Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Senior Business Analyst- i.AI
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
London
Job Summary
About the Incubator for AI (i.AI)
The Incubator for AI (i.AI) is a fast-moving, autonomous technical unit within the UK government. Our mission is to pioneer transformative applications of AI to build a better Britain.
We operate under three core principles:
-
Talent: We bring together the UK’s best AI talent across a range of functions. You will work alongside exceptional researchers and top government leaders, staying at the cutting edge of technology.
-
Innovation: We set precedents for what is possible in government. We combine the pace of a start-up with the influence of being at the digital centre of government. You will test new ideas, expand what is possible, and leverage unique government data to create novel solutions.
-
Impact: We are dedicated to using AI as a tool for public good - this can mean improving outcomes in schools, boosting housebuilding or providing more personalised support for those in need. With the backing of the Prime Minister, you will turn technical breakthroughs into real-world applications that affect millions of citizens.
Job Description
About the job
We are a team at the forefront of applying cutting-edge AI to transform how people experience government services.
Gov Voice is building a trusted, reusable AI voice service that makes it easier for people to access government services by phone. For millions of people, contact centres are one of the most important and highest-volume ways they interact with government. We are creating an AI-enabled voice capability that can make those interactions simpler, faster and easier to navigate.
Gov Voice is part of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which is working to make digital government simpler, clearer and faster for everyone.
This is not innovation for its own sake. We are building a real service for real users in a high-trust, high-scrutiny environment. Our aim is to create something practical, reusable and trusted that departments across government can adopt with confidence.
This is a rare opportunity to work at the intersection of frontier AI and real-world delivery. You will be part of a multidisciplinary team bringing together product, delivery, AI, policy, operations, service design and technical expertise to solve complex problems that matter. If you are motivated by improving public services, shaping how AI is applied responsibly in government, and helping build services that could improve the experience of millions of people, this is an opportunity to make a genuine impact.
What you will do
As a Senior Business Analyst, you will play a central role in shaping how Gov Voice delivers value for users, departments and government as a whole. You will lead analysis across complex service environments, helping the team understand user needs, operational realities, business constraints and opportunities for change.
You will work in a highly adaptive agile environment, carrying out deep analysis of organisations, processes and systems, and working closely with colleagues across product, delivery, policy, operations and technology. You will engage partner organisations through workshops, targeted investigation and collaborative problem-solving, and you will be comfortable interacting with senior stakeholders in fast-paced environments.
As a Senior Business Analyst, You Will:
- Lead discovery and ongoing research to build a strong understanding of user needs across complex service journeys, ensuring the direction of the work remains focused on solving real problems for citizens
- Shape future service models, mapping how services work today, identifying where AI voice technology could add value, and setting out clear, evidence-based opportunities for improvement
- Define and maintain high-quality business requirements, collaborating with product, policy, technical and operational teams to ensure services develop in a coherent, user-centred and measurable way
- Guide the team through planning and product development cycles, helping to prioritise features, refine hypotheses, and design meaningful tests that build confidence before wider rollout
- Develop clear measures of success, including how the team will evaluate performance, quality, risk, and user and business outcomes
- Bring stakeholders together across departments and professions, communicating insight clearly, facilitating alignment, and ensuring decisions are transparent, evidence-based and well understood
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
This role will require you to move confidently between strategic thinking and hands-on delivery. At times, you will be helping define the future shape of a cross-government service; at others, you will be working closely with teams to break down problems, clarify requirements and support effective delivery.
Person specification
Essential Experience
We are interested in people who have:
- Experience determining and shaping the analysis approach for complex business and user needs within an agile delivery environment, agreeing priorities and scope with teams, and producing high-quality artefacts such as user stories, acceptance criteria, and functional and non-functional requirements
- Experience guiding teams to choose and apply effective modelling techniques to represent complex situations, understand context and root causes, and assess options in order to support clear recommendations
- Experience leading the analysis and design of end-to-end processes, and testing and evaluating improvements to deliver measurable performance gains
- Experience building and maintaining strong relationships across complex environments, influencing stakeholders, resolving issues and ensuring effective communication
- Experience leading the analysis of system functionality and data flows, creating or overseeing models and documentation, and assessing the impact of system changes with relevant stakeholders
- Experience advising on the value and scope of testing, defining business scenarios and acceptance criteria, and reviewing test plans, prototypes and outcomes to ensure requirements are met
- Experience recommending appropriate user-centred analysis and user experience techniques, validating needs, and communicating how these shape service and system design to achieve business and user outcomes
You may also bring experience of working across organisational boundaries, helping multiple teams align around a shared problem, and supporting the design of reusable services in complex operational settings.
If you meet some of these criteria, but not every single one, we would still encourage you to apply.
Why join us
This is the kind of role that comes along rarely: a chance to help shape how AI is used in real public services, in a setting where the work is visible, important and capable of making a real difference.
You will work with talented, supportive and mission-driven colleagues across disciplines, and you will have the opportunity to contribute to a service that could be adopted widely across government. The problems are complex, the environment is fast-moving, and the potential public impact is significant.
If you want to help build trusted AI-enabled services that are practical, scalable and focused on real user needs, we would love to hear from you.
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
Candidates will be asked a scenario question by the panel and should be expected to respond to follow-up questions. Further details will be provided in advance, including the opportunity for candidates to prepare for the technical interview.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home-based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.
Candidates will be required to submit a CV and responses to two application questions.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Applications will be sifted against the essential criteria, including relevant experience and motivation for the role.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a preliminary call.
Those who progress will then attend an interview, which will include questions on their application, a technical assessment, and a behavioural interview. For the technical assessment, candidates will be asked a scenario question by the panel and should be expected to respond to follow-up questions. Further details will be provided in advance, including the opportunity for candidates to prepare for the technical interview. Candidates may use AI tools to support this preparation.
Appointment is conditional on successfully completing UK Government SC clearance. Prior clearance is not required — we will sponsor and support you. You should normally have been resident in the UK for 2 of the past 5 years. Employment is conditional on obtaining and maintaining the required clearance(s).
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.
Due to the nature of this role, we are advertising this vacancy in London only.
Further Information
Reasonable Adjustment
We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.
Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candidate Guidance. A DSIT Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.
We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.
Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.
Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
Any move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location