Diligent Senior Analyst with extensive experience providing valuable insight for improved operations. Communicates complex data findings to diverse audiences enabling good understanding. Self-motivated and proactive to achieve changing priorities within deadlines.
Hi, I’m
Rachel Roberts
Senior Business Analyst
Barnoldswick,Lancashire
Summary
Overview
28
years of professional experience
3
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Wealth WizardsLeamington Spa
Senior Analyst - Automated Advice
07.2022 - 07.2024
Job overview
- Ran training sessions and workshops on system processes.
- Analysed varied source information and data to highlight issues, risk and business opportunities.
- Developed and executed complex data analysis projects to identify trends, patterns and anomalies in large datasets.
- Partnered with users to understand and define system requirements.
- Acting as technical advice buddy to external customers: liaising with their advisers, technical support and compliance/quality functions
- Accurately and efficiently capture business needs.
- Mapping and documenting ‘before' and ‘after' advice process flows in conjunction with Product owners
- Checking amendments to software for advice impact and ensuring suitability
- Identifying options for potential solutions and assessing them for both technical and business suitability
- Conducting requirements analysis and preparing specific proposals
- Identify opportunities to capture/improve Advice Policy to drive product innovation
- Keeping up to date with technical and Financial Services industry developments
- Work with Product Managers, User Experience Designers and Engineers to articulate the problem and to evaluate the potential solutions
- Support in the development and documentation of advice policy and house view updates
- Oversight of the implementation of new advice policy through to completion
- Assisting the QA team with the creation of automated tests
- Validation of advice impacting changes
- Adhere to all Information Security policies and procedures
- Designing, writing and delivering end user training
- Providing second line support for advice user queries
- Input and technical sign off of release notes
- Undertook thorough testing and exception reporting, maintaining transactional data integrity.
- Provided recommendations for new or enhanced systems, upgrades and modifications.
- Identified current inefficiencies and recommended changing functionality or behaviours to eliminate concerns.
- Wrote functional specifications for systems developers and completed regular updates to incorporate changes.
- Virtualised or graphically visualised system operations to identify areas for improvement
- Developed and implemented system testing plans in support of deployments.
- Designed impressive solutions to overcome existing system challenges.
- Navigated multiple application-specific interfaces to carry out analysis.
- Facilitated system expansion, modification and updates.
- Executed feasibility studies to inform development of existing and proposed projects.
- Modified current systems to enhance workflows and meet new needs.
- Acted as project lead over moderate to large business automation projects, developing and monitoring project budgets and resources.
- Conducted assessment on new platforms to confirm technology solutions leveraged cutting-edge integration capabilities.
- Comfortable with use of IT systems and able to learn new systems quickly
- Exceptional attention to detail
- Able to map out processes
- Collaboration skills driving consensus at all levels
- Able to communicate and/or present credibly and effectively at all levels (written and verbal)
- Excellent planning, organisation and time management skills
- Analytical skills to make informed product recommendations
- Ability to meet deadlines
- Evaluated system linkages and optimised connections to improve compatibility and function.
- Reviewed business and functional requirement documents, and designed technical design documents.
- Prepared complex reports to present during client meetings.
- Prepared proposals outlining requirements, potential solutions and required resources, timelines and costs to achieve objectives.
- Interfaced with clients to define project scope and review project activities, recommendations and outcomes.
- Assessed processes, procedures and work practices for strengths and weaknesses.
Skipton Building SocietySkipton, North Yorkshire
DIGITAL STRATEGY LEAD - FINANCIAL ADVICE
05.2021 - 07.2022
Job overview
- Lead analyst and implementation specialist for the Digital Strategy for Financial Advice at Skipton
- Main responsibilities include R&D, gap analysis and pre-change demand in order to plan the delivery of digital assets and processes to compliment the Financial Advice process
- Particular expertise in end to end financial advice strategy and the focus on driving efficiencies and ultimately customer experience
- Response to current need for more digital experiences for customers and customer acquisition.
- Reviewed financial reports and recommended strategies to streamline operations, increase productivity and grow company profits.
- Worked with business teams to identify issues affecting financial results and profitability.
- Built and updated financial models to support ongoing budgeting and forecasting processes, analyse complex information and process real-time data.
- Improved financial status by analysing results, monitoring variances and recommending financially-sound actions.
- Compared competitor data and statistics to develop business investment strategy and drive growth.
- Modelled financial information related to payroll, capital projects and operating supplies.
