Discovery Analyst Lead

We are looking for a Discovery Analyst Lead to design and establish the Discovery operating model within a major Transformation Programme covering the Capital Markets and Banking & Payments domains.

The role will be responsible for building a practical and scalable approach to Discovery, including frameworks, tools, processes and workflows supporting initiative intake, assessment, prioritisation, governance and transition into delivery.

You will work closely with senior stakeholders across Business, Operations, Product and Technology, translating business needs and loosely defined ideas into structured, prioritised and delivery-ready initiatives.

The role also includes leadership responsibility for a team of Discovery Analysts, as well as coordination of Discovery activities across multiple teams and functions.

Key responsibilities

• Design and establish the Discovery operating model within the Transformation Programme.
• Define and implement processes for initiative intake, assessment, prioritisation, governance and transition to delivery.
• Build practical frameworks, tools, templates, workflows and reporting mechanisms from the ground up.
• Establish clear governance, decision-making criteria and ways of working for the Discovery function.
• Lead and develop a team of Discovery Analysts, ensuring consistent quality and delivery.
• Facilitate workshops and discussions with senior stakeholders across Business, Operations, Product and Technology.
• Transform high-level concepts, business problems and loosely defined ideas into structured, prioritised and delivery-ready initiatives.
• Analyse existing as-is processes, systems and business requirements and translate them into clear requirements for new or enhanced systems.
• Identify opportunities for process optimisation, automation and transformation.
• Ensure effective handover of validated initiatives from Discovery into delivery teams.
• Coordinate activities across multiple teams and ensure alignment with the broader Transformation agenda.
• Provide clear reporting and insights to senior programme stakeholders.

Key skills and qualifications

• Proven experience establishing Discovery and Transformation, Business Analysis or Continuous Improvement capabilities.
• Strong experience in operating model design, process design and workflow development.
• Demonstrated ability to build practical systems, tools, templates, governance frameworks and reporting from scratch.
• Experience turning ambiguous business ideas and loosely defined problems into structured, prioritised and delivery-ready initiatives.
• Strong understanding of business analysis and requirements engineering, including translating as-is processes into requirements for new systems.
• Excellent stakeholder management, facilitation and communication skills, with confidence working with senior stakeholders.
• Experience leading analysts and coordinating work across multiple teams and functions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities combined with a pragmatic, delivery-focused approach.
• Ability to operate effectively in complex transformation environments with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Experience within Financial Services, Capital Markets, Banking & Payments, Technology or Business Process Services is highly desirable.
• Comfortable working across both business and technology domains and translating between the two.

What we are looking for

The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking with hands-on delivery. You should be comfortable designing an operating model at a conceptual level while also developing the practical processes, tools and templates required to make it work in day-to-day operations.