Business Analyst – Retail , Cloud & Data Transformation

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Business Analyst with strong Retail and Hospitality sector experience to support business transformation, technology implementation and data lead change initiatives across a drinks/restaurant-led retail and pub/hospitality environment. The successful candidate will combine strong Business Analysis and consultancy capability with practical experience working with retail and/or pub and hospitality operations. Together with experience of cloud migration, data platform transformations. They will work closely with business stakeholders, operational teams and technology delivery teams to understand business needs, analyse current processes, identify opportunities for improvement and translate business requirements into effective technology and process solutions. The role will have particular focus on Point of Sale (POS), Product Information Management (PIM), inventory and supply chain, CRM, cloud platforms and associated retail and hospitality systems. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong consultancy and interpersonal skills, with the ability to understand underlying business problems, challenge assumptions constructively, influence and facilitate stakeholders, understand the practical realities of retail and hospitality operations, develop pragmatic recommendations and translate business needs into effective technology and process change.

Responsibilities

Business Analysis & Consultancy

• Act as a trusted Business Analyst and consultant to business and operational stakeholders.
• Lead workshops, interviews, process analysis and requirements elicitation across retail and hospitality operations.
• Analyse business problems and challenge existing processes and assumptions to identify opportunities for simplification, standardisation and improvement.
• Translate business needs into clear requirements, user stories, process models and actionable recommendations.
• Facilitate collaboration between business stakeholders, technology teams, Product Owners and delivery teams.

Retail & Hospitality Operations

• Apply practical knowledge of pub, hospitality, drinks retail and/or licensed retail operations to support business change and transformation initiatives.
• Understand operational processes including sales, ordering, stock management, replenishment, promotions, pricing, product management, supplier management and customer engagement.
• Analyse the impact of proposed changes across pubs, stores, branches, central functions and operational teams.
• Identify operational inefficiencies, manual processes, duplication and opportunities for automation and digital enablement.
• Understand the relationship between front-of-house operations, back-office processes, supply chain and corporate functions.

Retail Platforms, POS, PIM & Supply Chain

• Analyse and define requirements for POS, PIM, inventory and supply chain systems and their supporting business processes.
• Support initiatives involving product, pricing, promotions, sales transactions, payments and POS integrations.
• Analyse Product Information Management (PIM) processes, including product data, product attributes, categorisation, enrichment, governance and distribution of product information across channels.
• Analyse inventory and stock management processes, including stock visibility, ordering, replenishment, wastage, stock adjustments and reconciliation.
• Support supply chain processes including purchasing, supplier management, product distribution and inventory movement.
• Understand integrations and data flows between POS, PIM, inventory, supply chain, finance, CRM and other enterprise systems.
• Identify opportunities to improve data quality, operational efficiency and consistency across retail and hospitality platforms.

Cloud, Data Platforms & Analytics

• Support cloud migration and data platform transformation programmes, including assessment of current-state platforms, business impacts, requirements and future-state capabilities.
• Work with data architects, engineers, analysts and business stakeholders to define requirements for modern data platforms and data products.
• Analyse data flows, sources, transformations, interfaces and dependencies across retail, operational and corporate systems.
• Define requirements for data ingestion, transformation, storage, quality, access and consumption.
• Support the development of analytics, Management Information (MI), reporting, dashboards and data products that enable effective business decision-making.
• Translate business and analytical needs into clear data requirements, definitions, business rules, KPIs and acceptance criteria.
• Identify opportunities to improve data quality, accessibility, consistency, governance and usability.

CRM, Customer & Data

• Define business requirements for CRM and customer-facing capabilities.
• Analyse customer journeys, customer data and interactions across digital and physical channels.
• Support integration between CRM, POS, PIM, loyalty, marketing and other customer or operational systems.
• Identify opportunities to improve customer insight, personalisation, engagement and retention.
• Define business rules, data requirements, reporting needs and measures associated with customer and retail processes.

Replatforming & Transformation

• Support replatforming, platform replacement and technology transformation programmes, from discovery and current-state assessment through to implementation and transition.
• Analyse the impact of moving from legacy platforms to new retail, hospitality or enterprise solutions.
• Define current-state and future-state processes, requirements, data, integrations and business impacts.
• Support gap analysis between existing capabilities and the target platform.
• Identify data migration, integration, process and operational dependencies associated with replatforming.
• Support business readiness, testing, cutover, transition and adoption activities.
• Work with technology and product teams to ensure the new platform meets business and operational requirements.

Agile Delivery & Change

• Work effectively within Agile delivery teams, contributing to refinement, planning, prioritisation and delivery activities.
• Develop clear user stories, acceptance criteria, process models and other appropriate BA artefacts.
• Work with Product Owners and delivery teams to ensure requirements are understood, prioritised and delivered effectively.
• Support solution design, testing, UAT, implementation and business readiness activities.
• Analyse and manage business impacts, dependencies, risks and issues associated with change.

Qualifications

• Relevant Business Analysis qualification such as BCS Business Analysis Diploma, IIBA or equivalent would be advantageous.
• Relevant qualifications or certifications in Data, Cloud, Analytics would be advantageous.
• Relevant retail, hospitality, supply chain, CRM, PIM or technology certifications would be advantageous.

Essential skills

• Strong core Business Analysis and consultancy skills, including requirements elicitation, process analysis, workshop facilitation, stakeholder management and problem solving.
• Strong understanding of the relationship between business processes, operational systems, data and technology.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage operational teams through to senior business stakeholders.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and intelligent automation.
• Machine Learning (ML) or AI-enabled business/data solutions.
• AI and data governance, including data quality, responsible AI, data ownership and controls.
• Data governance frameworks, data catalogues, data lineage and master data management.

Experience

• Significant experience working as a Business Analyst within Retail, Hospitality, Food & Beverage, Leisure or a closely related consumer-facing environment.
• Practical experience within pubs, hospitality or licensed retail operations.
• Demonstrable experience working with Point of Sale (