Head of Process & Automation

Closing Date

Job Title: Head of Process & Automation

Location: Durrington hybrid working
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: 37 per week
Salary: to be discussed at screening stage

About the role

Southern Water is undergoing a major organisational transformation simplifying how the business operates strengthening enterprise process ownership and scaling automation to unlock value.

As the Head of Process & Automation you will set the strategic direction for how processes are designed governed and continuously improved while also leading the adoption of intelligent automation technologies across the organisation.

You will lead two businesscritical strategic capabilities:

• Process Centre of Excellence (Process CoE) process governance performance optimisation and continuous improvement.
• Automation Centre of Excellence (Automation CoE) RPA BPA lowcode AIenabled workflows and automation delivery at scale.

This is a pivotal role in the Digital & Transformation directorate reporting to the Director of Data AI & Automation with responsibility for enterprise process strategy automation delivery capability building and measurable benefits realisation.

What you will be responsible for:

• Defining and leading the enterprise strategy for process excellence and intelligent automation.
• Establishing governance standards methodologies and KPIs through the Process CoE.
• Leading endtoend process discovery mapping simplification optimisation and performance tracking.
• Setting the automation vision and roadmap across RPA BPA workflow lowcode and AIenabled technologies.
• Overseeing the identification prioritisation design development deployment and monitoring of automations.
• Ensuring robust operating models for delivery production support incident management and lifecycle governance.
• Driving enterprisewide collaboration and influencing senior stakeholders on process and automation priorities.

Additional requirements specific to the role

• Minimum 2 days onsite per week (Durrington).
• Visit operational sites 4 times per year.
• Lead workforce change linked to automation (redeployment upskilling structural impacts).
• Govern compliance audit security and risk considerations for automated processes.

What youll bring to the role

Essential

• Minimum 10 years experience in process improvement automation or digital transformation.
• Minimum 5 years in senior leadership roles.
• Strong track record delivering largescale process optimisation and automation initiatives.
• Deep expertise in process governance process design BPMN/UML optimisation and performance management.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and partner ecosystems.
• Excellent communication leadership presence and stakeholderinfluence skills.

Desirable

• Masters degree (Business Digital Engineering or similar).
• Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt) BPM Prosci Agile or RPA certifications.
• Experience with automation platforms (Power Automate BluePrism UiPath) and AIenabled workflow technologies.
• Utility sector experience.
• Experience with organisational change and capability development.
• Familiarity with emerging technologies (AI machine learning IoT).

At Southern Water we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation. Ifyourepassionate about making a positive impact and think you can bring value to our teamwedlove to hear from youeven if youdonttick every box. Your unique skills and experiences could be exactly what we need.

If this roleisntquite whatyourelooking for but are keen to be contacted about opportunities at Southern Water you can register your details here: Introduce Yourself (-Introduce Yourself)

Our 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.

Additional information:

In line with Southern Waters 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.

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