Business Analyst – Financial Operations

Belfast – 3 days per week onsite

**Must be located in Northern Ireland**

Hayward Hawk are currently recruiting for an experienced Business Analyst.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone with a strong analytical mindset and a background in financial operations or securities services to join a high-performing team driving process improvements and digital transformation across core systems.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to assess business needs and define system requirements for enhancements to custody-related platforms.
• Perform in-depth research and gap analysis to define project scope, user stories, and technical requirements in alignment with operational goals.
• Support the redesign and automation of existing processes, ensuring efficiency, scalability, and alignment with industry best practices.
• Prepare documentation including business requirement documents (BRDs), test cases, risk assessments, and implementation plans.
• Facilitate communication between business and technical teams, translating complex ideas into clear, actionable deliverables.
• Monitor project progress, identify risks and dependencies, and contribute to testing, validation, and rollout of new systems or enhancements.
• Champion the use of Agile frameworks, using tools such as JIRA and GitLab to track progress and foster cross-functional collaboration.
• Promote data-driven decision making through dashboards, reports, and presentations tailored to senior stakeholders.

Experience & Skills:

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in business analysis, ideally within financial services, securities processing, or operational risk functions.
• Solid understanding of custody operations and the broader post-trade lifecycle is highly advantageous.
• Proven track record of working within Agile delivery models, with practical experience using tools like JIRA, Confluence, and GitLab.
• Strong analytical, documentation, and problem-solving skills with attention to detail and a proactive mindset.
• Comfortable interpreting data sets and trends using Excel and other MS Office tools.
• Confident communicator with the ability to influence stakeholders and drive consensus across departments.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality results under tight timelines.
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance and control frameworks related to financial services is a plus.