Business Systems Specialist

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we're inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We're proud to play a part in protecting the world's democracies. And we're committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world's aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

Job Summary

The ERP/PLM Specialist is a key member of the Information Technology team, responsible for supporting, maintaining, and enhancing ERP, PLM, and related manufacturing systems within a fast-paced aerospace manufacturing environment. This role partners closely with business users, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and leadership teams to ensure system reliability, data integrity, process efficiency, and compliance with business and regulatory requirements. The Specialist provides functional expertise, user support, reporting, and process improvement recommendations while supporting critical activities such as manufacturing part, Bill of Materials (BOM), and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) traceability and validation.

The ideal candidate is a highly analytical and customer-focused professional who combines strong technical aptitude with excellent communication and collaboration skills. This individual thrives in a cross-functional environment, effectively manages competing priorities, and serves as a trusted partner to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Success in this role requires a proactive mindset, strong problem-solving abilities, professionalism, and a commitment to continuous improvement that drives operational excellence and business results.

Job Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for end-user support, troubleshooting ERP, PLM, and business process issues.
• Investigate, analyze, and resolve system incidents, application issues, and user-reported problems to ensure business continuity.
• Gather, analyze, and document business requirements, translating operational needs into functional system requirements and improvement opportunities.
• Support Manufacturing Part, Bill of Materials (BOM), and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) traceability, validation, reporting, and data integrity initiatives.
• Analyze business processes and recommend system and process improvements to increase efficiency, accuracy, compliance, and operational effectiveness.
• Coordinate issue tracking, testing, deployment, and resolution activities between business users, technical teams, and external partners.
• Support the implementation, configuration, testing, and deployment of new functionality, system enhancements, upgrades, and process improvements.
• Develop and maintain ERP-related reports, queries, dashboards, and data extracts to support operational and management reporting requirements.
• Create and maintain business process documentation, work instructions, training materials, and system procedures.
• Provide user training, knowledge transfer, and ongoing guidance to improve system adoption and user effectiveness.
• Monitor assigned applications and business processes to ensure system performance, data quality, compliance, and operational stability.
• Participate in month-end and year-end reporting and closing activities as required.
• Support internal and external audits, compliance initiatives, and documentation reviews.
• Collaborate with software vendors, consultants, auditors, and business partners as needed to support business objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across manufacturing, ERP, and PLM systems.
• Maintain flexibility to support users across multiple U.S. time zones, as business needs require.

Job Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 5 years of experience supporting enterprise manufacturing ERP systems, preferably within an aerospace or manufacturing environment.
• 5 years of experience with Infor LN or a comparable enterprise manufacturing ERP platform.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing business processes, including material management, production, inventory control, engineering change management, and reporting.
• Proven analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills with the ability to diagnose complex business and system issues.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders while maintaining a high level of professionalism, collaboration, and customer service.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and exercise sound judgment in a fast-paced environment.
• U.S. Person status as defined by ITAR regulations to comply with export control and site security requirements.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting aerospace manufacturing systems and business operations.
• Experience with AS/400 (IBM iSeries / IBM Power Systems) environments.
• Experience with American Software Incorporated (ASI) ERP systems.
• Experience using iQuery, Query/400, DBU, DFU, or similar IBM i data management and reporting tools.
• Programming experience with RPG/400, RPG ILE, COBOL/400, CL, SQL/400, SQL Server, or related technologies.
• Experience supporting ERP integrations, reporting solutions, and data analysis initiatives.
• Strong planning, organizational, and project coordination skills.
• Experience working within an Information Technology organization supporting enterprise business applications.
• Ability to proactively identify opportunities for improvement and drive solutions with minimal supervision.
• Experience collaborating with geographically dispersed or remote teams.

Compensation Data

Salary Range: $90,153.00 - $112,691.00

We'll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working

Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we've created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It's a culture that won us 'The Best Workplace Culture Award'. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.

We're also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

We are the place where human dreams, plus human endeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology.