Power Platform Automation Engineer

Role Description

The Power Platform Automation Engineer will modernize and expand our automation capabilities using Microsoft-native technologies. This is a hands-on delivery role focused on building and supporting production-critical automations in a document-intensive environment. The engineer will deliver both attended (human-in-the-loop) and unattended automations running on frequent schedules (every 30 minutes, hourly, daily), and will contribute to operational reliability through strong error handling, monitoring, documentation, and structured releases.

• Modernize the automation portfolio by delivering new and enhanced workflows using Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate Cloud, Power Automate Desktop where needed) and supported Azure services as appropriate.
• Partner with business stakeholders to understand processes and identify migration priorities.
• Assess existing automation use cases end-to-end (triggers, dependencies, data sources, credentials, SLAs) and translate them into Power Platform solution designs that improve reliability, observability, and maintainability.
• Partner with cross-functional teams (operations, IT, development, security, business owners) to validate requirements, define acceptance criteria, and ensure automations meet business and compliance needs.
• Establish and maintain delivery standards for automation artifacts, including solution packaging, environment strategy (Dev/Test/Prod), release approvals, and documentation.
• Implement version control for all automation artifacts using Git with proper branching strategies.
• Participate in the peer review process to ensure changes meet standards prior to release.
• Develop RPA workflows using Power Automate Desktop (attended) and Power Automate Cloud flows (unattended), applying structured logic, error handling, and reusable components.
• Implement workflow logic using expressions and data transformations (Power Fx, JSON parsing, string/date manipulation, validation rules).
• Build and maintain API-based integrations using actions (OAuth/API keys where applicable), including robust handling of timeouts, throttling, and error responses.
• Create supporting scripts/utilities as needed (e.g., PowerShell) to enable unattended execution and handle file/system tasks related to automation.
• Manage solution dependencies, connection references, and environment variables across deployments.
• Implement a repeatable deployment process for Power Platform solutions (Dev/Test/Prod promotion, release checklist, smoke tests, rollback steps), using available tools (Power Platform pipelines and/or Azure DevOps as appropriate).
• Implement a phased rollout approach for new Microsoft-based workflows, including parallel validation, controlled cutovers, and post-release stabilization as required.
• Architect solutions for high-frequency unattended work (every 30 minutes, hourly, daily) with automatic recovery and retry logic.
• Implement document processing automation with OCR capabilities for extraction from PDFs, scanned images, and forms.
• Integrate with Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, Excel), Azure services, SQL databases, and third-party APIs.
• Provision, configure, and maintain the automation execution environment (Windows automation host/VM including PAD prerequisites, browser versions, automation dependencies, and scheduled task health; IT Support owns OS patching, network, and firewall changes).
• Manage service accounts/permissions required for unattended runs in coordination with IT/security; maintain connection references and credential rotation procedures.
• Ensure proper handling of secrets, API keys, and connection credentials — never hardcoded, always vaulted.
• Ensure sensitive data is handled using platform-native security controls and organizational standards.
• Stabilize and operationalize existing automations (runbooks, alerts, failure triage) while delivering new Power Automate workflows.
• Implement monitoring and alerting using Power Automate run history + Teams/email; integrate with existing monitoring when available.
• Configure proactive alerts for failures, performance degradation, and anomalies with appropriate escalation paths.
• Maintain operations runbooks for incident response, troubleshooting procedures, and known issue workarounds.
• Provide production support and continuous improvements for business-critical automations, including failure triage, stakeholder communication, and coordination of escalations with IT/security/vendors as needed; provide support during business hours and coordinate after-hours response for critical workflows per IT policy.
• Conduct root cause analysis (RCA) for production incidents and implement preventive measures.
• Ensure adequate logging/audit trails to support troubleshooting and compliance requirements.
• Maintain audit logs for automation activities as supported by the platform and organizational policy.
• Build exception handling with intelligent retry logic, exponential backoff, and clear escalation/disable rules for repeatedly failing runs.
• Analyze automation metrics to identify optimization opportunities and capacity planning needs.
• Implement continuous improvement cycles based on operational data and user feedback.
• Create comprehensive technical documentation: solution architecture, process design documents, deployment guides, and operational runbooks.
• Provide training and support to end users on migrated automation processes.
• Participate in architecture reviews and knowledge sharing sessions with the broader IT team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent work experience).
• 3+ years of hands-on experience building and supporting production automation/RPA solutions, including both attended and unattended workflows.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Power Automate (Cloud) and Power Automate Desktop.
• Experience integrating automations with Microsoft 365 (e.g., Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Excel) and at least one backend integration: SQL or Dataverse, and/or REST APIs.
• Experience implementing document processing/OCR workflows (AI Builder, Azure AI Document Intelligence, or similar).
• Experience operating automations in production using runbooks, monitoring/alerts, and incident response practices.
• Familiarity with Git (branching, pull requests).
• Configure/maintain a Windows automation host/VM in Azure used for unattended runs (automation runtime prerequisites, scheduled task health, run reliability; IT Support handles OS patching, network, and firewall).
• US-based and authorized to work in the United States.
• Ability to provide after-hours support for critical production issues on an as-needed basis, per IT policy.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred

• Familiarity with Power Platform solutions packaging (connection references, environment variables).
• Power BI exposure for basic operational reporting.

Core Technical Requirements

• Power Platform (RPA): Hands-on experience designing and building Power Automate Desktop (attended RPA) and Power Automate Cloud flows (unattended/scheduled/event-driven).
• Automation development skills: Ability to implement workflow logic and data transformations using Power Fx, expressions, and JSON (parsing, validation, mapping), with strong error-handling patterns.
• Azure VM automation host: configure/maintain a Windows automation host/VM in Azure used for unattended runs (automation prerequisites, scheduled task health, patching coordination, run reliability).
• Document processing & OCR: Production experience with OCR/extraction tools (AI Builder, Azure AI Document Intelligence/Form Recognizer, or similar) for PDFs, scanned documents, and forms.
• ALM / deployments: Experience with Power Platform solutions and Dev/Test/Prod promotion, including connection references, environment variables, release checklists, smoke tests, and rollback steps (Power Platform pipelines and/or Azure DevOps where applicable).
• Version control: Proficient with Git (branching, pull requests, and basic peer review).
• Integrations: Experience integrating with Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, Excel) plus Dataverse or SQL and/or REST APIs (OAuth2/API keys, JSON).
• Production operations: Experience supporting production automations using monitoring/alerts, runbooks, incident response, and RCA.
• (Optional) Scripting: Working knowledge of PowerShell for automation support tasks related to unattended execution.