Automation and AI Specialist

Your New Organisation

Southend-on-Sea City Council is a unitary local authority, providing vital services to meet the needs of the local community. We employ around 1,800 staff who work alongside our partners and local communities to deliver the city vision and make lives better for the people of Southend.

Working for Southend-on-Sea City Council offers a challenging and rewarding career in local government within a collaborative and innovative environment, with the benefit of flexible working practices to support a positive work-life balance. As a Unitary Authority, we are responsible for all local government functions ranging from social services, transport, public health and parks through to planning, trading standards, community safety and education, so we offer a wide range of career opportunities. The diversity of our economy and communities and investment in a number of exciting regeneration projects makes our Council a great place to work, learn and make a difference.

Your new role

Southend City Council has a fantastic opportunity for an Automation and AI specialist to join the Transformation team on a full-time and fixed-term contract basis (12 months). This contract is offered on a flexible and hybrid working basis (a combination of working from home and the office).

As an Automation and AI specialist, you will identify, design, and implement automation and AI solutions across council operations, enhancing efficiency, reducing manual workloads, and supporting the council's digital transformation efforts and One Council programme findings. This position will work collaboratively with the RPA officer, our DBA and Data Science specialist.

You will design and develop AI solutions to streamline operations and improve service delivery, ensuring solutions are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with One Council objectives. You will also identify and assess processes within the One Council Programme for potential automation, focusing on areas that can benefit from increased efficiency and accuracy through automation and AI solutions.

As an Automation and AI specialist, you will document and report on automation projects, including ETL processes designed with Azure Data Factory, detailing the objectives, methodologies, outcomes, and lessons learned to stakeholders at various levels within the council.

What you'll need to succeed

To be successful in this role, previous experience of working in a similar post is essential. It is essential that you have a demonstrable ability to identify, design, and implement technical solutions within a complex organisational environment.
A successful track record of deploying automation / AI projects from inception through to delivery, including defining requirements, process mapping, development, testing, and deployment, is highly essential for this role. It is critical that you have hands-on experience with automation tools for process discovery, development, and orchestration. Previous experience of cloud platforms, particularly Microsoft Azure, including automating services and managing resources.

It is vital that you are familiar with AI and machine learning.

Previous experience in a public sector or local government setting is highly advantageous.

What you'll get in return

When joining the council, you can enjoy a range of benefits including: 25 days annual leave, flexible working and excellent training and development opportunities. They are committed to ensuring that you are supported in this varied and challenging role with the appropriate level of training. A full list of benefits provided by Southend Council can be viewed on the "Why Work For Us?" tab.

What you need to do now

If you are interested in this role, please click 'apply online' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.

Please note: Applications for this vacancy may close prior to the date advertised above so you are advised to apply as soon as you are able to.

The Council is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications, regardless of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, age or religion or belief.

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