Business Applications Specialist (Tech Analyst)

Job Purpose:

The Business Application Specialist is responsible for providing technical analysis and expertise for business-specific applications and interfaces. This role is a critical bridge between business stakeholders and development teams, translating high-level business requirements into detailed technical specifications, user stories, and system solutions. With deep expertise in assigned custom platforms, this role ensures that business needs are accurately transformed into developer-ready tasks while maintaining system integrity. By collaborating closely with engineers, troubleshooting technical challenges, and documenting system behaviors, the Technical Analyst drives efficient, scalable implementations that align with both business goals and technical constraints. 



Core Mission: 

To master the system’s capabilities, clarify technical requirements, and enable seamless development, turning business problems into reliable technical solutions.

 Dimensions:

• VE Central IT – Digital Enablement
• Collaborates with business units, IT teams, application owners and external vendors to address application-related challenges and business requirements.
• Staff: No direct reports.
• No direct budget accountability

Location:

Hybrid (Cape Town based)Principal Accountabilities:

 

1. Requirement Analysis, System Expertise & Solution Design 
   1. Collaborate with stakeholders to gather, analyze, and document technical requirements. 
   2. Translate business needs into process flows, technical specifications, epics, features, user stories and tasks.
   3. Design scalable solutions aligned with architecture and cybersecurity standards.
   4. Become the subject-matter expert (SME) for assigned custom platforms, advising on best practices and limitations. 
2. Developer Collaboration & Technical Leadership
   1. Work shoulder-to-shoulder with developers to clarify requirements, troubleshoot design challenges, and validate implementations. 
   2. Lead technical sprint ceremonies (e.g., refinement sessions, sprint demos) to ensure alignment with business goals. 
   3. Document system architecture decisions and contribute to technical wikis (e.g., Azure DevOps
3. Systems Integration
   1. Liaise with developers to understand interfaces, data workflows as well as API integrations
   2. Conduct gap analysis to identify system improvements or automation opportunities for improved user experience and/or better value.
4. Testing, Quality Assurance & Risk Mitigation 
   1. Define technical test cases (e.g., edge cases, performance thresholds) and validate outputs against business rules. 
   2. Develop and execute test plans (UAT, SIT) to validate functionality, performance, and security. 
   3. Troubleshoot and resolve defects, coordinating with cross-functional teams for fixes. 
   4. Ensure compliance with all IT Governance, regulatory standards (e.g., GDPR, POPIA, etc.)
   5. Flag upstream/downstream impacts of system changes (e.g., "This API change will break Report X"). 
   6. Maintain a runbook for system troubleshooting and admin tasks. 
5. Technical Support & Training
   1. Serve as Tier 2/3 support for complex system issues, ensuring minimal downtime.
   2. Train end-users and create technical documentation (guides, FAQs, release notes). 
6. Continuous Improvement 
   1. Monitor system performance, analyze trends, and recommend upgrades/optimizations. 
   2. Identify technical debt and advocate for fixes/enhancements. 
   3. Stay ahead of system upgrades and evaluate new features for business relevance.
   4. Stay updated on emerging technologies (e.g., AI, RPA) to drive innovation. 

Key Challenges:

• Managing the complexity of business-specific applications while understanding how they integrate with other systems and how they meet the evolving needs of the organization.
• Balancing the need for quick issue resolution with the complexity of application environments and dependencies.

Job Knowledge, Skills & Experiences:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field or other equivalent relevant qualification.

• Proven experience, minimum 5 years’ relevant working experience, in application support or business/technical analytics.

• Experience working with third-party service providers and managing SLAs.

• Experience in global or virtual team working.
• Analytical: Agile/Scrum methodologies, Data modeling, process mapping .
• System Mastery: Deep hands-on experience with 1-2 core systems (Fleet, Payment, Loyalty and B2B CRM Systems)
• Developer Collaboration: Comfort with DevOps tools 
• Agile Fluency: Proficiency in Azure DevOps, Scrum ceremonies, and backlog grooming.

The following soft skills, behaviours and mindset are required: 

• Good customer-facing, interpersonal and communications (oral and written) skills.
• Experience and proven record in stakeholder management and problem-solving,

• Able to work across teams and manage relationships with vendors.

• Able to work independently and within a team.

• Able to work in a cross-functional, multi-application, multi-service providers environment.