Lead Business Analyst (Japanese Proficiency) (Contractual)

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.