Power Platform Automation Engineer

About the role

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.

What you'll do

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 HTTP/REST 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.