Business Analyst

Manulife is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. The Business Analyst supporting U.S. Retirement plays a key collaborative role within the Agile delivery team, working closely with the Epic Owner and Product Manager to shape and refine requirements that drive meaningful enhancements to retirement products and services.

Responsibilities:

• Work independently or with management and business units to identify business issues and develop creative solutions involving workflow procedures and/or modern technologies
• Collaborate with Product Team resources to create Business Case and present to senior leadership!
• Coordinate recommended process changes, enhancement, and production implementations
• Represent business unit in division or corporate initiatives
• Provide effective communication with business unit stakeholders as well as business partners
• Align with Epic Owner and Product Manager on project scope, assumptions, and risks
• Break down complex initiatives into manageable features, and user stories that support iterative development and incremental delivery
• Collaborate closely with the Product Manager to review, refine, and prioritize features in alignment with business objectives and product strategy
• Work independently, or in collaboration with a Product Owner to translate high‑level feature requirements into clear, actionable user stories, acceptance criteria, and supporting documentation within an Agile framework
• Assist Product Owner to ensure user stories are well‑defined, properly scoped, and ready for development team intake during backlog grooming and sprint planning
• Facilitate cross‑functional discussions to gather requirements, validate assumptions, and ensure shared understanding of feature intent

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree
• 5-7 years of business experience including progressive business analysis experience supporting significant business initiatives
• Strong understanding of Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban) with hands‑on experience collaborating in cross‑functional teams to refine backlogs, define user stories, and support iterative delivery
• Critical thinking
• Ability to manage multiple demands and competing priorities of multiple initiatives
• Strong communications and influencing skills
• Ability to cultivate relationships with key stakeholders and all levels of management
• Ability to evaluate feasibility or practicality of ideas and options, assess risks and trade-offs and make informed and timely decisions
• Strong conceptual, analytical, and problem-solving techniques
• Experience facilitating workshops, requirements sessions, or cross‑functional stakeholder meetings
• Ability to exercise flexibility and judgment in assessing business risks and issues in a dynamic environment
• Strong understanding and experience with project management methodologies
• Strong initiative and ability to commit to a course of action in the face of risks and uncertainty
• Proven expertise in leading components of large-size and critical projects or assignments
• Advanced analytical and problem‑solving skills, with experience using data to drive recommendations and decisions
• Experience with business process modeling and tools such as Visio, Lucidchart, or BPMN
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycles, including experience in both iterative and traditional (Waterfall/Hybrid) environments
• Proficiency with requirements management tools, such as Jira, Azure DevOps, Confluence, or similar platforms (even if not in an Agile context)
• Knowledge of change management principles and experience supporting organizational transformation initiatives
• Familiarity with data analysis or visualization tools, e.g., Excel, Power BI, Tableau, or SQL
• Exposure to UX/UI concepts, such as wireframing, prototyping, or understanding customer journey mapping
• Experience developing business cases, cost-benefit analyses, or impact assessments