Automation Operations Engineer [AQ-19545]

Aquent; Worthing; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Dental & vision

Retirement plan with match

Free online training

One day in office per week

Job summary

Aquent Talent is seeking an experienced automation operations leader to helm the stability and efficiency of an advanced automation and AI ecosystem for a major client. You will oversee live automations, manage an external MSP, and ensure ITIL-aligned incident response across Power Platform, RPA, and Azure.

This role requires strong run and incident management, root-cause analysis, and collaboration with Architecture, Platform, and Engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in automation operations and IT service management.
• Strong troubleshooting and diagnostic skills across automation and integration.
• Experience leading external managed-service teams.
• Ability to interpret logs, telemetry, and monitoring dashboards.
• Knowledge of RBAC, identity management, and secure operations.
• Experience with Power Platform and RPA solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and quality-assure external managed-service team.
• Manage incidents, defects, and platform issues, aligned to ITIL.
• Report incident trends and platform health.
• Oversee daily operation of live automations (Power Platform, RPA, Alteryx, Logic Apps, AI agents).
• Lead root-cause analysis and implement corrective actions.
• Ensure monitoring and observability.
• Collaborate with Architecture, Platform, and Integration teams to resolve issues.
• Support change requests and deployments.
• Own change processes for automations, including approvals and regression testing.
• Coordinate patch cycles and environment health.
• Maintain SOPs, runbooks, logs, maintenance plans." ,
• Support regulatory reporting.
• Drive continuous improvement and retirement decisions.

Skills

Automation operations

Power Platform

RPA (Blue Prism/ServiceNow)

Azure

Incident management

Root-cause analysis

Stakeholder management

Security/compliance awareness

Tools

Application Insights

Azure Monitor

Logic Apps

AI agents tooling

RPA consoles

Alteryx

Job description

Join a leading organization dedicated to delivering essential services and driving innovation through technology. This company plays a critical role in ensuring reliable operations for millions, constantly seeking to optimize processes and enhance service delivery through cutting-edge automation and AI solutions. As an Aquent talent, your work will directly contribute to operational excellence and customer satisfaction, making a tangible impact on the lives of many.

Are you a seasoned automation expert passionate about ensuring the seamless operation of critical digital solutions? We are seeking a highly skilled individual to take the helm in operationalizing and optimizing an advanced automation and AI ecosystem. In this pivotal role, you will lead the charge in maintaining the stability, security, and reliability of automated workflows, RPA solutions, integrations, and AI-enabled services, directly impacting the ability to serve customers efficiently and effectively. Your expertise will be crucial in shaping the future of operational excellence and driving continuous improvement, positioning you at the forefront of technological innovation.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and quality-assure the work of an external managed-service team responsible for supporting operational automations and AI solutions.
• Manage the intake, prioritization, and resolution of incidents, defects, and platform issues, ensuring all operational activities meet service level agreements and internal service management standards (ITIL aligned).
• Provide clear reporting on incident trends, platform health, automation reliability, and improvement needs.
• Oversee the day-to-day running of all live automations, including Power Platform flows, RPA bots (ServiceNow/Blue Prism), Alteryx workflows, Logic Apps, and AI agents, managing operational schedules, job queues, bot controllers, runbooks, orchestrations, and environment health.
• Lead analysis of recurring failures, conduct root-cause investigations, and implement corrective actions to improve long-term stability and resilience.
• Ensure proactive monitoring and effective usage of platform observability tools (e.g., Application Insights, Azure Monitor, RPA consoles).
• Collaborate closely with Architecture, Platform, and Integration teams to resolve environment, connector, access, or dependency issues impacting live solutions and ensure alignment with architectural guardrails and security models.
• Partner with Engineering teams to support change requests, enhancements, and improvements to automation solutions.
• Own operational change processes for automations, including approvals, deployment coordination, regression testing, and communications.
• Coordinate patching cycles for RPA infrastructure, connectors, gateways, Logic Apps, and Power Platform environments.
• Ensure clear version control, rollback procedures, and operational readiness for new or updated automations.
• Maintain comprehensive operational documentation, standard operating procedures (SOPs), runbooks, incident logs, maintenance plans, and audit evidence.
• Support regulatory reporting activities through accurate tracking of automation outcomes, incidents, and performance.
• Drive continuous improvement of operational processes, tooling, dashboards, and support models.
• Contribute insights for automation retirement, consolidation, or redesign decisions.

What You’ll Bring

Must-Have Qualifications

• Significant experience in automation operations, platform support, or IT operations roles.
• Strong background supporting Power Platform, RPA, or Azure solutions.
• Strong troubleshooting and diagnostic skills across automation, integration, and workflow technologies.
• Deep understanding of operational run, incident management, and resilience for digital/automation solutions.
• Ability to coordinate and uplift performance of an external managed-service operations team.
• Skilled in interpreting logs, telemetry, monitoring dashboards, API traces, and system run histories.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management across business, technical, and vendor audiences.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with a focus on stability, compliance, and service continuity.
• Knowledge of automation engineering practices and how design choices impact operational reliability.
• Experience supporting Power Platform solutions (Power Automate, connectors, environment management).
• Experience running and maintaining RPA platforms (ServiceNow RPA or Blue Prism), including bot controllers, queues, and runtime scheduling.
• Knowledge of Azure components including Logic Apps, Functions, API Management, Key Vault, and monitoring tools.
• Strong understanding of Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), identity management, audit, logging, and secure operations of cloud and automation platforms.
• Awareness of regulatory requirements related to operational resilience.
• Awareness of enterprise system landscape (e.g., Maximo, GIS/ArcGIS, Workday, ServiceNow, SAP).

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Certifications: PL-400, PL-600, AZ-104, Blue Prism ROM/Support, ServiceNow RPA certifications, ITIL v4.
• Experience with monitoring tools such as Application Insights, Splunk, Dynatrace, or Azure Monitor.
• Understanding of AI solution monitoring (e.g., model drift, prompt behavior, telemetry).
• Understanding of Alteryx Server/Designer operations, Foundry pipelines, and Co-Pilot agent management.
• Familiarity with data governance (e.g., Purview), Databricks integration patterns, and enterprise API dependencies.

Additional Role Requirements

• Ability to work occasional out-of-hours windows for releases, patches, or critical incident resolution.
• Comfortable working in a vendor-managed, multi-supplier environment.

About Aquent Talent

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world’s biggest brands.

Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits!

Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We’re about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.

Client Description

Imagine an enterprise with over 3,000 employees, serving millions of people daily, undergoing the largest infrastructure and technology overhaul in their history. Backed by a sizeable multi-year investment program - underpinned by top-tier global infrastructure investors, our client is fundamentally rewriting how heavy their sectors operates.

Instead of treating technology as a back-office utility, this client is putting Artificial Intelligence, Power Platform, RPA, and Cloud Orchestration directly onto the frontlines.

Joining our client today means getting in on the ground floor of a high-visibility digital transformation journey. You will not be maintaining old systems; you will be architecting, running, and scaling the future digital engine of a high profile, well known brand.

Other Requirements

• 1 day in the office a week (Monday) the remainder remote.