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 conceptsDAX measures and calculationsRow-Level Security (RLS)Incremental refreshDashboard 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.