Senior Business Analyst, AI Transformation Programme

The Senior Business Analyst, AI Transformation Programme is responsible for the programme governance, dashboarding and grant-tracking activities that keep the AI Hub’s fund programme on track: translating grant conditions and milestones into structured programme plans, building and maintaining dashboards for budget and milestone tracking, coordinating data inputs from BU finance and operations teams, and supporting vendor onboarding and compliance reporting.

The role requires someone equally comfortable with business analysis, programme governance and heavy budget-adjacent financial tracking, who can work fluently across finance, strategy and technology stakeholders, and who is genuinely comfortable using AI and BI tools to run leaner, more accurate reporting — consistent with the mandate of the function it supports.

Beyond the AI Hub itself, the role is expected to use lower-intensity periods in the programme and grant cycle to extend AI adoption into Group Finance and BU finance teams more broadly, so the impact of the position is felt across SJ’s wider finance community and not only within the AI Hub.

• Translate grant conditions, milestones and deliverables into a structured programme tracking framework (plans, RAID logs, milestone trackers) for the AI Hub.
• Monitor programme progress against grant milestones and flag schedule, scope or budget risks to the Head of AI Transformation.
• Maintain documentation supporting grant compliance — business cases, milestone evidence, programme status packs — ready for review or audit.
• Analyse programme and budget data to inform decisions by AI Hub leadership, the Strategy team and Group Finance.

• Design, build and maintain dashboards (e.g. Power BI, Excel) closely tracking budget utilisation, milestone status, vendor onboarding progress and other AI Hub KPIs for leadership, BU stakeholders, and Strategy.
• Automate recurring reporting where possible, using AI and data tools to reduce manual consolidation effort and improve accuracy.
• Produce periodic (monthly/quarterly) programme and grant status reports for internal leadership and for reporting obligations.

• Act as the primary coordination point between the AI Hub and finance/operations teams across all Business Lines/Business Units, gathering cost and activity data relevant to grant-funded work streams.
• Consolidate BU-level inputs into unified AI Hub and grant reporting, resolving discrepancies in data, categorisation or timing, and working with Group Finance where formal accounting treatment is required.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with BU/BL finance and operations leads to ensure timely, accurate and consistent data flow.

• Act as the day-to-day liaison to the Group Strategy team on matters connecting the AI Hub’s grant-funded activities to wider corporate strategy, planning and reporting cycles.
• Manage the working relationship with grant administrators/case officers, including responding to queries, coordinating audits or site visits, and preparing materials evidencing compliance with grant conditions.
• Monitor changes to the grant policy, reporting requirements or funding conditions, and translate the implications into updated tracking and reporting requirements.

• Coordinate the onboarding of new vendors and suppliers engaged by the AI Hub (e.g. AI technology vendors, consultants, system integrators), tracking documentation, due diligence status and timelines.
• Ensure vendor onboarding and invoicing data feeds correctly into programme and grant tracking, working with Procurement and Group Finance on compliance…