Nihan Akıncı

Senior Business Analyst in the FinTech industry, with experience across payment systems, banking operations, product ownership, customer engagement platforms, and software quality assurance.

Business Analyst / Product Owner with a strong background in analysis, product development, system integration, and aligning business needs with scalable technology solutions.

📍 Istanbul, Turkey
📧 nihan.akinci.35@gmail.com
📞 +90 534 628 8846
🔗 LinkedIn
💻 GitHub

Experience

Senior Business Analyst - Asis Electronics

2024 - 02.2026 | Istanbul, Turkey (Hybrid)

• Worked on the RotaPay project with DenizBank and ParamTech, leading end-to-end requirement gathering for payment and transaction workflows including payment lifecycle, transaction processing, and integration flows.
• Translated business needs into functional specifications across multiple product domains.
• Served as the only Business Analyst covering multiple product domains and contributed to the delivery of 100+ features in close collaboration with Product Owners and R&D teams.
• Owned QA and UAT activities, including smoke and regression testing, supporting stable releases.
• Acted as a primary contact for international and local customers and stakeholders, ensuring alignment between business objectives, delivery, and market needs through continuous feedback and market analysis.
• Drove ITxPT standard alignment initiatives and performed Scrum Master responsibilities by facilitating agile ceremonies and supporting consistent, on-time sprint delivery.

Product Owner - ParamTech

02.2024 - 11.2024 | Izmir, Turkey (Hybrid)

• Owned product strategy and roadmap for FinTech and payment systems.
• Gathered and prioritized requirements for financial products and transaction flows.
• Collaborated with business, data, and engineering teams to deliver scalable solutions.
• Led UAT and product validation processes to ensure alignment with business requirements.
• Monitored product performance and optimized user experience in financial applications.

Business Analyst - SmartMessage

11.2022 - 02.2024 | Izmir, Turkey (Remote)

• Worked on an omnichannel customer engagement platform, Journey Manager, enabling real-time, behavior-driven communication through email, SMS, and push notifications.
• Conducted business and technical analysis for customer journey orchestration, focusing on event-based triggers, segmentation logic, and personalized communication flows.
• Prepared functional and technical documentation for campaign automation, customer segmentation, and data-driven engagement processes.
• Designed and executed test scenarios to validate data accuracy, rule-based targeting, and system reliability in high-volume communication systems.
• Collaborated with stakeholders to enhance customer engagement, retention strategies, and digital interaction performance across multiple channels.

Specialist, Software Quality Assurance - Etiya

08.2020 - 04.2022 | Izmir, Turkey (Hybrid)

• Contributed as a QA specialist in Drop 1, focusing on tablet-based in-store applications used in retail environments.
• Designed and executed comprehensive test scenarios, including regression testing, ensuring system reliability and defect minimization in business-critical workflows.
• Collaborated closely with stakeholders through regular agile ceremonies, supporting UAT processes and cross-team alignment.
• Participated in an agile development environment, contributing to continuous delivery across multi-channel platforms including web, mobile, and in-store systems.
• Tracked, reported, and resolved defects with clear documentation, improving communication between development and business teams.

Intern - Softtech

07.2019 - 09.2019 | Istanbul, Turkey (Office)

• Prepared analysis documentation for application communication and integration flows, including JSON-based configuration structures.
• Contributed to the development of an internal tool to improve configuration management and system usability within the card acceptance domain.
• Collaborated on a project implemented with Angular, supporting the digitalization of banking-related operational processes.

Summer Trainee - Garanti BBVA Technology

07.2018 - 08.2018 | Istanbul, Turkey (Office)

• Gained exposure to POS and ePOS systems, including merchant-side payment flows and transaction lifecycle within the Payment Systems Software Development department.
• Developed understanding of transaction flows and merchant-side payment processes in banking systems.

Skills

• Jira
• Confluence
• Postman / Swagger
• Agile Methodologies
• SQL Tools / SQL Server
• Kubernetes
• Docker
• Git
• Python
• Java
• Business Analysis
• Product Ownership
• UAT
• Regression Testing
• Payment Systems
• System Integration

Education

Izmir Katip Celebi University

Business Management - MBA | 2024 - Ongoing

• Focused on aligning technology with business goals and improving communication between technical and non-technical teams.

Manisa Celal Bayar University

Computer Engineering - BSc | 2016 - 2020

• Built a technical and analytical foundation for solving problems at the intersection of technology and business strategy.

Anadolu University

Business Administration - BBA | 2018 - 2023

• Developed a business foundation for aligning technology solutions with organizational objectives and stakeholder needs.

Certifications

• Kubernetes for the Absolute Beginners - Hands-on, KodeKloud (2023)
• Business Analysis Foundations, IIBA (2022)
• Project Management Institute Certifications, PMI - Various (2022)
• Gamified Agile and Scrum Training (2025)
• Developing Your Emotional Intelligence, Project Management Institute (2022)
• AI Foundation Level Exam, TM Forum (2020)

Languages

• English (C1)
• German (A2)
• Turkish (Native)