Automation Operations Manager

Jobtailor; Worthing; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Southern Water seeks an experienced IT Operations leader to manage a large-scale SaaS production environment, overseeing automation, RPA and cloud-based platforms. You will own incident and problem management, coordinate outsourced teams, and ensure governance and security controls across Azure and related services.

The role requires 10+ years in IT operations, strong ITIL v4 knowledge, and experience with Power Platform, Logic Apps and RPA.

Qualifications

• Experience leading large SaaS production environments.
• Wait
• Experience managing 10+ years in IT operations or related leadership roles.
• Experience overseeing outsourced/MSP teams against demanding SLAs.
• Proven ability to own operational services, incidents and performance.
• Strong ITIL v4 based governance and incident/change/release practices.
• Experience with Power Platform, RPA and automation platforms.
• Cloud experience across Azure or equivalent.
• Ability to read monitoring dashboards and metrics.
• Excellent stakeholder management at executive level.
• Leadership of suppliers and cross-functional teams.
• Security, access controls and regulatory compliance expertise.
• ITIL v4 certification is desirable.
• Microsoft PL-400/PL-600/AZ-104 desirable.
• Blue Prism/RPA certifications desirable.
• Experience with Azure Monitor and Application Insights desirable.
• Knowledge of APIs and cloud-native integrations desirable.
• Experience in regulated/national infrastructure environments desirable.
• Familiarity with ServiceNow, Workday, Maximo, GIS, SAP BO or WaterWorxx desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational management of automation and AI platforms.
• Oversee outsourced service support and live environments.
• Coordinate major incidents and cross-functional restoration.
• Drive ITIL processes: incident, problem, change, release.
• Ensure SLA compliance and governance alignment.
• Oversee security, governance and data controls.
• Build runbooks, documentation and support models.
• Coordinate deployments, patching and releases.
• Develop operational dashboards and reporting.
• Improve automation support processes and tooling.
• Support growth of automation and AI capabilities.
• Lead suppliers and collaborate with Architecture and Engineering teams.

Skills

IT operations leadership

Incident management

Power Platform support

Cloud-based services

Education

ITIL v4 Certification

Microsoft PL-400

Microsoft PL-600

Microsoft AZ-104

Blue Prism Certification

Tools

Power Platform

RPA

Logic Apps

Azure Monitor

Application Insights

Splunk

Dynatrace

ServiceNow

Blue Prism

Job description

• Lead the operational management of Southern Water's automation and AI estate, ensuring services remain reliable, resilient and secure
• Manage and oversee an external managed service team supporting live automation solutions and platforms
• Act as senior escalation point for major incidents and coordinate cross-functional service restoration
• Drive incident, problem, change and release management processes
• Oversee Power Platform, RPA, Logic Apps, Alteryx, Co-Pilot, Foundry and related automation technologies
• Monitor platform health, performance, capacity and service trends
• Lead root cause investigations and implement corrective actions
• Ensure operational activities meet SLAs, regulatory requirements and governance standards
• Align operations with security, data governance and enterprise technology standards
• Manage documentation, runbooks, support models and audit evidence
• Coordinate operational readiness, deployment support, patching and releases
• Build operational reporting and dashboards for service health, risk and performance
• Improve automation support processes, tooling and operating models
• Support the growth and scaling of automation and AI capabilities
• Lead suppliers and collaborate with Architecture, Engineering, Integration and Platform teams

Requirements

• Significant experience managing large-scale production application environments, particularly SaaS-based platforms
• Minimum 10 years' experience in IT operations, application support, automation operations or related operational leadership roles
• Minimum 5 years' experience managing outsourced or managed service support organisations against demanding business SLAs
• Proven experience owning operational services, incident management and service performance within complex technology environments
• Strong understanding of IT service management principles, including incident, problem, change and release management
• Experience supporting Power Platform, RPA, Logic Apps, workflow orchestration or similar automation platforms
• Strong knowledge of cloud-based services and operational practices across Azure or equivalent environments
• Experience interpreting monitoring dashboards, telemetry, logs and performance metrics
• Excellent stakeholder management skills across technical, operational and executive audiences
• Experience leading teams and suppliers to deliver support services and operational outcomes
• Strong understanding of security, access controls, governance and operational compliance
• ITIL v4 certification desirable
• Microsoft certifications such as PL-400, PL-600 or AZ-104 desirable
• Blue Prism, ServiceNow RPA or automation operations certifications desirable
• Experience with Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Splunk or Dynatrace desirable
• Understanding of AI-enabled services and operational monitoring of AI solutions desirable
• Knowledge of enterprise integration platforms, APIs and cloud-native technologies desirable
• Experience in regulated or critical national infrastructure environments desirable
• Familiarity with ServiceNow, Workday, Maximo, GIS platforms, SAP BO and WaterWorxx desirable
• Eligibility to work in the UK
• Successful completion of identity, criminal record, employment and education checks and security vetting

Core Competencies

Demonstrates extensive experience in managing large-scale production application environments, particularly SaaS platforms, while ensuring operational excellence in automation and AI services. Proficient in incident management, service performance, and compliance within complex technology environments.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• IT Operations Management
• Incident Management
• Power Platform Support
• Cloud-Based Services
• ITIL v4 Certification

Hard Skills

• Automation Operations
• Service Performance Management
• Change Management
• Release Management
• Root Cause Analysis
• Monitoring Dashboards
• Performance Metrics Interpretation
• Governance Compliance
• Operational Reporting
• SaaS Platform Management

Soft Skills

• Stakeholder Management
• Team Leadership
• Collaboration

Certifications & Qualifications

• ITIL v4 Certification
• Microsoft PL-400
• Microsoft PL-600
• Microsoft AZ-104
• Blue Prism Certification

Industry Keywords

• Operational Compliance
• Regulated Environments
• Critical National Infrastructure
• Enterprise Integration Platforms
• Cloud-Native Technologies

Tools & Technologies

• Power Platform
• RPA
• Logic Apps
• Azure Monitor
• Application Insights
• Splunk
• Dynatrace
• ServiceNow
• Blue Prism
• AI-Enabled Services