The Energy Systems Catapult

Energy Systems Catapult was set up to accelerate the transformation of the UK’s energy system and ensure UK businesses and consumers capture the opportunities of clean growth. The Catapult is an independent, not-for-profit centre of excellence that bridges the gap between industry, government, academia and research. We take a whole-systems view of the energy sector, helping us to identify and address innovation priorities and market barriers, in order to decarbonise the energy system at the lowest cost.

During lockdown, we have been working remotely and as we begin to focus more on the future, we intend to embrace a new refreshing way to utilise our office in Birmingham City Centre . As a consequence we are developing a flexible approach to the workplace , which ensures we keep some of the benefits of home working whilst enabling the Catapult to operate efficiently, this hybrid way of working may result in the majority of us working from home for a good chunk of the time, merging the best bits of both office and home working.

Context

It’s critical that the projects that the Digital team deliver are well defined as the quality of their delivery can have a significant impact not only on the completion of a project, but also on the reputation of the ESC with external customers. To ensure that projects have the best chance of satisfying customer expectation someone with significant expertise must work with all stakeholders to lead the scoping and elicitation of requirements and the end-to-end solution.

To assure customer satisfaction, this person must be involved throughout the lifecycle taking a lead role in overseeing the implementation is performed to meet all stakeholder expectations. Finally, this person will take responsibility for ensuring that the delivered solution can be rigorously tested and proven to meet all stakeholder requirements.

To achieve this, the role will be required to lead and manage Business Analysts and Test Engineers as well as supporting the definition, development, implementation and enforcement of appropriate processes. The role provides a critical bridge between the Systems Development and the internal stakeholders from Business Development, Service Platforms and other Assets/Capabilities – the role also engages with external clients as required during the Business Development stage to support requirements and solution definition.

Key Deliverables 

• Support the Systems Development Manager in the development, implementation and management of processes appropriate to the required development activities.
• Define, develop and maintain application lifecycle management tools used by the System Development Team (Jira / Confluence).
• Take a key role in the shaping and direction of the Systems Development Team.
• Lead and line manage and mentor a team of Business Analysts and Test Engineers, including recruitment of team members and their training and development needs
• Work with senior internal and external stakeholders to identify, define and document requirements for projects within the Digital Team.
• Grow the Solution Delivery capability for the Digital Team in line with the agreed Business Plan

Key Work Activities

• Leading the elicitation, analysis, documentation and management of requirements from customers and stakeholders to the Digital Team.
• Working with the appropriate architects (system, software and hardware) to convert the input requirements into solution stories for execution by development teams and review and agree those stories with the appropriate development teams.
• Provide Technical Leadership for projects crossing multiple disciplines, typically with both hardware and software but also data science. Include working closely with a Scrum Master to manage scrum based delivery
• Leading the design of appropriate test methodologies to verify the implementation against the design
• Managing test and verification activities ensuring that process is followed, documentation created and traceability to requirements is maintained.
• Lead the presentation of verification results at review meetings.
• Create and deliver release plans 

What credentials are we ideally looking for ?

• Qualified to degree (ideally Masters) level in an engineering, scientific, computing or mathematical subject.
• Significant experience leading requirements elicitation and analysis for complex IT systems
• Experience in the end-to-end development and delivery of complex IT systems
• Familiar with Agile ceremonies with experience of leading Agile teams both Kanban and Scrum
• Recognized BA qualification such as the BCS Diploma in Business Analysis or IIBA (CBAP). 
• Able to lead, facilitate and persuade through personal authority, influence and approach.
• Strong inter-personal skills – able to articulate and work with a diverse team of colleagues with backgrounds across data science, engineering, business, and policy.
• Senior internal and external stakeholder management including customers and government entities such as BEIS and Ofgem
• Must be able to consider any solution from the perspective of a “whole systems approach” rather than an individual discipline
• Strong presentation and communication skills. 
• A can-do attitude, able to work with limited supervision under pressure and to tight deadlines. 
• Persuasive and approachable you can successfully manage relations with clients, colleagues and other stakeholders. 
• Comfortable dealing with ambiguity and ability to work effectively in line with changing priorities