Current vacancies
Please note we do not accept offers from recruitment agencies or suppliers that are not on our preferred supplier list.
Working at Focus Solutions
Focus Solutions is a leading provider of software and consultancy services to the largest financial services organisations. We pride ourselves on our enviable growth record, our innovative solutions and our ability to deliver projects to some of the biggest names in the industry.
Our values guide everything that we do and are crucial to the success of our business. We’re passionate about cultivating a professional, collaborative workplace and employing people who can contribute to our success and demonstrate a shared appreciation of our values:
In return we offer an excellent benefits and remuneration package including attractive salaries, group pension and health plans, 25 days holiday and a performance related bonus scheme.
Product Management
Including product ownership / product consultancy
No current vacancies, but please get in touch if you think you have something to offer.
Business Analysis
Business Analyst
Based: Leamington Spa
To apply for the role please email your CV and a brief covering letter.Business Analyst
Purpose
The ‘Business Analyst’ reporting to the Business Architect, will be responsible for gathering and analysing business requirements, expressing these as business scenarios and user stories, preparation of documentation and specifications and undertaking detailed analysis tasks such as data mapping.
Where assigned the ‘Business Analyst’ will also act as product owner, liaising with the business owner and clients to validate that solutions delivered meet their requirements, ensuring appropriate escalation where this is not achieved or does not look like it will be achieved.
Solving design issues and challenges is an important part of the role and the role holder will be expected to identify root causes, solution options and implications, working with both business and technical colleagues.
Dimensions
As a Business Analyst your main responsibilities will involve:
- Liaising with clients and third parties
- Determining and documenting requirements
- Analysing and challenging client business needs
- Support the creation of the backlog and associated users stories
- Estimation of analysis tasks within agreed tolerances
- Undertake data mapping analysis, mapping our integration partners schemas with our schema
- Contributing to the design of solutions
- Preparing process flows and visualisations to support the design process
- Producing solutions documents and functional specifications
- Work collaboratively with the wider team including , developers, testers and others to ensure that high quality software is produced that meets the needs of our customers
- Liaise with the business owner and clients to validate that solutions delivered meet their requirements, ensuring appropriate escalation where this is not achieved or does not look like it will be achieved
- Investigate and resolve assigned defects capturing all appropriate information in the defect tracking tool
- Assist QA and Support teams to identify and resolve software issues – leading analysis, communicating options for resolution and providing recommendations
- Take responsibility for completing assigned tasks according to the agreed timescale providing regular feedback on progress and alerting the Delivery Lead to any risk to a timely delivery
Key Outputs
- A full understanding of the functional and business requirements of the work that you are undertaking
- Provision of initiate and product requirement documents (PRDs) to a standard that can be estimated, designed and built within an acceptable tolerance
- Creation of user stories and backlog items to a testable standard
- Production and maintenance of solution overviews and functional specifications
- Estimation of analysis tasks
- Supporting internal and client workshops and meetings
Authorisations and Limits
- Where designated, product owner within scrum team
- Communication and engagement with clients and integration partners regarding requirements and solution scope
Qualifications/Experience (Depth and breadth of specialised knowledge)
As Business Analyst you will have:
- A clear understanding of the market space and the requirements of a typical client
- A good understanding of data models and ability to interpret XML schemas
- The ability to accurately collate and report on significant amounts of information from a variety of sources
- The ability to analyse and understand client business needs and challenge where appropriate
- The ability to determine and document requirements
- The ability to contribute to the design of and documenting solutions
- The ability to produce and update supporting documentation including functional specifications and solution overviews.
- The ability to produce backlog documents
- The ability to prepare supporting process flows and screen layouts
- A thorough understanding of the processes, methods & standards operating in the organisation
- A strong attention to detail with a focus on quality
- Excellent organisation, analytical and communication skills, with a proven ability to communicate and influence both verbally and in writing
- The ability to influence a range of stakeholders (internal and external)
- The ability to influence business and system design decisions
- Proven ability to work across boundaries
- A self-motivated nature with the ability to work on own initiative and under instruction, to tight deadlines, under pressure and without compromising quality
- A proactive and highly disciplined work ethic
- A creative and inquisitive nature when it comes to technology based business solutions
- Commercial awareness
- A driven, energetic and enthusiastic, with a ‘can do, will do’ approach
- Flexibility in role, approach and skills
- A willingness to travel and work on customer sites from time to time
You should also have:
- Be educated to degree level, ideally in discipline related to Software Engineering
- A methodical approach to work with the ability to ‘think outside the box’
- The ability to troubleshoot and diagnose problems
- A good understanding of when to use different communication mediums
- Commercially awareness
Desirable
- A background in software programming
- Experience of working with and integrating with IFA software systems
- Desire to travel and work overseas
Key Personal Competencies
Customer Focus
Knowing who your customers are, keeping the meeting of their needs at the forefront of mind and taking responsibility for the service delivered to them.
Preference for Action
Grasping issues that require resolution and ensuring that appropriate effective action is taken.
