Senior Automation and AI Consultant (IA-Connect)

Ultima Group; Reading; On-site; GBP 60,000 - GBP 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading automation solutions provider in Reading is seeking a dynamic Senior Automation & AI Consultant to lead solution design and delivery. You will mentor consultants and drive pre-sales engagements while implementing automation solutions using Microsoft Power Automate and Blue Prism. Strong customer-facing skills and hands-on experience with automation platforms are essential. Join a rapidly growing team committed to innovation in automation and AI.

Qualifications

• Deep experience in mainstream automation platforms is essential.
• Experience in a customer-facing consultancy or technical delivery role.
• Strong knowledge of virtualized or remote environments (Citrix, RDS, VDI).

Responsibilities

• Lead customer discovery workshops to identify automation opportunities.
• Drive pre-sales engagements, demos and solution shaping.
• Build and deliver automation solutions using Power Automate and Blue Prism.

Skills

Hands-on delivery experience with automation platforms

Ability to mentor and guide teams

Strong customer-facing consultancy skills

Excellent communication skills

Tools

Microsoft Power Automate

Blue Prism

Job description

At Ultima, one of key initiatives is imagining and creating innovative software solutions which enable customers of any size to adopt automation & AI more easily.

IA‑Connect is our intelligent automation connector platform designed to solve one of the biggest challenges in automation: enabling modern automation tools such as Microsoft Power Automate, Blue Prism, and Copilot Studio to interact reliably with applications running in Citrix, Remote Desktop Services (RDS), virtual desktops, legacy thick‑client systems, and other restricted environments where traditional automation & AI tools struggle.

It was developed to address critical customer needs:

• Bridging the automation gap where UI automation or APIs are unavailable or unreliable using our own automation and AI services
• Providing secure, audited automation in highly regulated environments
• Extending cloud automation platforms into on‑premises and legacy estates
• Reducing delivery risk and cost by enabling automation of applications previously considered “out of scope”
• Ensuring consistency and stability when automating across virtualised or non-local desktops

IA‑Connect allows organisations to achieve true end‑to‑end automation, even when key steps sit inside environments that standard automation platforms cannot access.

This is made possible by our innovative development team, as the team has hands-on cloud technical experience in Microsoft Azure and automation, building the solution from the ground up.

It is an incredibly exciting time at Ultima, and we have seen significant growth and investment due to our innovative products and solutions which solve real world problems backed by our real world experience.

Because of this growing demand we are now looking for a dynamic and enthusiastic senior automation & AI consultant to join the team.

The Senior Automation & AI Consultant is a senior, client‑facing role responsible for designing, delivering and governing automation & AI solutions that use Microsoft Power Automate, Blue Prism or Copilot Studio, extended into complex or virtualised environments using Ultima’s automation & AI technology IA‑Connect.

You do not need to be an IA‑Connect expert from day one. Instead, you bring deep experience in mainstream automation platforms and the ability to adopt IA‑Connect quickly as part of our delivery model.

This role will:

• Lead pre-sales, solution design and delivery for process automation requirements
• Apply IA‑Connect to extend those platforms where direct automation & AI functionality is not possible
• Drive pre‑sales engagements, demos and solution shaping
• Mentor consultants and contribute to the IA‑Connect roadmap and best practice
• Support customers in adopting scalable, secure and enterprise‑ready automation solutions

Key Accountabilities

1. Solution Consulting & Design

• Lead customer discovery workshops to identify automation opportunities.
• Determine where IA‑Connect should be applied to enable automation of virtualised or legacy environments.
• Produce high‑quality design artefacts (PDDs, SDDs, automation blueprints).
• Recommend the right platform and architecture for each use case, ensuring scalability and security.

2. Delivery & Implementation

• Build and deliver automation solutions using Power Automate (cloud + desktop), Blue Prism and Copilot Studio.
• Configure IA‑Connect (training provided) to bridge automation into Citrix, RDS or legacy application environments.
• Develop robust, reusable components aligned to automation best practices, naming conventions and governance models.
• Integrate automations with cloud services, APIs, databases, identity platforms and orchestration tools.
• Drive quality assurance through peer reviews, testing, documentation and adherence to coding standards.
• Serve as a senior SME when it comes to IA-Connect built on top of Power Automate, Blue Prism and Copilot Studio.
• Establish and maintain best practices for automation design, ALM and integration.
• Help shape reusable assets, accelerators and patterns for IA‑Connect and the automation platforms.
• Provide technical guidance and training for consultants and customers.
• Feed customer insights into the IA‑Connect product roadmap and service offering.

4. Governance, Security & Compliance

• Design automation solutions that meet enterprise security, DLP, identity and compliance requirements.
• Support governance models for Power Platform and RPA CoEs, including environment strategies and ALM pipelines.
• Ensure IA‑Connect deployments comply with customer security and architectural standards.
• Implement monitoring, logging and auditing for end‑to‑end automation estates.

5. Stakeholder Management & Pre‑Sales Support

• Support pre‑sales activities: solution outlines, estimations, demos and PoCs.
• Convey the business value of automation and the unique role IA‑Connect plays in enabling “last‑mile” automation.
• Work closely with business owners and technical teams to ensure solutions align to needs and deliver measurable value.
• Contribute to RFPs, customer proposals, technical designs and delivery plans.

6. Coaching, Mentoring & Practice Development

• Mentor consultants in overarching delivery.
• Help build internal capability around IA‑Connect through training, documentation and thought leadership.
• Develop reusable components, frameworks and delivery templates that improve speed and quality.

Automation Expertise

Hands‑on delivery experience with at least two of the following (ideally all three):

• Microsoft Power Automate (Cloud)
• Blue Prism

including:

• Workshop experience to translate manual process designs into automation
• End‑to‑end workflow automation design and build
• API integration, scripting (eg PowerShell) and custom connectors
• Exception handling, logging and error‑recovery patterns
• Queues, work distribution and orchestration

Technical Skills

• Understanding of virtualised or remote environments (Citrix, RDS, VDI).
• Experience integrating automations with cloud services (Azure preferred).
• Baseline knowledge of Azure and common infrastructure where digital workers will be located and function from.
• Solid understanding of identity and security models (AAD, OAuth, certificates).
• Ability to troubleshoot across automation, network, application and infrastructure layers.

Consulting & Delivery Skills

• Strong experience in a customer‑facing consultancy or technical delivery role.
• Ability to gather requirements, shape solutions and produce clear documentation.
• Experience leading automation projects in enterprise or regulated environments.
• Strong communication skills, able to engage technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Ability to learn and apply IA‑Connect quickly to automation projects.
• Understanding of when IA‑Connect provides value vs. standard automation techniques.

Desired Skills

• Experience with IA‑Connect or similar connector technologies.
• Power Platform governance, DLP and Center of Excellence (CoE) exposure.
• Azure integration, including Logic Apps, Functions and API Management.
• Regulated industry experience (FS, public sector, healthcare).
• Experience developing reusable automation assets, templates or accelerators.
• Technical Leadership – sets high technical standards and best practice.
• Customer Focus – aligns technology solutions to business outcomes.
• Collaboration – works seamlessly across delivery, sales and product teams.
• Analytical Problem Solving – resolves complex multi‑layer issues.
• Communication & Influence – clear, confident and outcome‑focused.
• Ownership & Accountability – takes responsibility for customer success.
• Learning Agility – quickly adopts IA‑Connect and emerging automation technologies.
• Mentoring & Support – helps develop capability across the team.