Automation Lead: Engagement & Analysis

Automation Lead: Engagement and Analysis 

The University of Glasgow has invested in making significant change and has embedded a Transformation Team into the fabric of the University.  The Transformation Team leads an exciting strategic transformation programme: covering major changes to the staff and student experience through organisational, process, system, and service improvements.

Our Ambition 

We lead significant change projects that enable the World Changers Together Strategy at the University of Glasgow. We manage and deliver change projects and programmes, delivering significant improvements at all levels across the student and staff experience, enabling service excellence across the University. Our core value is to develop and engage our people to help them shape the higher education institution of the future.

Our Purpose 

The Automation Centre of Excellence (CoE) is a component of the Transformation team and supports the University’s strategic ambitions. Automation is a key enabler for service transformation, helping to deliver early benefits, supporting change and enabling us to become more efficient and effective. This role will be part of our Automation CoE team ambition.

Job Purpose 

Reporting to the Head of Automation and working with fellow members of the Transformation team and teams from across the University, the Automation Lead: Engagement and Analysis partners with the Automation Lead: Technical to drive delivery across the full Automation Lifecycle, discovery, delivery and deployment. Jointly owning responsibility across opportunity identification, benefit management and solution design and delivery.  Leading the team to ensure that the automation delivery engine is aligned to our automation pipeline, delivering value through the delivery of automation solutions to our services and business areas.

You will lead the design of our team strategy across automation opportunities identification and prioritisation.  This will involve ensuring quality and direction to the team ensuring a robust approach to analysing and developing requirements, driving insights and recommendations, and supporting the design and delivery of the ultimate solution as part of an adoption support framework.  In addition, you will lead and manage team members across the full automation lifecycle.

Main Duties and Responsibilities 

1. Work with cross-functional teams and business units to understand the institution’s goals and provide leadership on support strategies to achieve these goals through business and technology transformation.

2. Act as the key link between the technical team, Transformation team and business stakeholders to identify, assess and create effective automated solutions, which deliver meaningful and measurable benefits.

3. Build strong working relationships with senior stakeholders and promote the opportunity that automation presents to deliver transformation.

4. Identify automation opportunities, define automation value proposition, and reengineer processes to improve automation potential.

5. Manage, develop, and maintain the Automation opportunity pipeline, prioritisation matrix and triage with colleagues across the institution.

6. Lead effective, sustainable adoption activities associated with new Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions within the business areas and consider change management implications for their implementation.

7. Lead and organise the automation team across all automation engagements, this includes matrix management across the end-to-end automation lifecycle.

8. Coordinate with the business and the technical team to facilitate the planning and execution of RPA and identify and provide the required support for solution designs and enhancements.

9. Apply a range of techniques to design and lead the analysis and documentation of complex business processes (current state/future state; people, processes and technology; and the relevant metrics likely to affect business cases for change).

10. Deliver business analysis outputs in accordance with automation requirements including pre- and post-project work such as: business case production; business requirements documentation; and benefits management.

11. Work closely with the Head of Automation to review and define the Automation engagement approach to ensure clarity on staff and student needs.

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 Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of process improvement and/or automation opportunity identification, analysis and adoption tools and techniques including process analysis, benefit identification, change management, and service development.

A3 Good 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 RPA/Automation technologies and spectrum of best practices with process automation and operational excellence.

B2 Knowledge and understanding of service design.

Skills 

Essential: 

C1 Ability to rapidly grasp processes, identify opportunities to reengineer them, and provide potential solutions.

C2 Strong analytical skills, coupled with a demonstrable logical, disciplined and structured approach to documentation and procedures.

C3 Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to develop the automation 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.

C7 Ability to build and maintain a broad network of effective business relationships.

C8 Demonstrable communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence Subject Matter Experts and business stakeholders towards change, automation and continuous improvement.

Desirable: 

D1 Change management skills.

D2 Willingness to learn and become confident with Intelligent Automation solutions.

Experience 

Essential: 

E1 Substantial professional experience at a senior level in the private/public sector with a demonstrable track record in managing and delivering significant business/process improvement projects involving multiple stakeholders to a clear and successful conclusion.

E2 Significant experience in the successful utilisation of multiple process improvement methodologies and deploying those methodologies most effectively.

E3 Significant experience of designing, leading, and facilitating workshops; carrying out as-is and to-be process analysis and documenting technical and non-technical requirements.

E4 Experience of identifying, tracking and monitoring benefits that impact across service delivery, staff/student (customer) experience and cost.

Desirable: 

F1 Experience working in Higher Education Sector.

F2 Experience of effective project and programme communications.

F3 Experience working with automation software (e.g., UI Path (preferred), Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Platform Automate).

F4 Experience in User Acceptance Testing, bringing business users into the test phase of the lifecycle.

F5 A track record of business analysis in an Automation project environment.

F7 Experience of line management or coaching of staff.

F8 Experience of project methodologies such as Agile.

Terms and Conditions 

Salary will be Grade 8, £48,350 - £56,021 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours p/w) and open ended.

Relocation assistance will be provided where appropriate.

As part of Team UofG you will be a member of a world changing, inclusive community, which values ambition, excellence, integrity and curiosity.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

2 An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University  https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.