Automation Analyst

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking an Automation Analyst to support a long-term DOD program focused on automation, process improvement, systems integration, and operational efficiency across a large-scale enterprise environment. This position is 100% onsite in Norfolk, VA and will support the U.S. Navy in identifying, designing, implementing, and maintaining automation solutions that improve service delivery, data quality, reliability, and operational performance.

The Automation Analyst will partner with technical teams and business stakeholders to identify manual and repetitive processes, translate requirements into automation use cases, and develop, test, deploy, and support automated workflows. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience with PowerShell and/or Python, workflow automation, APIs, configuration management, CI/CD, and enterprise systems integration. Experience with Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath, Ansible, Jenkins, Git/Bitbucket, Azure, Splunk, Power BI, and AI/LLM technologies is highly desirable.

Responsibilities of the Automation Analyst include:

• Analyze business and technical processes to identify opportunities for automation, optimization, and operational improvement
• Evaluate manual and repetitive processes based on business value, technical feasibility, risk, repeatability, and potential efficiency gains
• Document current-state and future-state workflows, process maps, business rules, dependencies, and automation requirements
• Partner with technical teams, business stakeholders, infrastructure teams, cybersecurity teams, application teams, data teams, and operations personnel to define automation requirements
• Gather and translate stakeholder requirements into automation use cases, functional requirements, acceptance criteria, process documentation, and implementation plans
• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain enterprise automation solutions
• Develop automation using PowerShell, Python, Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath, REST APIs, and comparable workflow and orchestration technologies
• Develop scripts and automated workflows to reduce manual operational tasks and improve service delivery
• Read, modify, troubleshoot, test, and maintain existing automation scripts and workflows
• Develop reusable automation components, scripts, functions, workflows, and integrations
• Integrate automation with enterprise applications, data sources, ticketing systems, cloud services, monitoring platforms, and APIs
• Develop secure API-driven integrations using REST APIs, JSON, authentication mechanisms, structured data formats, and appropriate error handling
• Implement appropriate logging, exception handling, alerting, retry mechanisms, and automated recovery processes
• Support configuration-management and CI/CD practices using Ansible, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Git, Azure DevOps, or comparable technologies
• Utilize source control and version-management practices to maintain automation code, workflows, configuration files, and documentation
• Support automated testing, deployment, validation, and change traceability for automation solutions
• Monitor automation performance, utilization, failures, reliability, and realized business benefits
• Troubleshoot automation failures and defects and perform root-cause analysis to identify underlying technical issues
• Implement improvements to increase automation reliability, scalability, efficiency, and user adoption
• Develop metrics, dashboards, and reporting to measure automation performance and operational improvements
• Support operational analytics using tools such as Power BI and Splunk
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), solution diagrams, test evidence, runbooks, automation inventories, and operational procedures
• Maintain documentation throughout the automation lifecycle, including requirements, design, testing, deployment, maintenance, and retirement
• Leverage approved Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities for appropriate automation use cases
• Support AI-enabled use cases including information extraction, classification, summarization, workflow assistance, decision support, and intelligent process automation
• Develop and utilize effective prompts, structured outputs, validation processes, and human-in-the-loop review for AI-enabled workflows
• Ensure AI-enabled automation follows applicable security, privacy, access-control, data-handling, and responsible-AI requirements
• Integrate approved AI/LLM services into automated workflows using APIs, prompt templates, structured outputs, and retrieval/grounding techniques
• Coordinate with cybersecurity and compliance teams to ensure automation solutions meet applicable security and operational requirements
• Support automation solutions throughout their lifecycle from requirements gathering and design through deployment, monitoring, maintenance, and continuous improvement
• Participate in Agile, DevOps, and continuous-improvement activities
• Support solutions operating in mission-critical and potentially classified DoD environments
• Maintain awareness of applicable cybersecurity, configuration-management, change-management, release-management, and audit requirements
• Communicate technical concepts, automation opportunities, risks, and recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Qualifications of the SRE Automation Analyst include:

• 7+ years of experience in systems engineering, automation, systems analysis, process improvement, scripting, application support, IT operations, data analysis, or a related technical discipline
• Active Secret clearance
• IAT Level II-compliant certification, such as CompTIA Security+ CE or an equivalent DoD-approved certification
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Data/Business Analytics, or a related technical discipline; equivalent relevant professional experience may be considered
• Hands-on experience with PowerShell and/or Python
• Experience developing, modifying, testing, troubleshooting, and maintaining automation scripts or workflows
• Experience with workflow automation and process automation concepts
• Experience gathering requirements and translating business and technical requirements into automation solutions
• Experience analyzing manual processes and identifying opportunities for automation and process improvement
• Experience documenting business rules, workflows, process maps, requirements, acceptance criteria, and implementation plans
• Experience with REST APIs, JSON, authentication methods, and systems integration
• Experience with Git-based source control such as Git, Bitbucket, or GitHub
• Working knowledge of CI/CD concepts and software/infrastructure delivery practices
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, documentation, and problem-solving skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities within a mission-critical enterprise environment
• Ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Working knowledge of AI and Large Language Model (LLM) concepts
• Familiarity with responsible use of AI-enabled tools, including prompt design, output validation, human review, and appropriate data handling

Preferred Qualifications of the SRE Automation Analyst include:

• Experience with Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath, Automation Anywhere, or ServiceNow Flow Designer/Automation Engine
• Experience with enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
• Experience developing reusable automation components and enterprise workflow solutions
• Experience with Ansible and configuration management
• Experience with Jenkins, Bitbucket, Git, GitLab, Azure DevOps, or comparable CI/CD and collaboration platforms
• Experience with scheduled and event-driven automation workflows
• Experience implementing workflow logging, monitoring, alerting, exception handling, retry logic, and automated recovery
• Experience with Power BI, Splunk, or other business intelligence, analytics, monitoring, and reporting platforms
• Microsoft Azure experience, including Azure administration, identity, monitoring, automation, and/or hybrid cloud environments
• Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) certification
• Experience leveraging enterprise-approved AI/LLM platforms such as Microsoft Copilot, Azure OpenAI, OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, or Google Gemini
• Experience integrating AI/LLM capabilities into automated workflows using APIs, prompt templates, structured outputs, retrieval/grounding techniques, and human-in-the-loop validation
• Experience with responsible AI practices including data handling, access control, privacy, security, and model-output validation
• Experience with SQL, data transformation, ETL/ELT, and data integration
• Experience developing operational metrics, dashboards, and automation performance reporting
• Familiarity with Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), Risk Management Framework (RMF), vulnerability management, and DoD cybersecurity controls
• Experience working in classified or unclassified DoD/government environments
• Experience supporting environments with formal configuration, change, release, security, and audit requirements
• Experience with Agile, DevOps, DevSecOps, or SRE methodologies
• Microsoft Power Platform, UiPath, Azure, Splunk, or other relevant automation/cloud/analytics certifications

Compensation for the SRE Automation Analyst includes:

• Salary: $95,000-$100,000 depending on experience
• Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k Plan, Holidays, PTO, sick leave as required by law

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