Automation Lead

The Opportunity:

This role is responsible for identifying, designing, and delivering automation solutions across finance to reduce manual effort, strengthen controls, and improve overall process efficiency. It supports a broad portfolio of initiatives spanning finance operations and reporting workflows, including workflow automation, RPA, data automation, and control automation. The role balances strategic responsibilities, such as defining the automation roadmap, standards, and pipeline, with hands-on execution, including solution delivery, release management, and driving adoption. It also promotes an “automation by design” approach, building scalable, reusable solutions with embedded controls and clear intake processes, while ensuring appropriate human oversight where needed.

Key Roles & Responsibilities:

• Manage automation intake: Build and run a structured intake and feasibility process, assessing complexity, risk, benefits, and control impact.

• Design automation solutions: Translate business needs into scalable automation designs, partnering with IT or engineering for implementation when needed.

• Set automation standards: Establish best practices for documentation, testing, monitoring, and exception handling.

• Track value and performance: Define and monitor KPIs such as hours saved, cycle time reduction, and defect reduction.

• Ensure controls and compliance: Embed strong controls into solutions to avoid audit or compliance risks.

• Own backlog and roadmap: Maintain a prioritized automation pipeline and delivery roadmap aligned with business value.

• Drive adoption: Partner with change and business teams to ensure successful rollout, training, and sustained usage.

• Support post-go-live: Establish hypercare and monitoring processes to ensure stability, manage alerts, and drive continuous improvement.

• Collaborate across stakeholders: Work closely with Finance, IT, Controls, Data, and Governance teams to align priorities and delivery.

• Lead through influence: Coordinate cross-functional teams and vendors, prioritizing high-impact opportunities and demonstrating measurable outcomes to leadership.

Who You Are:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field.

• Certifications: Lean/Six Sigma and RPA/automation platform certifications preferred (tool-dependent).

• Experience: 6–10 years in automation, process improvement, or finance transformation roles.

• Proven experience delivering multiple automation solutions into production with measurable business impact.

• Strong skills in process mapping, diagnostics, and simplification, including assessment of control impacts before automation.

• Experience working in matrixed environments alongside IT, compliance, and business stakeholders.

• Solid understanding of the automation lifecycle (design, build, test, deploy, monitor) and ability to quantify benefits and prioritize opportunities.

• Controls-aware mindset (audit trails, approvals, exception handling), strong communication skills to drive adoption, and ability to influence behavior change.