Digital SEND and Finance Business Analyst

About The Role About Us

Compass Community is a values-led organisation committed to making a difference in the lives of children and young people across the UK. Our values are central to who we are and must run through everything we do - shaping the way we work, make decisions, support colleagues, engage with stakeholders and deliver change. With a focus on care, education, fostering and therapeutic services, we are passionate about delivering transformational change and creating safe, supportive environments.

As part of our ongoing mission to strengthen services and systems, we are looking for an experienced Business Analyst to support the Digital SEND Programme and a portfolio of financial projects within our dynamic Transformation Programme and Project Management team.

As a Digital SEND and Finance Business Analyst, you will play a key role in supporting the successful delivery of the Digital SEND Programme and assigned financial projects across Compass. Working closely with project managers, SEND and Education colleagues, Finance, Digital, Technology, operational teams, developers and other stakeholders, you will gather, analyse, validate and translate complex business, user, data and financial requirements into clear, actionable solutions.

You will assess current processes and systems, define future-state requirements, support options appraisal and benefits realisation, and help ensure that proposed changes are practical, compliant, financially controlled and aligned with organisational outcomes. This position requires strong communication, stakeholder management, analytical and documentation skills, together with a sound understanding of business processes, digital services, data and finance-related systems.

• Support business analysis across the Digital SEND Programme and assigned financial projects from discovery through to implementation and benefits realisation.
• Engage SEND, Education, Finance, Digital, Technology and operational stakeholders to understand strategic objectives, service needs, pain points and priorities.
• Analyse current-state processes, systems, data flows, controls and user journeys, and design clear future-state processes and requirements.
• Document financial requirements, business rules, approval routes, controls, reporting needs, data definitions and reconciliation requirements.
• Support options appraisal, feasibility assessment and business case development(where required) by identifying costs, benefits, risks, dependencies and measurable outcomes.
• Maintain requirements traceability and ensure Digital SEND and finance requirements are linked to agreed scope, outcomes, testing and acceptance criteria.
• Identify cross-workstream dependencies, data impacts, risks and process changes, escalating gaps or conflicts to the Project Manager.
• Support benefits definition, baseline measures, implementation readiness and post-implementation evaluation.
• Gather, analyse, validate and manage business, user, data, system and financial requirements throughout the full delivery lifecycle.
• Plan and facilitate workshops, interviews, observation and prototyping sessions with SEND, Education, Finance, Digital, Technology and operational stakeholders.
• Produce high-quality functional and non-functional requirements, user stories, epics, acceptance criteria, process maps, data requirements, business rules and supporting documentation.
• Support Agile, Waterfall or hybrid delivery teams across Digital SEND and finance work streams, clarifying requirements and supporting solution design decisions.
• Define testable acceptance criteria and support system testing, User Acceptance Testing, data validation, financial reconciliation and business readiness activities.
• Collaborate with project managers to manage scope, requirements changes, dependencies, risks, deliverables and benefits.
• Ensure requirements and proposed solutions consider safeguarding, information security, data protection, financial governance, regulatory obligations and organisational policies.
• Embed Compass Community’s values throughout all business analysis activity, ensuring requirements, recommendations, stakeholder engagement and change delivery reflect our commitment to care, integrity, collaboration and positive outcomes for children, young people and families.
• Facilitate sustainable change by supporting the adoption of improved Digital SEND and finance processes, systems and ways of working.

• 3-5+ years of experience as a…