Quality Manufacturing Systems Business Analyst (MES / PLM)

Start Date: January 2027
Duration: 12-month contract
Location: Savannah, GA Remote with onsite travel
Travel: Approximately 2 weeks per month onsite; travel expenses covered by client

We are seeking an experienced Quality Manufacturing Systems Business Analyst to support a major quality systems and digital transformation initiative within an aerospace manufacturing environment.

This individual will work across manufacturing quality processes and enterprise technology platforms, including Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Quality Management Systems (QMS).

The ideal candidate will combine a strong understanding of manufacturing quality operations with exceptional business analysis, requirements gathering, and stakeholder engagement skills.

This is primarily a functional Business Analyst position, not a technical development or Solution Architect role. The primary responsibility will be to work directly with business stakeholders, understand existing manufacturing and quality processes, identify business needs, and translate those needs into clear, actionable requirements for technical teams.

Experience with Solumina, Teamcenter, or SAP is valuable but not mandatory. Candidates with strong MES, manufacturing quality, or related enterprise systems experience will be considered.

The consultant will support quality initiatives spanning both Teamcenter and Solumina, helping establish consistent processes, system requirements, integration expectations, and end-to-end traceability.

• 7+ years of experience as a Business Analyst, Product Analyst, Manufacturing Systems Analyst, or similar role.

• Strong experience working with manufacturing systems or quality-related business processes, preferably within aerospace, industrial manufacturing, or other regulated industries.

• Experience supporting MES, PLM, ERP, QMS, or related manufacturing enterprise applications.

• Demonstrated ability to independently facilitate workshops, interview stakeholders, and gather detailed business and functional requirements.

• Proven ability to translate business needs and operational capabilities into clearly defined functional specifications and actionable development requirements.

• Strong understanding of business process mapping, workflow documentation, requirements traceability, and fit-gap analysis.

• Experience creating user stories, acceptance criteria, test scenarios, and supporting User Acceptance Testing (UAT).

• Ability to communicate effectively with manufacturing personnel, quality engineers, product owners, application teams, and technical resources.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify process gaps, clarify requirements, and recommend practical improvements.

• Ability to independently develop a structured approach to requirements discovery, documentation, validation, and delivery.

• Experience with Solumina MES, Siemens Teamcenter, or SAP.

• Aerospace manufacturing quality experience, including FAA-regulated processes.

• Experience with manufacturing quality planning, inspection execution, nonconformance management, and corrective action workflows.

• Understanding of digital thread concepts and traceability across engineering, manufacturing, inspection, and quality records.

• Experience supporting systems integration projects involving MES, PLM, ERP, and QMS platforms.

• Familiarity with Material Review Board (MRB), Root Cause and Corrective Action (RCCA), and audit compliance processes.

• Experience supporting system implementation, modernization, or enterprise quality transformation programs.

Work directly with manufacturing, engineering, and quality stakeholders to understand, document, and evaluate current-state business processes.

Key processes may include:

• Quality and Inspection Planning

• Quality Characteristics and Inspection Requirements

• Inspection Execution and Results Collection

• Defect and Nonconformance Management

• NCR / DRDI Processes

• Material Review Board (MRB) Disposition

• Root Cause and Corrective Actions (RCCA)

• Audit and Compliance Processes

• FAA Acceptance and Quality Documentation

• Supplier Quality and Incoming Inspection

• Call Sheet Authoring and Reporting

• Manufacturing Quality Metrics and KPIs

Develop current-state and future-state process flows, identifying inefficiencies, functional gaps, and opportunities for standardization or improvement.

Lead the requirements discovery process and serve as a bridge between business stakeholders and technical delivery teams.

Responsibilities include:

• Facilitate business workshops, discovery sessions, and stakeholder interviews.

• Elicit, analyze, document, and validate business and functional requirements.

• Translate business capabilities and operational needs into actionable development requirements.

• Develop user stories, functional specifications, and detailed acceptance criteria.

• Identify dependencies, clarify assumptions, and resolve conflicting requirements.

• Maintain requirements traceability through development, testing, and business acceptance.

• Support prioritization of requirements and Minimum Viable Product (MVP) scope decisions.

• Collaborate with product owners, technical leads, and solution architects to ensure development activities align with business objectives.

A critical requirement is the ability to independently lead requirements discussions and clearly explain how business needs will be converted into deliverable system functionality.

Support analysis of end-to-end quality processes and information flow across engineering, manufacturing execution, and enterprise quality systems.

Areas of focus include:

• Engineering requirements and product definitions

• Teamcenter planning structures and quality characteristics

• Manufacturing execution and inspection activities

• Quality records and inspection results

• As-planned versus as-built traceability

• Product, process, and inspection record relationships

• UUID and other traceability concepts

Collaborate with business and technical stakeholders to understand how information should move between systems and ensure quality records remain accurate, accessible, and traceable.

Participate in requirements definition and process analysis for integrations involving manufacturing and quality platforms.

Key integration areas may include:

• Teamcenter to Solumina

• SAP to Solumina

• Manufacturing quality data flows

• Inspection results and quality records

• Defect management and nonconformance data

• System-of-record and data ownership decisions

• Interface requirements and business validation rules

Work with integration architects and technical teams to document data requirements, business rules, dependencies, and expected system behavior.

Direct interface development or hands-on system configuration is not the primary responsibility of this position.

Support the validation of business and system requirements throughout the implementation lifecycle.

• Develop UAT scenarios and business acceptance criteria.

• Coordinate with business users to validate functional requirements.

• Assist in reviewing system functionality against documented requirements.

• Identify functional gaps, defects, and process inconsistencies.

• Maintain traceability between requirements, testing results, and acceptance.

• Support business readiness, process documentation, and training preparation.

• Work with project stakeholders to resolve open requirements and support implementation milestones.

The consultant must be comfortable independently producing high-quality business analysis documentation, including:

• Current-State and Future-State Process Flows

• Swimlane Diagrams and Workflow Maps

• Business and Functional Requirements Documents

• User Stories and Acceptance Criteria

• Fit-Gap Assessments

• Data Mapping Documents

• Integration Requirements

• Requirements Traceability Matrices

• UAT Test Scenarios and Scripts

• Business Readiness Assessments

• Training and Process Documentation Inputs

The strongest candidate will be a seasoned Business Analyst with practical manufacturing systems experience who is comfortable working in a complex enterprise technology environment.

This individual does not need to be an expert developer or deeply technical solution architect. However, they must understand how manufacturing quality processes operate and be capable of translating those processes into clear requirements for technical teams.

Success in this role will depend heavily on the individual's ability to:

• Lead productive stakeholder discussions without constant direction.

• Ask the right questions to uncover business needs and operational gaps.

• Clearly document and communicate requirements to technical teams.

• Understand manufacturing quality workflows and their relationship to enterprise systems.

• Present a logical, structured plan for conducting discovery, managing requirements, and supporting implementation.

• Work effectively across multiple quality systems and business teams.

Strong business analysis execution, communication, and requirements management skills are more important than expertise in any single software platform.