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Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.

We are seeking a Senior Business Analyst to join our Life Events Data Team.

The Life Events Data Team process all death records from General Register Office and code cause of death using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), currently ICD-10. The ICD is updated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) approximately every 20 years to align with advancements in medical and scientific knowledge, and ICD-11 is the latest version of the classification. The ICD-11 implementation project is a large transformation project to ensure ONS can transition to using ICD-11 across all cause of death processing operations, internal life events systems, statistical production and analysis of mortality data.

Job description

A Senior Business Analyst has a good understanding of strategic arenas and works on larger and more complex pieces of work. They develop best practice, own stakeholder relationships, and manage communities of practice activities (internally and across government).

You will play a key role helping to set the direction of analysis work within project teams.

Responsibilities include:

• Lead and manage investigations into business processes, information systems, functions, information flows, data structures and software development processes, using various technical, methodical, and consistent techniques.
• Review existing system capabilities, develop use cases and information models, and align business requirements to specific capabilities of system development, including working with developers to ensure that user needs are met.
• Define improvements to business processes, developing business cases to enable decisions to be made based on the benefits of the change.
• Facilitate, understand, and communicate the project scope and work to assure the overall goal is maintained in creation of the product backlog.
• Lead in defining solutions to real business problems through influence, facilitation and communication and ensuring the end-to-end process is considered.
• Assist decision makers in gathering information to make informed decisions.
• Shape and challenge business priorities and ways of working through collaboration with business and technology teams.
• Elicit functional and non-functional requirements using appropriate techniques, considering the nature of change and established practices.
• Develop suitable analysis models using appropriate modelling techniques, considering traceability, adherence to business objectives and fitness for purpose.
• Help to quality assure test solutions and products.
• Actively participate in the Business Analysis community and broader communities to refine and develop standards, working practices, sharing of knowledge, and understanding.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

As a Senior Business Analyst, you are able to:

• advise on the approach to identify, investigate, analyse and communicate complex business problems and opportunities within a project or programme of work
• define the most appropriate requirements management life cycle methods and ensure the requirement can be traced in the design, build, test, tender and evaluation phases
• identify and resolve issues, influence stakeholders and manage relationships effectively

Qualifications

On entry, must have passed at least one module and be working towards completing one of the following diplomas:

BCS (ISEB) diploma in Business Analysis

OR

BCS (ISEB) diploma in Solution Development

OR

have at least 3 years Business Analysis experience.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Business Analysis - Practitioner
• Requirements Definition & Management - Practitioner
• Stakeholder Relationship Management - Practitioner

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,985, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Please note: We will reach out to you once the advert has closed to confirm eligibility for this role, this will be via an e-mail. Please check you e-mails.

Visa Sponsorship

ONS are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants are expected to hold a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are applying on a time-limited visa, this will need to be valid for at least 18 months at point of application.

To work at the ONS, candidates must meet both UK right to work and security clearance requirements (where applicable).

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and your answers to our technical questions.

These are:

1. Can you explain an exact situation where you communicated a complex business problem, what actions did you take? (Business Analysis - Practitioner)
2. In a previous role what methods have you used to trace requirements through design, build, test and evaluation? (Requirements Definition & Management - Practitioner)
3. Can you explain what steps you have taken in the past to manage a difficult stakeholder? (Stakeholder Relationship Management - Practitioner)

It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

The maximum word count allowed for our questions is 250 words, which should not be exceeded. We recommend using the STAR (Situation - Task - Action - Result) format to answer these questions.

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills.

Interviews will be in person in our Newport and Titchfield offices.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates

• Eligibility checks from 31/07/2026 - 07/08/2026. Please be aware we will be sending all candidates an e-mail to complete a eligibility form.
  
• Sift will be conducted from 10/08/2026
  
• Interviews will be conducted from 17/08/2026

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Government Digital and Data Recruitment
• Email : Government-Digital-and-Data-Recruitment@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Government-Digital-and-Data-Recruitment@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

2721 Advert 1B Permanent - ONS National Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)Flexibilities_Statement Opens in new window (pdf, 47kB)Business Analyst Role Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 298kB)