Business Analyst Team Lead (Merchandise and Planning) - (PERMANENT) (N)

Purpose of the Job:

The candidate will be part of delivering business and technology solutions across the Group to some of the most recognised South Africa Retail brands and do it by working on the best of breed of technologies. The Group focus on attracting, developing and retaining a loyal and committed workforce, dedicated to the Group’s culture and organisational objectives. The Business Analyst Team Lead is responsible for leading and coaching a team of Business Analysts, to maximise productivity and increase business delivery within the Business Analysis space. This includes the fostering of cross-discipline relationships to constantly review and improve on ways of work. A hybrid work model is offered. 

Job Objectives:

Information Seeking & Analysis Align closely with business and delivery stakeholders around strategic roadmaps.

• Assist to shape the demand for the specific area.
• Assist with lean business cases / PAC / Board approvals.
• Perform high-level analysis activities in the CE cycle
• Ensures E2E processes are documented, understood & aligned with business and architecture.
• Solid understanding of E2E for area of responsibility.
• Have a deep understanding of the value streams within the domain and products they support, to assist in shaping the roadmap for those products.
• Focus on customer centricity and customer experience throughout all operational processes and value streams and help to create a culture of customer centricity within the BA discipline.
• Surfacing and delivering regular insights to the Business Stakeholders with sound recommendations, allowing our Business Stakeholders to make informed strategic decisions.
• Produces innovative ideas or solutions that challenge traditional assumptions and approaches ongoing developments from new perspectives.
• Devises, initiates and drives effective change initiatives in own area or department as well as across various disciplines

Leadership, Facilitation & Influencing Collaborating with stakeholders (within IT and Business) to identify and consider opportunities for improvement and efficiency.

• Promote best practices and persuade stakeholders to change practises and consider other alternatives.
• Coaching and mentoring for Business Analysts in BA tools, standards, best practices, processes and delivery.
• Promoting a culture of collaboration and cross-discipline engagement within the team.
• Ensures that the contribution of others is recognised through formal reward processes and also gestures of informal recognition.
• Lead a team of BAs

Communication, Building & Maintaining Relationships Assist with identification of resources to be allocated to work requests based on specific knowledge areas or skills Foster a partnership between business stakeholders, delivery teams, architecture and the rest of the BA community.

• Identify business and organisational constraints affecting options for change.
• Align with the PMO and Business on upcoming projects, initiatives and work request, so that we can start planning and communicating this, and anticipate resource requirements to ensure that resources are brought on board / assigned timeously.
• Collaborating with all disciplines and benchmarking value adding solutions.
• Evaluate and improve solution assessment and validation.
• Eliciting and analysing cultural, business and organisational constraints effecting options for change.
• Continuously support the business environment and provide recommendations for improvement

Organising, multitasking & time management Strong commitment to organisational objectives and ensuring high quality delivery on work.

• Ensuring costs are monitored and users and the organisation benefit. Able to coach the business analysts on organisation and effective time management.

Knowledge and Application Creates and encourages a climate of team-working and collaboration across the organisation, acting as a visible role-model of these values and behaviours.

• Proactively consults with a broad cross-section of stakeholders during all aspects of decision making.
• Able to coach the business analysts in terms of methods used to analyze and benchmark business cases, which will align with the business strategies of the organisation (including feasibility and business benefits).
• Research and identify opportunities to improve the business' offering and add value to our customers through the solutions we provide.
• Drive the change management barriers impacting User Acceptance Testing.
• Solve & mitigate project risks.
• Liaise with Products Owners and other stakeholders to co-ordinate interdependencies and resolve issues.
• Actively contribute to the development of the BA practice within the organisation.
• Act as an SME in CoPs to share knowledge and expertise with the community.
• Demonstrates detailed and comprehensive knowledge of own area.
• Maintains a comprehensive knowledge of related external issues and knows about research and upcoming developments.
• Seeks to be actively involved in cutting-edge research and development activities. Ensures that the necessary organisational structures and processes are in place for others to do so.
• Proactively investigates ways that new technology can support the achievement of organisational objectives and significantly enhance overall performance.
• Demonstrates extensive understanding and in-depth knowledge of the working and overall function of organisational departments.

Qualifications:

• Degree with 5 to 8 years related experience.
• Advanced BA certification, CBAP, AAC or similar
• Facilitation or Coaching qualification / experience

Experience:

• 5+ years’ experience SAP Merchandise Planning and Sourcing (SAP Master Data, Pricing, Promotions)
• Previous experience in leading a team including recruitment, resource allocation and people development
• Experience working within all aspects of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Business Process Management experience
• Excellent communication, both written and verbal
• Excellent relationship management and collaboration skills
• Good planning and time management skills
• Good business and IT acumen
• Problem solving and decision making
• Ability to influence
• Organising, co-ordinating and directing
• Self-starter, with a can-do attitude
• Customer focused
• Analytical thinking
• Decision making
• Results driven

Knowledge and Skills:

• Facilitation or Coaching qualification / experience
• Business understanding of the broader retail industry
• SAP experience
• Aris experience
• Very strong BA background.

5+ years of SAP Merchandise Planning and Sourcing with hands on experience in the business processes in:

• Master Data (Articles, Listing, Sites, Vendors, Customers),
• Pricing (Retail and Purchase Prices)
• Promotions
• Imports & Exports (Tariffing, Compliance, Trade Preference, Cost Conditions)
• Conditions Contracts & Rebates

Kindly regard your application as unsuccessful if you have not heard from the agency within 2 weeks.