Skipton Building Society
PROCESS EFFICIENCIES AND IMPROVEMENT LEAD
07.2020 - 05.2021
Job overview
- To research, develop and facilitate strategic change throughout Financial Advice
- Responsible for defining the feasibility of business cases and ensuring that they are aligned to the Society's strategic goals, Corporate Plan and regulatory requirements
- Managing strategic change through Research and Development (R&D), by proposing, challenging and maintaining the change prioritisation agenda and ensuring all changes are submitted in accordance with the Change Prioritisation Framework
- Responsible for engaging with other areas of the Society and FA to identify problem statements and user stories in order to drive change forward.
- Documented workflow charts, records and job descriptions to guide overall organisational improvements.
- Highlighted undetected organisational needs to improve business performance.
- Communicated with staff at all organisational levels to assess current systems.
- Prepared proposals with revised methods, new strategies and redefined functions.
- Identified departures from agreed-upon procedures and standards and helped close gaps.
- Helped organisations improve customer satisfaction and achieve measurable results.
- Scrutinised existing and proposed methods and procedures.
- Identified deviations from standard operating procedures, understanding causes and preventing reoccurrence .
Skipton Building Society
LEAD BUSINESS ANALYSIS - FINANCIAL ADVICE
02.2016 - 07.2020
Job overview
- Development of the FA Strategy in line with external consultancy findings, responsible for leading the Proposition and Pricing workstreams to deliver the new FA Proposition, which introduced three advice journeys, a range of Funds to invest in and negotiated platform fees
- My role as Lead BA presented the opportunity to not only design the FA Strategy, but to also conduct R&D and the full tender and analysis (RFI/RFP) to source and select a Fund House (Aberdeen Standard Investments), a Platform and also a new back office system and digital tools
- I was responsible for re-engineering all existing processes integral to the delivery of financial advice to map against the new system alongside designing the new financial advice processes
- In addition, my role was to act as the key SME for Financial Advice for all other workstreams within the FA Strategy Program - including Digital, Generating Demand and Data all of which I participated in to share Financial Advice Knowledge.
- Outlined needs to meet end user requirements.
- Modified current systems to enhance workflows and meet new needs.
- Designed impressive solutions to overcome existing system challenges.
- Prepared proposals outlining requirements, potential solutions and required resources, timelines and costs to achieve objectives.
- Partnered with users to understand and define system requirements.
- Performed security testing using results to identify and fix vulnerable areas.
- Assessed processes, procedures and work practices for strengths and weaknesses.
- Developed and implemented system testing plans in support of deployments.
- Consulted with users and management to formulate guiding principles.
Skipton Financial Services
PROPOSITION DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
02.2011 - 02.2016
Job overview
- From a Proposition and Development, regulatory and technical perspective, responsible for the development of the MII Ongoing Proposition and the maintenance and co-ordination/project management of Head Office driven initiatives that contribute to the delivery of Skipton's Advice Proposition, in line with Corporate Strategy and Corporate Plan.
- Led and managed administrative staff to maintain smooth daily operations.
- Addressed customer issues with compassion and professionalism, ensuring swift, successful resolution.
- Delivered KPI targets and improvements on consistent basis through excellent leadership.
- Introduced new opportunities for team building and communication, resulting in better team performance.
- Supported team's transition to more flexible working environment for better employee satisfaction.
- Acted as point of contact for high-level queries and represented team at senior leadership meetings.
- Designed and implemented training to further develop staff based on business goals.
- Planned revenue generation strategies designed for growth.
- Assessed knowledge and skills gaps, creating opportunities to fuel improvement.
Skipton Financial Services
COMMERCIAL MANAGER
11.2009 - 02.2011
Job overview
- Responsible for the acquisition and management of affinity relationships to Skipton Financial Advice, which involved the tendering process and also the delivery of white-labelled propositions with The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, This is Money, MoneyFacts and National Head Teachers Association
- In addition, I had full responsibility for the digital strategy in terms of rebrand of the Skipton Financial Services website content and digital tools, I-Frame banner ad development for media relationships and also the Execution-only platform with FundsNetwork that allowed affinities to acquire revenue through a 'Fund Supermarket' facility -which resulted in over £10m of Funds Under Management achieved through this channel in one year.
- Negotiated contracts, securing optimum conditions for business expansion.
- Analysed sales reports to identify trends and update strategies.
- Developed marketing plans to support department strategies.
- Acted as point of contact for high-level queries and represented team at senior leadership meetings.
Skipton Financial Services
MARKETING MANAGER
06.2006 - 11.2009
Job overview
- Leading a team of six colleagues, main activities included designing and implementing marketing campaigns for affinity partners, agency briefing and developing customer contact strategies to engage and deliver stable ongoing income though ongoing service proposition and acquisition of new customers to Financial Advice
- A full literature rebrand was completed and activities in this area included copywriting, print management, designing direct mail campaigns, measuring ROI success and benchmarking response rates for Corporate Planning.
