Freelance Functional Analyst

Are you an experienced Functional Analyst who can turn complex requirements into clear, workable solutions? Do you enjoy working at the intersection of business, development and testing? Then this freelance assignment could be a great fit for you.

We are looking for a Functional Analyst to support business-critical software used in real-time operations and incident management.

Your role

This is a true functional analysis role, distinct from business analysis. Business Analysts gather the needs of operational stakeholders; you translate those requirements into detailed functional specifications that developers can build and testers can validate.

You look beyond what is explicitly stated in the requirements. You define system behaviour, interfaces, data flows, edge cases and error scenarios clearly and thoroughly.

What will you do?

• Review business and user requirements for completeness, consistency and feasibility
• Identify ambiguities, contradictions and unstated assumptions, and raise clear questions with the relevant stakeholders
• Translate requirements into detailed functional specifications, including features, user stories, acceptance criteria, business rules, system behaviour and error handling
• Analyse and specify integrations between systems, including REST or SOAP APIs and message- or event-based interfaces
• Define payload structures in JSON or XML, error handling and relevant non-functional requirements
• Work closely with architects, developers, testers and business analysts throughout the delivery process
• Keep functional documentation accurate and up to date as the project evolves
• Participate in defect reviews, test preparation and UAT activities
• Investigate data independently and use SQL queries to validate business rules or help analyse defects

What do you bring?

• At least 3 years of relevant professional experience as a Functional Analyst, gained within the past 8 years
• Experience writing functional specifications, user stories, acceptance criteria, business rules and system behaviour
• Experience with complex applications and system-to-system integrations
• Knowledge of REST and/or SOAP APIs, message- or event-based interfaces, JSON and XML
• The ability to write SQL queries independently, including SELECT, JOIN, aggregation and filtering queries
• Excellent written and spoken English
• Spoken Dutch or French
• A structured, critical and proactive way of working
• The ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with different stakeholders

Nice to have

• Experience with BPMN, UML, use cases or similar analysis methods
• Experience with Jira and Confluence, or equivalent tools
• Experience with OpenAPI, Swagger or API contract design and review
• Knowledge of non-functional requirements such as latency, throughput and availability
• Experience with conceptual and logical data modelling, entity-relationship analysis and data dictionaries
• Experience in an environment where business analysis and functional analysis are separate roles
• Experience with defect triage, test preparation and UAT activities

Practical information

• Freelance contract
• Minimum of 2 days per week on site
• Additional on-site presence may be required for workshops, incidents or release activities

Interested in this freelance Functional Analyst assignment? Send us your CV. We would be happy to discuss whether this opportunity is the right fit for you.