Automation Operations Manager [AQ-22874]

Aquent; Worthing; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Office day Monday

Job summary

Aquent is partnering with a leading organization in the UK to shape the future of digital operations through advanced automation and AI. You will lead an external Automation Operations team and be responsible for the high availability, security, and resilience of live automations, RPA tools, and CoPilot Agents.

This senior role requires steering the daily health of production automations, driving continuous improvement, and collaborating with architects and business SMEs to ensure alignment with

Qualifications

• Proven track record leading live, enterprise-scale automation environments.
• Experience managing external partner teams and vendors to deliver service levels.
• Strong understanding of platform security, DLP, RBAC, identity and audit logging.

Responsibilities

• Provide decisive leadership for an external partner team of Automation Operations Engineers in line with ITIL and SLAs.
• Oversee health of production automations, bot controllers, runbooks, and CoPilot Agent solutions.
• Conduct root-cause investigations using telemetry and logs to prevent recurring failures and improve reliability.
• Own change management, patch cycles, environment governance, regression testing and rollback procedures.
• Collaborate with Enterprise Architects, Platform Engineers, and SMEs to align operations with guardrails and strategic goals.

Skills

Automation Ops

Power Platform

Vendor management

Security & RBAC

Monitoring & telemetry

Tools

Power Automate

CoPilot Agents

Azure Monitor

Dynatrace

Job description

Aquent is proud to partner with a leading organization at the forefront of managing critical infrastructure, dedicated to delivering essential services with innovation and efficiency.

This organization is shaping the future of digital operations, leveraging cutting-edge automation and AI to enhance resilience and service delivery for millions.

Are you a visionary leader in Automation Operations, ready to spearhead the strategic evolution and day-to-day excellence of a sophisticated automation and AI platform? This pivotal role places you at the heart of our operational ecosystem, empowering you to drive the high availability, security, and resilience of live automated workflows, RPA tools, and next-generation CoPilot Agents. You will lead an external managed-service engineering team, bridging technical prowess with strategic operational insights to deliver unparalleled stability, scalability, and long-term business value. Your impact will be immediate and profound, transforming how critical services are delivered and managed across vital infrastructure.

What You’ll Do

• Provide decisive leadership, direction, and quality assurance for an external partner team of Automation Operations Engineers, overseeing intake, incident triage, prioritization, and problem resolution in strict adherence to ITIL best practices and SLAs.


• Oversee the daily health and performance of all production automations, bot controllers, runbooks, orchestrations, and CoPilot Agent solutions.


• Conduct in-depth root-cause investigations using telemetry, system logs, and observability tools to proactively prevent recurring failures and significantly enhance long-term reliability.


• Take ownership of operational change processes, including patch management cycles, environment governance, regression testing, and robust rollback procedures.


• Collaborate closely with Enterprise Architects, Platform Engineers, and Business SMEs to ensure operational solutions are consistently aligned with architectural guardrails and overarching strategic goals.


• Drive continuous improvement by leveraging operational reporting, usage analytics, and platform health dashboards to refine operational tooling and provide crucial insights for solution evolution or consolidation.

What You’ll Bring

Technical & Operational Expertise

• A strong track record in running and supporting live, enterprise-level automation environments.


• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Power Platform tools, including Power Automate and Power Platform CoPilot Agents.


• Proven skill in vendor/partner management, with a demonstrated ability to drive performance across external managed-service suppliers.


• Expert knowledge of platform security, DLP policies, RBAC, identity, and audit logging for cloud and automation stacks.


• Proficiency with modern monitoring and telemetry tools (e.g., Azure Monitor, Dynatrace).

Soft Skills & Mindset

• Exceptional diagnostic, troubleshooting, and analytical skills.


• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, enabling effective collaboration with technical experts, business leaders, and external vendors.


• A high-energy, proactive approach with an unwavering focus on regulatory compliance, stability, and operational resilience.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Certifications such as PL-400, PL-600, AZ-104, ServiceNow, or ITIL v4.


• Awareness of AI solution telemetry (model drift, prompt behavior, usage patterns).


• Familiarity with operations in highly regulated environments.

Why Join Us?

This is an unparalleled opportunity to significantly shape the future of digital operations within a vital sector. You will lead a critical function at the dynamic intersection of RPA, low-code automations, and cutting-edge AI technologies. Enjoy total operational autonomy to innovate and build resilient, world-class automated capabilities that will have a lasting impact on our organization and the essential services we provide.

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.