Principal Business Analyst (Functional Design Lead)

About Us: LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) is more than a diversified global financial markets infrastructure and data business. We are dedicated, open-access partners with a dedication to excellence in delivering the services our customers expect from us. With extensive experience, deep knowledge and worldwide presence across financial markets, we enable businesses and economies around the world to fund innovation, manage risk and create jobs. It’s how we’ve contributed to supporting the financial stability and growth of communities and economies globally for more than 300 years. Through a comprehensive suite of trusted financial market infrastructure services – and our open-access model – we provide the flexibility, stability and trust that enable our customers to pursue their ambitions with confidence and clarity. LSEG is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with significant operations in 70 countries across EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. We employ 25,000 people globally, more than half located in Asia Pacific. LSEG’s ticker symbol is LSEG. Our People: People are at the heart of what we do and drive the success of our business. Our culture of connecting, creating opportunity and delivering excellence shape how we think, how we do things and how we help our people fulfil their potential. We embrace diversity and actively seek to attract individuals with unique backgrounds and perspectives. We break down barriers and encourage teamwork, enabling innovation and rapid development of solutions that make a difference. Our workplace generates an enriching and rewarding experience for our people and customers alike. Our vision is to build an inclusive culture in which everyone feels encouraged to fulfil their potential. We know that real personal growth cannot be achieved by simply climbing a career ladder – which is why we encourage and enable a wealth of avenues and interesting opportunities for everyone to broaden and deepen their skills and expertise. As a global organisation spanning 70 countries and one rooted in a culture of growth, opportunity, diversity and innovation, LSEG is a place where everyone can grow, develop and fulfil your potential with meaningful careers. Role Purpose The role is the senior functional authority for a product or product area, responsible for defining how capabilities should work end to end and ensuring that the resulting solution is coherent, effective and fit for purpose. Working closely with Product Managers, Product Directors, Business Analysts, Engineering, Architecture, UX and other stakeholders, the role translates product strategy and business outcomes into high-level functional designs and Functional Requirements Documents (FRDs) that guide delivery. The role sits between product intent and detailed delivery, owning the high-level functional design that connects the two. It does not primarily own detailed specifications or user stories; these are elaborated by Lead/Senior Business Analysts and Business Analysts but an active steering role in elaboration is expected. During delivery, the role provides functional decision-making and design authority, resolving ambiguity, addressing cross-component conflicts and ensuring the product works coherently end to end from a functional perspective. LSEG Risk Intelligence increasingly uses AI and LLM-based capabilities both within its products and across the software delivery lifecycle. Experience in AI-enabled product design or AI-assisted delivery would therefore be advantageous. Key Responsibilities Functional Design • Define and own high-level functional designs, FRDs and component scope. • Translate product goals into functional behaviours, boundaries, workflows and component interactions. • Maintain a coherent end-to-end functional view across the product area. • Identify dependencies, constraints, assumptions and integration points. • Provide the design basis from which BAs and SBAs develop detailed specifications, stories and acceptance criteria. Product and Solution Shaping • Partner with Product Managers and Product Directors to shape capabilities and solutions. • Challenge proposals where they create functional gaps, unnecessary complexity or adverse downstream impacts. • Determine how product outcomes should be realised functionally. • Assess cross-product impacts and contribute functional insight to prioritisation and roadmap decisions. Functional Authority • Act as the senior point of authority for functional questions. • Lead and arbitrate cross-component functional decisions where requirements conflict, gaps emerge or delivery teams require clarification. • Convene appropriate collaborators as an ad hoc functional design authority where required. • Resolve ambiguity during development while maintaining alignment with the intended end-to-end design. • Escalate significant product, architectural or business decisions where appropriate. Delivery and End-to-End Coherence • Provide functional direction and clarification to BAs, SBAs and engineering teams throughout delivery. • Review detailed specifications to ensure alignment with the intended functional design. • Participate in design reviews, refinement oversight and delivery governance. • Identify inconsistencies across components, teams and requirements and drive resolution. • Balance immediate delivery needs with longer-term product coherence and maintainability. Leadership • Provide functional leadership and guidance to Business Analysts and Senior Business Analysts. • Mentor analysts and support development of functional analysis and design capability. • Promote consistent approaches to functional design and decision-making. • Where applicable, provide day-to-day leadership to a small analyst team while remaining primarily focused on functional ownership. Skills and Experience Essential • Significant experience in business analysis, functional analysis, product analysis or a