Senior Sonata SME Analyst

Our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long‑term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now, and moving it forward together with care and integrity, we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent. We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and also offer workplace accommodations to ensure you have what you need to effectively deliver in your role.

The Senior Sonata SME serves as a vital link between subject‑matter expertise and design‑led thinking. This hybrid role is responsible for leveraging deep expertise to guide enhancements on the Sonata platform, including strategic initiatives, while ensuring that any impacts are communicated clearly, effectively, and with a user‑centric focus. The position will also involve close collaboration with our partner Bravura and other stakeholders in the Business and the Studio, including feature teams.

• Perform thorough analysis and design, delivering precise and comprehensive requirements for enhancements to the Sonata Platform.
• Collaborate effectively with cross‑functional teams—including Business Analysts, Product Owners, Development, and Run teams—to gain insights and communicate necessary changes.
• Provide support to the QA team through testing activities related to modifications on the Sonata Platform.
• Engage with stakeholders throughout the business, such as Finance and Change teams, to assess and support downstream impacts of proposed changes.
• Configure jobs, batches, and new products within the platform as well as write scripts for inclusion in the SOT. Perform these activities in the non‑production environments and ensure detailed handover to the run team for execution in production.
• Coordinate with Bravura to communicate changes, understand and challenge estimates, collaborate on and implement innovative solutions.
• Pursue continuous process improvement by identifying opportunities for enhancement.
• Support the SME community by fostering talent development and facilitating knowledge sharing by documenting processes, standards and best practices.
• Peer review the work of other Sonata SMEs, ensuring adherence to standards and best practices while fostering high‑quality outputs.
• Act as the primary point of contact for any technical questions or issues related to Sonata.
• Support the Tower Lead by actively participating in technical communities and forums.
• Collate monthly metrics using the same framework as the other Tech SMEs.

• Sonata subject‑matter expertise
• Knowledge of Sonata batch processes
• Understanding of Sonata workflows
• Understanding of Sonata Business Services (SBS)
• Understanding of Sonata scripting
• Integration of Sonata with other systems
• Knowledge of downstream data flow from Sonata to other systems and processes

• Strong written and verbal communication, able to simplify complex requirements into clear tasks.
• Experienced in cross‑functional teams and stakeholder management across business and technology.
• Skilled at aligning system changes with strategy and enhancing organisational design.
• Knowledgeable in Agile methods and product development cycles.

• As a savings and investments firm we are proud to offer a valuable pension scheme of 18%, with 13% made up of employer contributions and 5% employee contributions. We also offer Share Save and our Share Incentive Plan, together with access to financial well‑being and support services – to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.
• Enjoy 38 days of annual leave including bank holidays, with the opportunity to purchase up to 5 extra days and additional flexibility through our Time Off When You Need It policy – to balance your work and personal commitments.
• Our market‑leading Inspiring Families policy includes…