Automation: Automation Technical Lead

**Job Purpose**

**Main Duties and Responsibilities**
- Lead the development of creative and effective Automation support strategies to drive a culture of automation and service improvement across the institution.
- Provide technical management of automation and tooling: approve all elements of solutions prior to deployment, and evaluate live deployments to suggest upgrades, additional features, or enhancements.
- Manage the automation and tooling maintenance and installation work, ensuring that operational problems are identified, recorded, monitored, and resolved.
- Review current and proposed automation and tooling systems for compliance with the organisation’s obligations (including legislative, regulatory, contractual, and security standards/policies) to provide specialist advice to those accountable for governance.
- Lead the design, procurement, installation, upgrading, operation, control, maintenance and effective use of automation and tooling components, and monitor performance ensuring that agreed service levels are met.
- Manage the technical element of the automation pipeline, identifying the resources and capabilities needed and liaising with business assurance and project staff to ensure that appropriate technical resources are made available.
- Work with team members and key stakeholders across the organisation to design, test and implement automated solutions, across full lifecycle including the provision of reports and appropriate status updates on automation performance.
- Develop and actively maintain expert level knowledge of existing and emerging automation technologies, providing advice and sharing specialist knowledge across the organisation.
- Lead the creation/provision of service manuals and service procedures, and the development of training and presentation materials for the technical elements of the Automation Service.
- Manage and facilitate the set-up of innovation communities, to encourage communication and the open flow of creative ideas between interested parties.

**Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience**

**Knowledge/Qualifications**

**Essential**:

A1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary professional knowledge and management skills in a similar or number of different specialist roles. Or: Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9,10 or 11 (Ordinary/Honours Degree, Post Graduate Qualification), or equivalent, including being professionally qualified in relevant discipline, with a broad range of professional experience in a management role(s).
A2 Knowledge of employing automation technologies to design business solutions and process improvements, and of monitoring and developing automation technologies.
A3 Expert understanding of current and emerging automation technologies and how other enterprises are employing them to drive business improvements and/or automation.

**Desirable**:

B1 Knowledge of 'DevOps' methodologies.

**Skills**

**Essential**:

C1 Ability to rapidly grasp processes, identify opportunities to reengineer them, and provide potential Automation/Robotic Process Automation solutions.
C2 Excellent analytical, strategic conceptual thinking, strategic planning and execution skills.
C3 Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to develop the automation & tooling solution vision and communicate this to inspire and motivate others.
C4 Demonstrable ownership of delivery, including being results-oriented with a commitment to a high-quality customer service.
C5 Strong ability to influence and persuade senior management of appropriate courses of action that may have University wide implications.
C6 Ability to lead and develop staff, including own team and other colleagues, to quickly resolve complex problems in the provision of automation services.
C7 Ability to build and maintain a broad network of effective relationships, including in a matrix management environment.

**Experience**

**Essential**:

E1 Substantial professional experience at a senior level in the private/public sector with a demonstrable track record in managing and delivering automation solutions and projects.
E2 Substantial experience of the successful utilisation of automation in a large, complex organisation including: leading the design and development of solutions, using multiple tools and methodologies, and deploying those tools most effectively.
E3 Experience in User Acceptance Testing, bringing business users into the test phase of the lifecycle.
E4 Experience of leading and supporting automation technical teams across the full lifecycle.
E5 Experience working with automation software (e.g., UI Path (preferred), Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Platform Automate).

**Desirable**:

F1 Experience working in Higher Education Sector
F2 Experience of effective project and programme communications
F3 Experience of multiple technologies e.g Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web