Business Analyst (6 month FTC)

Who we are and what we do

About Hachette UK

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

We're made up of 10 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Little, Brown, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2026 British Book Awards; Orion (2021 Publisher of the Year Award Winner); John Murray Press; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Octopus, and Bookouture. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hachette Learning is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.

What you'll be doing

You will report into the Programme Manager and work across Royalties, Finance, IT/Application Support, data teams and delivery partners; plan and facilitate workshops, interviews and working sessions to understand business needs, pain points, priorities, decisions and expected outcomes.

As a business analyst, you will elicit, analyse and document business requirements (including user stories or functional requirements where appropriate), acceptance criteria, process maps and supporting evidence; analyse processes, data and system behaviour to define problems, business impact, dependencies and support root-cause investigation, maintaining traceability through Jira and agreed project documentation.

You will also work with technical SMEs and suppliers to clarify requirements, challenge assumptions and validate that proposed solutions meet the agreed business need; coordinate UAT/business validation, test scenarios, evidence, defects/actions and business sign-off. The role supports solution definition but does not own technical design or solution architecture.

You will Produce and maintain SOPs, process guides and supporting documentation, coordinating stakeholder review and formal approval; support training, knowledge transfer and adoption, keep BA decisions/actions/dependencies current and escalate unresolved requirements, risks or decisions. The role facilitates business decisions but does not make operational or policy decisions on behalf of the business.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for an excellent communicator, who is able to translate business needs into clear requirements. You will have strong analytical and problem-solving skills to investigate discrepancies, work with data and understand business impact. You will also be proactive, well organised and financially literate, understanding royalty calculations and comparable financial processes.

Experience

• Demonstrable experience working as a Business Analyst within a transformation, systems or technology-enabled change environment (essential).
• Experience of requirements gathering, workshop facilitation, process mapping and producing clear business or process documentation (essential).
• Experience of working with technical teams or suppliers through delivery, UAT/business validation and business sign-off (essential).
• Experience of training or knowledge transfer, and an understanding of royalties, publishing, finance or other complex transactional systems (desired).
• Experience of using Jira or similar tools effectively

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• An active range of staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including AgeWise, Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing, Women in Tech and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

The role will be based at our London office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

We want everyone to have the opportunity to perform at their best during our recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, you can let us know at the 'Reasonable Adjustments' section of your application. We'll make sure you're supported throughout the process.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit https://btbs.org/grants