Data Business Analyst

Futures are looking to appoint a highly analytical and commercially minded Data Business Analyst to join our growing manufacturing business. This is an exciting opportunity for a data professional who enjoys turning complex data into actionable business insights that improve operational performance, reduce costs, and support strategic decision-making. Working closely with stakeholders across Operations, Production, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales, and IT, you will identify opportunities for improvement, develop insightful reporting, and help drive a data-led culture throughout the organisation. As our Data Business Analyst, you will: • Partner with business stakeholders to understand operational challenges and translate them into data-driven solutions. • Gather, document, and analyse business requirements for reporting, analytics, and process improvement initiatives. • Develop and maintain dashboards, reports, and KPIs that provide meaningful insight into manufacturing performance. • Analyse production, inventory, quality, procurement, logistics, and financial data to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities. • Work with ERP, MES, CRM, and other business systems to ensure data integrity and consistency. • Identify process inefficiencies and recommend improvements supported by data analysis. • Produce forecasting and predictive analysis to support operational planning and business growth. • Collaborate with IT and engineering teams to improve data architecture and reporting capabilities. • Present findings and recommendations to senior leadership in a clear and commercially focused manner. • Support continuous improvement projects using data to measure performance and outcomes. • Ensure data governance, quality standards, and reporting accuracy are maintained. The Ideal Candidate • Bachelor's degree in Business Analytics, Data Analytics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Finance, or a related discipline. • Proven experience as a Data Business Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst, or similar analytical role. • Experience working within a manufacturing, engineering, logistics, or supply chain environment. • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret complex datasets. • Advanced Microsoft Excel skills. • Experience using SQL to extract and manipulate data. • Experience creating dashboards using Power BI, Tableau, or similar visualisation tools. • Strong understanding of KPIs, business reporting, and performance measurement. • Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills. • Ability to translate technical findings into practical business recommendations. Desirable Skills • Experience working with ERP systems such as SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, Infor, or Epicor. • Knowledge of manufacturing KPIs including OEE, scrap rates, downtime, production efficiency, inventory turnover, and yield. • Experience with Python or R for data analysis. • Understanding of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or Continuous Improvement methodologies. • Experience with data warehousing and ETL processes. • Knowledge of cloud data platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. • Familiarity with predictive analytics or machine learning would be advantageous.