Senior AI Automation Engineer

Senior Automation Engineering

Closing Date: 2026-08-11

Location: Durrington (with regular travel to Falmer)

Contract: Permanent, Full-time (37 hours per week) with flexible start and finish times available to support work-life balance

Hybrid: Minimum 2 days onsite

Salary: £54,600

Role Overview

We're building our Process & Intelligent Automation team and are looking for an experienced Automation Engineering Manager to lead and develop our automation capability.

In this role, you'll lead a team of Automation Engineers responsible for designing, building, and optimising automation solutions using Power Platform, Copilot, RPA, and Azure technologies. You'll play a key role in shaping how automation is adopted across the business, helping teams improve processes, increase efficiency, and support wider digital transformation initiatives.

Working closely with senior stakeholders, process owners, architects, and platform specialists, you'll provide technical leadership while establishing standards, governance, and best practices to ensure solutions are scalable, secure, and sustainable.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a new and evolving capability where you'll have the opportunity to influence strategy, build team capability, and make a significant impact from day one.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a growing team of Automation Engineers.
• Define and drive the automation roadmap in line with business priorities.
• Oversee the design, development, and deployment of automation solutions using Power Platform, RPA, Azure, and Copilot technologies.
• Establish and maintain technical standards, governance frameworks, and development best practices.
• Work with stakeholders across the organisation to identify and prioritise automation opportunities.
• Ensure solutions align with security, compliance, and architectural requirements.
• Drive adoption of modern development practices including CI/CD, testing, documentation, and release management.
• Support the evaluation and introduction of emerging technologies, including AI-enabled automation.
• Provide technical guidance and leadership across complex automation and integration projects.

Essential Skills & Experience

• A minimum of 5 years' experience delivering and leading automation solutions within an enterprise environment.
• Previous experience managing, mentoring, or leading technical teams.
• Strong experience with Microsoft Power Platform, including Power Automate, Power Apps, Power Pages, and IVA.
• Experience developing automation solutions using Power Automate (Cloud & Desktop) and Copilot agents.
• Strong understanding of intelligent automation, workflow orchestration, and process optimisation.
• Ability to design and oversee integrations between business systems and platforms.
• Strong understanding of governance, security, and platform management, including DLP, RBAC, and identity management.
• Experience working within structured delivery environments using CI/CD, testing frameworks, documentation, and release processes.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to balance strategic thinking and technical delivery.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Microsoft certifications (PL-100, PL-200, PL-400).
• Azure certifications (AZ-900, AI-900, AZ-204).
• Experience with Copilot Studio and AI-enabled automation solutions.
• Knowledge of API-led and event-driven architectures.
• Experience with Alteryx or similar data and analytics tooling.
• Familiarity with enterprise systems such as ServiceNow, SAP, or GIS platforms.
• Experience leading a Centre of Excellence (CoE) or automation practice.
• Passion for emerging technology and intelligent automation.

Progression Opportunities

Southern Water offers career progression, training, and development opportunities.

About Southern Water

Southern Water is at the forefront of transforming Britain's water industry, investing significantly to enhance resilience, sustainability, and service excellence. With £7.8bn planned investment for 2025-30, this is an unparalleled opportunity to join a business committed to delivering a generational shift in the way water services are managed.

At Southern Water, we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation. If you're passionate about making a positive impact and think you can bring value to our team, we'd love to hear from you—even if you don't tick every box.

Commitment to Diversity

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or any other protected characteristic. If you need reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.

Pre-Employment Checks

In line with Southern Water's security requirements, successful candidates will be required to provide evidence of their identity, eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record check (DBS) and verification of their employment and/or education history for the past three years.

Appointment to this role is subject to the successful completion of all pre-employment checks, including security vetting.

Please note that if a candidate does not meet the required security standards or fails to pass the vetting process, Southern Water reserves the right to withdraw the offer of employment. Some positions may also require higher levels of security vetting, which may involve providing additional documentation.