Communicating and Influencing
The ability to communicate effectively, influencing others to act and/or commit support to one’s own goals and objectives.
Creative and Innovative Thinking
The ability to think creatively or innovatively.
Business Knowledge
Having a sound grasp of the Company’s plans and operating environment, the factors relevant to one’s own role and the interaction between one’s own role and others’ within the Company and outside.
Planning and Organising
The ability to develop clear and logical step-by-step plans for self and for others which set out what needs to happen, when, how and by whom.
Development / Software Engineering
No current vacancies, but please get in touch if you think you have something to offer.
Quality Assurance (QA) / Testing
No current vacancies, but please get in touch if you think you have something to offer.
Customer Service / Support
Customer Support Analyst
Based: Leamington Spa
To apply for the role please email your CV and a brief covering letter.Customer Support Analyst
Purpose
Operating within Customer Services, the Customer Support Analyst will be part of a growing team dedicated to support services for Focus deployed software. Engaging the customer, understanding the critical business objectives & delivering effective solutions which help them achieve their objectives.
The role is customer facing and will involve incident/problem investigation, diagnosis and resolution. Strong communication and the ability to demonstrate sound analytical and technical skills, coupled with excellent reporting skills and the ability to effectively manage customers’ expectations and changing priorities.
The Customer Support Analyst’s main function is interpreting the customer’s incidents/problems, gathering sufficient evidence to enable swift investigation and assist in implementation of resolution.
Dimensions
The main responsibilities are:
- Responding quickly, appropriately and professionally to customer and internal queries regarding the software issues
- Diagnosing faults within existing or newly developed software
- Ownership of investigations of internal and external customers in line with defined service level agreements and Support procedures
- Providing solutions to problems & customer requests, including data changes if appropriate
- Liaising with other teams to ensure permanent software fixes are implemented
- This role generally does not include any programming but will involve appreciation of the underlying technology to demonstrate a thorough and ongoing knowledge of all live solutions
- Provide 1st, 2nd and 3rd line support with hands-on telephone and email support
- Ownership and ability to action and track customer incidents through to resolution
- Escalate & provide feedback to the Customer Support Manager on common issues
- Assess each issue/problem raised for impact to the customer, and prioritise and plan workload as appropriate
- Forecast and communicate resolution timescales, adjusting according to progress
- Setting expectations with the customer, negotiating/agreeing priorities as appropriate Ensure issues are identified, tracked, reported upon and resolved in a timely manner
- Develop and maintain excellent working relationships with customer personnel
- Provide a consistent, professional interface between the customer and Focus
- Communicate with internal implementation and Product teams and assist in issue resolution using knowledge of application and system design
- Work with line management in the continual review of and improvement to internal processes, policies and procedures
- Adhere to company processes and procedures, health and safety policy, and other requirements relating to the care of equipment
Qualifications/Experience (depth and breadth of specialised knowledge)
Essential Skills
- Experience and knowledge of financial services industry with an emphasis on the financial advice process
- ITIL Qualification
- Appreciation of XML technologies
- Strong working knowledge of software support & development life cycle
- Experience in accurately recording information (e.g. requirements, results)
- Understanding of client/server and internet technologies
- Methodical with a process orientated approach to work
- Ability to plan, prioritise and co-ordinate activities, handling multiple tasks across multiple projects
- Problem solver
- Ability to take ownership of assigned tasks
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both written and verbal)
- Self-motivated and able to work in a team or independently
- Ability to deal with difficult situations in a positive manner
- Ability to work on own initiative and under instruction, to tight deadlines, under pressure and without compromising quality
- Commercially aware
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills; resolute but diplomatic
- Ability to work on own initiative and under instruction, to tight deadlines, under pressure and without compromising quality
- Proactive and highly disciplined
- Flexibility in role, approach and skills
- Drive, energy and enthusiasm, with a ‘can do, will do’ approach
Desirable
- Desire to work in a customer facing role
Key Personal Competencies
Customer Focus
Knowing who your customers are, keeping the meeting of their needs at the forefront of mind and taking responsibility for the service delivered to them.
Preference for Action
Grasping issues that require resolution and ensuring that appropriate effective action is taken.
Communicating and Influencing
The ability to communicate effectively and to influence others to act and/or commit support to one’s own goals and objectives.
Creative and Innovative Thinking
The ability to think creatively or innovatively.
Business Knowledge
Having a sound grasp of the Company’s plans and operating environment, the factors relevant to one’s own role and the interaction between one’s own role and others’ within the Company and outside.
Planning and Organising
The ability to develop clear and logical step-by-step plans for self and for others which set out what needs to happen, when, how and by whom.
Something else?
Think you could add something else?
Do you have something else to offer us?
If you want to be part of our continuing growth and are looking for an opportunity to develop your career in a role that will test, prove and progress your skills, we’d love to hear from you.
Please email your CV and a brief covering letter.
If we’ve got a role to suit you, a member of our recruitment team will be in touch.
Please note we do not accept offers from recruitment agencies or suppliers that are not on our preferred supplier list.
SOME OF OUR CUSTOMERS
