Business Analyst – JDA Planning SCM

W2 only, no C2C. Must be authorized to work in the US (both now and in the future). Hybrid role in Lake Forest, California.

About the Role

Carex is partnering with a Manufacturing and Services industry partner to hire a Business Analyst – JDA Planning SCM. This role serves as the primary functional and technical liaison between Supply Chain and Demand Planning stakeholders and IT for a business-critical legacy planning platform. The position involves maintaining, troubleshooting, and optimizing the existing JDA Planning (2006) environment while supporting integration touchpoints with SAP ECC, QAD, and related enterprise systems across a multi-plant, multi-country manufacturing footprint. The ideal candidate combines deep Demand and Supply Planning expertise with the technical capabilities required to support an end-of-life platform that remains mission-critical. This individual will also play a key role in supporting the transition from legacy planning systems by contributing subject matter expertise, documentation, testing, data validation, and functional knowledge to the broader ERP transformation roadmap.

Responsibilities

• Provide Tier 2/3 production support for JDA Planning (2006), including Demand Planning, Supply Planning/Network Optimization, and related Collaborate/DRP functionality.
• Troubleshoot complex production issues, perform root-cause analysis, diagnose customized code and configurations, and drive issues through resolution.
• Manage and monitor batch cycles, forecast runs, supply planning engine executions, and scheduled jobs, proactively addressing failures and performance degradation.
• Maintain planning master data integrity, including items, locations, BOMs, sourcing rules, calendars, and other critical planning structures.
• Administer and troubleshoot integrations between JDA Planning and systems including SAP ECC, QAD, and AutoSys.
• Partner with Demand Planning, Supply Planning, S&OP, Manufacturing, and IT stakeholders to gather requirements and translate business needs into system configurations and enhancement requirements.
• Document current-state planning processes, system configurations, data flows, integrations, technical debt, customizations, and business workarounds associated with the legacy environment.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, system reliability, and data quality while working within the constraints of a legacy platform.
• Support UAT, regression testing, data validation, and cutover planning associated with system enhancements and legacy platform replacement.
• Serve as a JDA Planning subject matter expert during transformation initiatives, providing input on data migration, data mapping, functional parity gaps, interface dependencies, and decommissioning requirements.
• Support parallel-run testing and validation between legacy JDA, QAD, and SAP processes and future-state planning capabilities.
• Contribute to cutover runbooks, go-live readiness activities, and hypercare support planning for new planning capabilities.
• Maintain SOPs, configuration documentation, interface specifications, and knowledge-transfer materials to support operational continuity and audit requirements.
• Ensure adherence to IT change management, security, and data governance policies.
• Partner effectively with stakeholders across multiple plants, countries, functions, and time zones.
• Provide after-hours batch and production support when needed and occasionally travel to manufacturing or distribution locations.

Requirements

• 7+ years of IT and/or business systems experience, including significant hands-on experience supporting JDA Planning (2006) or a closely related legacy SCM planning platform.
• Deep hands-on expertise configuring, troubleshooting, and supporting JDA/Manugistics Demand Planning and Supply Planning/Network Optimization functionality.
• Strong functional knowledge of Demand Planning and Supply Planning processes, including statistical forecasting, S&OP/IBP, replenishment, distribution requirements planning (DRP), and network planning.
• Understanding of forecast engine logic, statistical forecasting methodologies, exception-based planning workflows, and planning engine execution.
• Experience managing batch jobs, planning engine runs, file transfers, and performance troubleshooting within legacy planning environments.
• Strong understanding of planning master data structures, including items, locations, BOMs, sourcing rules, and calendars.
• Experience integrating SCM planning applications with SAP ECC and/or QAD ERP environments.
• Knowledge of integration technologies and approaches including EDI, flat files, middleware, APIs, and scheduled interfaces.
• Understanding of data flows connecting demand and supply planning with order management, inventory, manufacturing, and other transactional processes.
• Experience supporting manufacturing and distribution supply chains across multiple plants and countries.
• Proven ability to bridge business and technical teams through requirements gathering, process analysis, documentation, problem-solving, and stakeholder communication.
• Experience supporting legacy system sunset or migration initiatives, including data mapping, functional gap analysis, parallel-run validation, UAT, cutover planning, and hypercare.
• Working knowledge of SQL for data extraction, validation, and production troubleshooting.
• Experience with AIX/Unix environments for batch scripts, file transfers, or performance monitoring is preferred.
• Experience with Oracle 9i or similar database environments is preferred.
• Exposure to modern SCM/APS platforms such as SAP IBP, current-generation Blue Yonder/JDA, Kinaxis, or o9 is a plus.
• Experience with Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft 365, or similar reporting and analytics tools is preferred.
• Familiarity with IT service management, change management, ticketing, and documentation platforms.
• Strong commitment to data integrity, master data quality, security, and governance.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and business audiences and influence stakeholders across Planning, Manufacturing, and IT.
• Ability to operate effectively in a changing environment while maintaining the reliability and continuity of a mission-critical legacy platform.
• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Information Technology, Business, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• APICS/CPIM or CSCP certification is a plus.
• Experience within consumer goods, residential products, CPG, durable goods, or a similar manufacturing environment is preferred.