tools and services that help colleagues work more effectively
• secure technology and platforms that support critical government services
• cyber security services that protect systems, data and users

By joining DDaT, you'll work on services used by businesses, colleagues and citizens across the UK. You'll be part of multidisciplinary teams focused on improving services, solving complex problems and delivering better outcomes for users.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive workplace. In recognition of this, we were named Best Public Sector Employer at the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2025!

Are you passionate about solving complex problems, improving digital services, and making a real impact for users and businesses? Our Business Analysts identify and draw upon a variety of evidence to define, analyse and document challenging business problems and user needs. They lead on mapping how user and organisational needs align with the business architecture and fit with the service vision and business strategy. You’ll work within agile, multidisciplinary teams to ensure product decisions are grounded in robust business analysis. Your work will help align user needs with organisational goals, enabling the delivery of inclusive and accessible digital services.

You will collaborate with service owners, product managers, delivery leads, user-centred design colleagues and technical specialists to define and document business problems, user needs and opportunities for improvement.

You will be encouraged to challenge constructively and act as a critical friend to achieve solutions that are fit for purpose. Effective skills in facilitating collaboration and communication with all stakeholders will be key to support the design, build and delivery of products and services that meet user needs.

You will support the Head of Profession to build a sustainable, diverse, and engaged Business Analyst community within BIST. You will do this by actively engaging in the Business Analyst community who work together towards a common goal and share ideas openly, establishing standards and consistency to support rapid delivery through sharing and learning from one another.

Read more about what it is like to become a business analyst in DDaT in our blog.

Main responsibilities

You will:

• Investigate, analyse and articulate business and user problems, identifying opportunities and providing recommendations to address them
• Collaborate effectively with stakeholders, and project teams to define measures of success for user-centred improvements, supporting prioritisation decisions that align with policy and organisational goals
• Define and document requirements, using models and frameworks to build shared understanding and inform decision-making
• Conduct business analysis activities across one or more workstreams, collaborating within your multidisciplinary team to shape the design and delivery of digital services that meet user and business needs
• Conduct business process analysis and re-engineering, producing clear and accessible documentation to support service improvements
• Translate user and business needs into actionable user stories and measurable outcomes that guide design, development, testing and adoption
• Help cultivate a collaborative, inclusive culture by sharing knowledge, and supporting continuous learning and development through active engagement in the Business Analyst Community of Practice

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

How to apply

There will be a pre-assessment activity which will be accessible via Civil Service jobs.

As part of the application process you will be asked to upload a two-page CV and complete a 1000 word personal statement outlining how you meet the essential skills and experience listed above. You can use bullet points and subheadings if you prefer.

Sift will be from week commencing 5th October

Interviews will be from week commencing 19th October

Please note these dates are indicative and may be subject to change.

If there is a high volume of applications, we will sift looking at the lead criteria 'Have strong demonstrable experience of conducting business analysis in a digital environment, with evidence of collaborating with stakeholders and multi-disciplinary team colleagues to deliver high quality work' only. You may then be progressed to full sift or straight to interview.

How we interview

At the interview stage for this role, you will be asked to demonstrate relevant Technical Skills and Behaviours, which are listed above, from the Success Profiles framework. These are role specific and in line with the Business analyst - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework.

If successfully shortlisted you will also be asked to deliver a presentation at interview and will be informed on the topic following the sift.

How we offer

Offers will be made in merit order based on location preferences. If you pass the bar at interview but are not the highest scoring you will be held on a 12-month reserve list in case a role becomes available. If you are judged a near miss at interview, you may be offered a post at the grade below the one you applied for.

This role requires SC clearance. BIST's requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet this requirement will result in your application being rejected and your offer will be withdrawn.

Checks will also be made against:

• departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• security services record
• location details

More about us

This role can only be worked from within the UK, not overseas. If you are based in London, you will receive London weighting. BIST employees work in a hybrid pattern, spending 2-3 days a week (pro rata) in the office on average. Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by BIST, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

You can find out more about our office locations, how we calculate salaries, our diversity statement and reasonable adjustments, the Recruitment Principles, the Civil Service code and our complaints procedure in the candidate pack attached to this advert.

Find out more about life at BIST, our benefits and meet the team by watching our video or reading our blog!

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.