Corporate Action Business Analyst - Contract

Company Overview: Jefferies, a global securities and investment banking group, has served companies and their investors for 50 years and operates in over 30 cities around the world. We provide world-class investment banking, sales & trading, research and asset management to a diverse range of corporate clients, institutional investors and high net worth individuals. We are industry experts, specializing in aerospace & defence, business services, consumer energy, financial services, gaming & leisure, healthcare, industrials, maritime, media, real estate & lodging, technology and telecommunications, with a dedicated private equity coverage group. Department Overview: The International Operations Project Management group oversees the end‑to‑end delivery of Operations change across EMEA and APAC, covering new business enablement, process simplification, regulatory and market‑wide initiatives, control enhancements, and mandatory system upgrades. Job Description: We are implementing a strategic SaaS platform to modernize and automate Corporate Actions processing across Equities, Fixed Income, Securities Lending/Repo, and relevant derivative products (e.g. swaps). The Business Analyst will play a critical, hands‑on role from discovery through go‑live, owning requirements definition, process re‑design, data and message mapping, testing coordination, and change adoption. This role suits a delivery‑focused BA with deep end‑to‑end Corporate Actions expertise (Reorg & Income), strong data/integration capability, and experience partnering with large financial software vendors in complex operating environments. Key Responsibilities & Tasks: • Analysis and Design: Document as‑is and to‑be processes, controls and flows, optimizing for STP, control robustness, and auditability • Elicit, author, and manage business requirements (BRDs), user stories with clear acceptance criteria, functional and non‑functional requirements (scalability, performance, resiliency, security, data privacy). • Partner with the Delivery Lead to shape the Target Operating Model (TOM), including maker/checker principles, exception handling, dashboards, MI/analytics, RACI, SLAs/OLAs, and control framework. • Corporate Actions Domain (Reorg & Income)Cover full event lifecycles across mandatory, voluntary, and mandatory‑with‑choice events, including: • Entitlements, elections, market claims • Tax and withholding • FX and funding • Posting to books & records and GL • Articulate product‑specific nuances across Equities, Fixed Income, Securities Lending/Repo, and swaps. • Understand CASS / Client Money touchpoints and SRD II obligations • Work with market infrastructures, custodians, and data vendors (e.g. Euroclear, Clearstream, CREST) and corporate action messaging standards (SWIFT MT564/566/568 – ISO 15022). • Data and Integration: Own data and message mapping across the SaaS platform and downstream/upstream systems, including: • Positions and inventory • Security master and static data • Events, elections, tax • Cash and securities postings • Collaborate with Technology to define and document APIs, flat‑file, and SWIFT interfaces, including field‑level mapping, transformation rules, and end‑to‑end data traceability. • Support platform configuration by aligning business rules with vendor product capabilities; manage backlog items, change requests, risks, and dependencies. Testing, Migration & Go-Live • Lead and coordinate SIT, UAT, regression testing, parallel runs, and go‑live rehearsals across regions and products • Maintain a requirements traceability matrix from design through testing • Prepare and execute test plans, scripts, and data, validate corporate action event simulations, and support defect triage and prioritization • Support data migration strategy (reference data, in‑flight events, elections) and cutover approach (big bang vs phased), including reconciliation, contingency, and back‑out planning. Delivery & Stakeholder Management • Run structured workshops and interviews and secure sign‑off across Operations, Technology, Control, Tax, and Compliance • Partner closely with the Delivery Lead on scope, milestones, dependencies, and resourcing • Proactively identify automation opportunities and continuous improvement initiatives beyond initial go‑live • Contribute to change management and training, including user guides, playbooks, and operational procedures. Qualifications/ Experience: • 5–8+ years’ experience as a Business Analyst (or hybrid BA/PM) in Investment Banking, Prime Brokerage, or Asset Servicing Operations. • Deep, hands‑on knowledge of Corporate Actions, with strong coverage of: • Reorganisations (tenders, rights, conversions, exchanges, mergers) • Income events (dividends, coupons, redemptions) • Proven experience delivering change with a major financial software vendor or SaaS platform in the Corporate Actions domain. • Strong capability across requirements engineering, process modelling, data mapping, interface specifications, and traceability. • Demonstrated leadership across SIT/UAT, parallel run, and cutover delivery. • Excellent communication skills; confident engaging and influencing stakeholders up to MD level. • Tools: Jira, Confluence, Excel, Visio (or similar), PowerPoint. Basic SQL for data validation (preferable)