Lead Functional Analyst (MES)

📍 Netherlands (Hybrid) | 🌍 ~30% Travel Across Europe

The Opportunity

Our client is hiring a Lead Functional Analyst to play a key role in delivering end-to-end MES solutions for some of the most advanced manufacturing environments in Europe.

This is not a documentation role.

You’ll be at the centre of how digital manufacturing systems actually get designed, built, and deployed in real-world production environments — working directly with customers, engineers, and delivery teams to turn operational complexity into scalable, high-impact solutions.

If you understand manufacturing — and can translate that into systems that work — this is where you step up.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Translate manufacturing operations into structured MES solutions
• Define user stories, workflows, and system behaviours that drive delivery
• Lead process mapping workshops with customers to capture real operational logic
• Act as the bridge between business stakeholders and technical teams
• Support system configuration, testing, and deployment (not just design)
• Drive validation, data modelling, and solution quality
• Facilitate solution reviews, workshops, and stakeholder alignment
• Contribute to continuous improvement and modern delivery approaches (incl. AI-enabled tooling)

You won’t just gather requirements — you’ll shape how the system works in production.

What We’re Looking For

Core Experience

• 4+ years in MES, manufacturing operations, or industrial systems
• Strong understanding of production workflows, quality, traceability, and performance
• Experience writing user stories / functional specs / acceptance criteria
• Exposure to system configuration, testing, or deployment cycles

Capability Profile

• Able to translate complexity into clear, structured solutions
• Comfortable balancing technical detail with real-world constraints (time, budget, scope)
• Strong communicator — able to lead workshops and influence stakeholders
• Highly organised with strong documentation and problem-solving skills
• Comfortable working in fast-moving, evolving project environments

Nice to Have

• Experience with MES platforms (e.g. TrakSYS, Tulip, Plex, Aveva, Ignition. We’re open on ANY MES platform experience)
• Consulting or client-facing delivery experience
• Lean / Six Sigma exposure
• Additional European language

How the Role Works

• You’ll report into a Group Manager (career development & progression)
• Day-to-day, you’ll work across project teams (PMs, engineers, developers)
• Projects span multiple industries — adaptability matters more than specialisation
• Expect ~30% travel across Western Europe
• Primarily based in the Netherlands (some flexibility depending on profile)

Why This Role Is Different

Most analyst roles sit on the sidelines.

This one doesn’t.

• You influence real production environments
• You work across multiple industries and complex systems
• You’re involved from definition → build → validation → live deployment
• You help define how modern MES delivery actually works

This is a role for someone who wants to move from
“documenting requirements” → “owning how systems get delivered.”

Interested?

If you’ve worked in MES and want to step into a role with more ownership, more exposure, and more impact, we should talk.