- Supervised all marketing and planning activities to achieve company goals.
- Negotiated contracts with clients, influencers, and ambassadors, resulting in mutually favourable partnerships and increased growth.
- Developed strategy for social media marketing with cohesive messaging across multiple platforms.
- Identified new customer segments and target audiences to expand reach.
- Monitored campaign performance, adapting strategy as needed to ensure business goals were consistently met.
- Advised on marketing strategy with strong industry knowledge.
Skipton Building Society
MARKETING CONTROLLER - MORTGAGES AND SAVINGS
05.2004 - 06.2006
Job overview
- Responsibility of designing product literature for mortgages and savings in line with tranches set by Product Development and Treasury, my role was also to design branch campaigns (window posters) and direct mailings aimed at acquisition and retention
- I was involved in the very first TV Advertising Campaign for Skipton in terms of developing the content and the re-brand of Skipton Building Society
- This resulted in re-writing and designing the Society's literature and implementing brand guidelines
- I led various customer contact strategies and was responsible for the creation and development of Child Trust Funds and the Society's children's savers account - Leap
- Skills included copywriting, agency briefing and budget management.
- Generated reports and presented data findings to inform senior management in financial decisions.
- Organised and carried out month-end, quarterly and year-end processes.
- Coordinated daily department workflow, delegating tasks to junior team members to meet established benchmarks.
Skipton Building Society
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT
11.1999 - 05.2004
Job overview
- Responsible for the delivery of colleague engagement communications and the Society's charitable donation budget
- I created the framework for the Skipton Charitable Contribution scheme - which was replaced by the Society's Charitable Foundation in line with Corporate Social Responsibility
- I was also involved in media relationships and creating press releases for the Society for major newspapers nationwide
- I also led the Events Team for the Society which was aimed at building relationships with intermediaries and media contacts in order to raise the profile of Skipton.
- Communicated with staff at all organisational levels to assess current systems.
- Highlighted undetected organisational needs to improve business performance.
Education
QA Higher EducationLeeds
Diploma of Higher Education from Business Analysis
09.2016 - 09.2019
University overview
- PRINCE2 FOUNDATION
- PRINCE2 PRACTITIONER
- BCS REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING
- ICAgile CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL
- Graduated with distinction
Skills
- AGILE DELIVERY
- DATA MIGRATION AND ARCHITECTURE
- EFFICIENCY & IMPROVEMENT
- PROJECT MANAGEMENT
- BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS
- PROCESS DESIGN
- BUSINESS ANALYSIS
- PROPOSITION DEVELOPMENT
- BUDGET MANAGEMENT
- PROCUREMENT / TENDERING
- FINANCIAL SERVICES
- STRATEGY DELIVERY
- PROJECT MANAGER
- CUSTOMER PROPOSITION
- MARKETING MANAGER
- COMMERCIAL MANAGER
- DELIVERY
- PRODUCT OWNER
Custom
Custom
- JOANNE BARWICK, FA PRODUCT OWNER, Skipton Building Society, joanne.barwick@skipton.co.uk
- MATTHEW LEACH, HEAD OF FINANCIAL ADVICE, Skipton Building Society, matthew.leach@skipton.co.uk
Affiliations
Affiliations
- Volunteering
- Travel
- Reading
- Puzzles
- Family time
- Cooking
Accomplishments
Accomplishments
Employee of the Year - Skipton Building Society (2012)
Team of the year - Skipton Building Society (2019)
Colleague of the Year (2019)
Certification
Mental First Aider
Prince 2 - Foundation and Practitioner
ICAgile Certified Professional
BSC Requirements Engineering
Leadership and Culture Professional
Timeline
Senior Analyst - Automated Advice
Wealth Wizards
07.2022 - 07.2024
DIGITAL STRATEGY LEAD - FINANCIAL ADVICE
Skipton Building Society
05.2021 - 07.2022
PROCESS EFFICIENCIES AND IMPROVEMENT LEAD
Skipton Building Society
07.2020 - 05.2021
QA Higher Education
Diploma of Higher Education from Business Analysis
09.2016 - 09.2019
LEAD BUSINESS ANALYSIS - FINANCIAL ADVICE
Skipton Building Society
02.2016 - 07.2020
PROPOSITION DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Skipton Financial Services
02.2011 - 02.2016
COMMERCIAL MANAGER
Skipton Financial Services
11.2009 - 02.2011
MARKETING MANAGER
Skipton Financial Services
06.2006 - 11.2009
MARKETING CONTROLLER - MORTGAGES AND SAVINGS
Skipton Building Society
05.2004 - 06.2006
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT
Skipton Building Society
11.1999 - 05.2004
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