Lead Business Analyst (Japanese Proficiency)

As a Lead Business Analyst, you will play a key role within the Business Analysis competency, partnering with business and technology stakeholders to drive data-driven decision making, process optimization, and successful delivery of analytics solutions. You will lead requirements management activities, facilitate collaboration across cross-functional and cross-cultural teams, and translate complex business needs into scalable Power BI solutions that create measurable value for procurement and finance organizations. What You'll Be Doing: Business Analysis & Stakeholder Management • Lead requirements elicitation workshops and discovery sessions with procurement leaders, category managers, finance controllers, IT teams, and data owners. • Analyze and document current-state and future-state business processes. • Contribute to and drive continuous process improvement initiatives aligned with evolving business needs within the procurement function. • Facilitate alignment between business and technical stakeholders, ensuring a common understanding of project objectives and requirements. • Act as the primary liaison between business users, project teams, and technical delivery teams. Solution Definition & Documentation • Translate business requirements into detailed functional specifications for Power BI dashboards and analytics solutions. • Define data model expectations, calculation logic, KPIs, business rules, visualizations, user stories, and user interaction requirements. • Produce and maintain high-quality business requirements documents (BRDs), functional specifications, process maps, data mapping documents, and related project documentation. • Review solution designs to ensure alignment with business objectives and requirements. Project Delivery & Governance • Support the Project Manager in delivering project objectives on time and within budget. • Contribute to scope definition, effort estimation, dependency management, and milestone tracking. • Ensure requirements-related issues, assumptions, risks, decisions, and dependencies are appropriately tracked and managed through RAID and Decision Logs. • Communicate project plans, status updates, risks, and issues across governance forums and stakeholder groups. Testing, Deployment & Adoption • Coordinate and facilitate User Acceptance Testing (UAT), including test planning, defect management, and stakeholder sign-off. • Support deployment and implementation activities to ensure smooth solution adoption. • Prepare training materials, user guides, and knowledge transfer documentation. • Provide hypercare and post-go-live support to business users and stakeholders. Leadership • Provide guidance and mentorship to junior and mid-level business analysts. • Promote best practices in requirements management, stakeholder engagement, and business analysis methodologies. • Drive continuous improvement in business analysis processes, standards, and delivery frameworks. What We're Looking For • Bachelor's Degree or Diploma in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance, or a related discipline. • Minimum 5 years of experience as an IT Business Analyst. • At least 1 year of experience in a lead or senior business analysis capacity. • Proven experience delivering business intelligence, reporting, analytics, or dashboard projects. • Demonstrated success in requirements elicitation, business process analysis, and stakeholder management. • Experience producing BRDs, functional specifications, process documentation, and data mapping artifacts. • Hands-on involvement in Power BI implementation projects, including requirements definition, dashboard design, data model reviews, and UAT facilitation. Language Requirements • Fluent written and spoken English. • Fluent written and spoken Japanese, with the ability to facilitate business discussions and documentation in both languages. Technical Knowledge • Strong understanding of Power BI, including: • Data modeling and star schema concepts • DAX measures and calculations • Row-Level Security (RLS) • Incremental refresh • Dashboard and report design best practices • Knowledge of Azure-based data platforms and modern analytics architectures. • Understanding of data integration, ETL/ELT processes, and data warehousing concepts. • Ability to understand and communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. Core Competencies • Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities. • Excellent interpersonal, communication, and facilitation skills. • Strong prioritization, organizational, and time-management skills. • Ability to manage multiple stakeholders and competing priorities. • Experience working across cross-functional and cross-cultural teams. • Strong attention to detail and commitment to delivery excellence. Preferred Skills • Experience in spend analysis, spend classification, spend categorization, and procurement analytics. • Experience working with ERP and procurement platforms such as SAP MM, SAP Ariba, Coupa, Oracle Procurement, or similar solutions. • Understanding of procurement data structures, including: • Purchase Orders • Invoices • Contracts • Goods Receipts • Supplier Master Data • Material and Service Classifications • Familiarity with spend classification frameworks such as UNSPSC, eClass, and custom procurement taxonomies. • Experience supporting digital transformation, reporting modernization, or procurement optimization initiatives. Originally posted on Himalayas