Finance Business Analyst

EXL (NASDAQ: EXLS) is a global data and artificial intelligence (AI) company that offers services and solutions to reinvent client business models, drive better outcomes and unlock growth with speed. EXL harnesses the power of data, AI and deep industry knowledge to transform businesses, including leading corporations in insurance, healthcare, banking and financial services, media and retail. EXL was founded in 1999 with the core values of innovation, collaboration, excellence, integrity and respect. We are headquartered in New York and have more than 60,000 employees spanning six continents. For more information, visit www.exlservice.com. Role Title: Business Analyst - Insurance Finance Transformation (Discovery & Blueprinting) BU/Segment: EXL Digital and AI / Insurance Location: London, United Kingdom (hybrid working, four days per week in the office or at the client site) Employment Type: Permanent or Umbrella Contractor, to start as soon as possible Summary of the role EXL is seeking a Business Analyst - Insurance Finance Transformation to support the discovery and blueprinting phase of an insurance finance transformation programme. This is a hands-on role for someone with a strong finance and accounting background who can bridge Finance, Actuarial, business operations, Data and Technology teams. The role will assess current-state processes, data, systems and controls; facilitate stakeholder workshops; and translate findings into agreed future-state processes and business requirements. The successful candidate will develop a structured transformation blueprint covering process improvements, operating model considerations, prioritised transformation opportunities and an indicative implementation roadmap. The role requires strong business analysis capability, relevant insurance finance knowledge and experience producing clear, evidence-based deliverables for stakeholder validation and sign-off. As part of your duties, you will be responsible for: • Lead or support structured discovery across the insurance Finance function, working with Finance, Actuarial, Underwriting, Claims, Reinsurance, Operations, Data and Technology stakeholders. • Plan and facilitate stakeholder interviews and cross-functional workshops to understand current processes, pain points, requirements, root causes and improvement opportunities. • Map current-state processes against an agreed finance process taxonomy, capturing activities, ownership, systems, data inputs and outputs, controls, hand-offs, dependencies and process variations. • Gather, analyse, document and validate business, functional, data and control requirements for the finance transformation blueprint. • Collect and analyse available baseline information such as volumes, effort, cycle times, exceptions, quality measures and service levels to substantiate findings and opportunities. • Design and document future-state processes, applying simplification, standardisation, elimination, automation and control-by-design principles. • Support future-state operating model design, including process ownership, roles and responsibilities, governance, capability requirements and retained/shared-service interfaces. • Assess process and technology opportunities, including workflow, ERP, data, analytics, AI and automation solutions, without treating technology as the sole transformation lever. • Develop and maintain a prioritised opportunity backlog, assessing initiatives against business value, feasibility, dependencies, delivery effort, risk and control implications. • Translate Finance requirements into clear functional specifications, user stories, acceptance criteria and traceability documentation for Technology, Data and implementation teams. • Identify source-to-report data flows, data quality issues, reconciliation points and lineage requirements, working with Finance, Data and Technology SMEs. • Produce an integrated blueprint pack covering current-state findings, future-state process designs, requirements, data and control considerations, prioritised opportunities, dependencies and an indicative delivery roadmap. • Support stakeholder review, decision-making, validation and formal sign-off of blueprint deliverables, maintaining clear decision, assumption, risk and issue logs. • Where required, support downstream implementation activities such as solution design, test preparation, UAT, business readiness and transition planning. • Apply Generative AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot or equivalent enterprise-approved tools, to appropriate analysis, documentation and Finance use cases, in line with client data, privacy and security requirements. Qualifications and experience essential for the role: • A recognised accounting qualification such as ACCA, ACA/CA or CIMA, or a strong equivalent accounting background. • Practical experience using Generative AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot or Claude within Finance or a broader business environment. • Demonstrable experience as a Business Analyst or Functional Business Analyst on finance transformation programmes, including discovery, current-state assessment and future-state blueprinting. • Relevant experience within insurance Finance, with an understanding of how Finance interacts with Actuarial, Underwriting, Claims, Reinsurance and Operations. • Practical knowledge of relevant finance processes, for example record-to-report, financial close and consolidation, reconciliations, premium and claims accounting, reinsurance accounting, expense management, and financial or regulatory reporting. • Strong experience planning and facilitating workshops, conducting stakeholder interviews, challenging requirements constructively and building consensus across senior and operational stakeholders. • Strong process analysis and modelling capability, including current-state and future-state process mapping, pain-point analysis, requirements traceability and opportunity assessment. • Experien