Business Applications Manager

Kaiser Aluminum • Spokane Valley, WA

5h • $110,000 - $135,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Seeking a proactive, hands-on leader who bridges business needs and application
solutions. The role partners with Operations and other functions to understand
processes and pain points, convert them into a clear technology vision, and
execute a prioritized, budget-minded roadmap with measurable outcomes. Scope
includes sustaining and improving application platforms (many legacy), owning
integrations and data flows, managing a small development team, and delivering
projects end-to-end. IT/OT applications are treated as levers to improve
manufacturing throughput, quality, cost, and reliability. The role embraces
practical new technologies—LLMs where useful—to boost efficiency and quality.
Coding is not the emphasis; the position prioritizes management and leadership,
while requiring the ability to read and guide work across multiple languages
(Python, .NET, SQL, and legacy 4GL/domain-specific languages) to keep delivery
moving.

Requirements

• 7–10+ years in business applications/application management, implementations, or integrations.
• Proven ownership of ERP/finance/operations applications and comfort with legacy/on-prem environments and integrations.
• Comfortable reading/guiding code across Python, .NET, SQL, and legacy 4GL/domain-specific languages; able to direct reviews and standards without being a heads-down coder.
• Hands-on with Azure DevOps (repos, PR gates, CI/CD, environments, dashboards) and SDLC best practices.
• Proven budget-minded decision making (build vs. buy, vendor selection, license optimization) and roadmap planning aligned to operational goals.
• Working knowledge of audit & controls (ITGC, SoD, IPE/IUC) and evidence expectations.
• Familiarity with ERP–MES data boundaries; ANSI/ISA-95 awareness is a plus.
• LLM/AI familiarity as a delivery accelerator (no deep ML engineering required).
• Excellent communication; able to turn ambiguity into a clear, achievable plan.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Software/Computer/Industrial Engineering, or Operations Management (with a strong systems/ERP focus).
• In lieu of a degree, 10+ years of progressively responsible experience leading ERP/MES, integrations, and application delivery in a manufacturing environment may substitute.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree (MBA, MSIS, or Engineering Management) helpful but not required.
• Manufacturing coursework or experience (process/IE, supply chain) strongly preferred.
• Project/Delivery & Change: PMP or PMI-ACP; CSM/PSM or CSPO/PSPO; ITIL 4 Foundation; Prosci Change Management.
• Architecture/Governance: TOGAF (Foundation); COBIT Foundation; ISACA CISA/CRISC.
• Microsoft/Azure & Data: AZ-400 (Azure DevOps Engineer); PL-300 (Power BI Data Analyst) or DP-900 (Data Fundamentals); PL-200/PL-400 (Power Platform).
• AI (optional): AI-900 (Azure AI Fundamentals).
• OT collaboration (optional): ISA/IEC 62443 awareness.
• Experience in discrete or process manufacturing and ability to translate shop-floor realities into application requirements and measurable outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Proactively engage on-site: walk the floor, surface opportunities, lead discovery, define success metrics, and keep stakeholders aligned.
• Lead the team: set goals, allocate work, coach developer team, run standups/reviews, enforce definition-of-done, and build a reusable knowledge base.
• Stakeholder & vendor management: communicate trade-offs plainly, track benefits, hold partners to outcomes, and report status to the Controller and business leads.
• Reliability first: own availability, capacity, and support processes for ERP/finance/operations applications (including legacy/on-prem).
• ERP/MES coordination: maintain clear boundaries and data handoffs (orders, BOM/routings, confirmations, materials, quality, inventory).
• Middleware/interfaces: operate and improve APIs, ETL/ELT, EDI, and/or iPaaS with monitoring, alerting, and robust error handling.
• OT partnership: coordinate with Operations Technology on MES/historian changes, maintenance windows, and safety/cyber constraints.
• Pragmatic modernization: stabilize and extend where it pays; replace selectively; make budget-minded build-vs-buy decisions.
• Roadmap ownership: maintain a value-ranked portfolio balancing quick wins and strategic change; sequence by impact, risk, and cost.
• Project delivery: plan and deliver upgrades and integrations (REST/GraphQL, SQL, ETL/ELT, EDI, iPaaS); manage risks, milestones, RAID logs, and communications.
• Azure DevOps ownership: define branching/PR policies, CI/CD pipelines, environments/releases, and dashboards; trace work items → commits/PRs → builds/releases.
• Own value tracking and TCO/ROI: maintain a value-ranked backlog, quantify benefits, and adjust sequencing based on evidence.
• Enablement tools: apply LLMs/AI as appropriate (PR assist, test scaffolding, doc/search) with simple guardrails and outcome metrics.
• Disciplined SDLC: requirements → design reviews → test plans → change/release management → post-mortems; right-sized documentation.
• Quality & reliability: increase unit/integration test coverage, reduce change-fail rate, maintain rollback/runbooks, and improve MTTR.
• Controls: operate ITGC (change, access/SoD, backups/DR) and application-level controls; provide IPE/IUC evidence; partner with Internal Audit.
• Change governance: chair or participate in the Change Control Board; capture level-of-effort and value/cost trade-offs; enforce change-freeze windows and approvals.

Benefits

• Salary Range: $110,000-$135,000 annually (depending on experience)
• Medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance (including spouse and children) with modest payroll deductions
• 10 paid holidays per year
• 3 weeks of vacation
• Supplemental leave (used with Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave)
• 401(k) with company match
• Quarterly bonus structure
• Tuition reimbursement

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees