Principal Business Analyst

About the job

Job Summary

The Principal Business Analyst will be part of the product development team, supporting the Product Manager in analyzing the product and breaking it down into epics and features. The role focuses on modeling business requirements and converting them into clear, well-structured user stories, with full ownership of the product's transactional backlog. The Principal Business Analyst will actively participate in all Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning and daily stand-ups, working in close collaboration with the development team.

Job Objectives

• Own the product's transactional backlog, ensuring user stories are consistently well-defined, prioritized, and ready for development.
• Translate business requirements into clear, actionable user stories with detailed acceptance criteria.
• Drive close collaboration between business stakeholders and the development team throughout the product lifecycle.
• Identify risks, issues, and opportunities for improvement across existing and proposed solutions.
• Contribute to process design and quality improvement through structured business and systems analysis.

Job Responsibilities

Backlog & User Story Management

• Ensure user stories are "ready" before development starts.
• Ensure each story has detailed, testable acceptance criteria.
• Ensure full understanding of each user story by all development team members.
• Maintain full ownership and prioritization of the product's transactional backlog.

Scrum & Agile Collaboration

• Participate in all Scrum meetings, including sprint planning and daily stand-ups.
• Ensure close collaboration with the development team throughout each sprint.
• Evaluate product progress at each iteration, flagging gaps or blockers early.

Business & Process Analysis

• Coordinate process design changes by conducting business and systems process analysis at a complex level, with a focus on quality improvement and data management.
• Identify issues, risks, and benefits of existing and proposed solutions, outlining their business impact.
• Identify opportunities to increase product adoption and customer satisfaction.

Documentation & Requirements

• Contribute to and coordinate project-level analysis, producing required feature analysis documentation, including business and system requirements, scope matrices, use cases, and sequence diagrams.
• Develop future-state proposals and UAT plans in support of product initiatives.
• Maintain clear, accurate, and up-to-date process and requirements documentation.

Job Requirements

Educational Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field.

Licenses & Certifications

Agile/Scrum-related certifications (e.g., CSPO, CBAP, PSPO) are a plus.

Previous Work Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of total experience, preferably at least 3 years in a relevant business analyst position in the insurance or financial domain.
• Fintech startup experience is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience generating process documentation and leading process re-engineering initiatives.

Skills & Abilities

• High level of responsibility with intense focus and attention to detail.
• Strong analytical skills for gathering and analyzing information to support timely decision-making and problem-solving.
• High-level knowledge of and exposure to Agile software development.
• Excellent communication skills, able to engage both business and technical stakeholders.
• Continuous, structured problem-solving ability.
• Solid knowledge of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Comprehensive knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Visio.
• Genuine passion for contributing to an organization focused on continuously improving consumer experiences.
• Fluent in Arabic and English (written and spoken).