Job Summary R&DA; Automation Lead

Automation | Innovation | Standardisation | Process Efficiency

Role purpose

Lead the R&DA; automation, innovation and standardisation agenda by identifying, prioritising and delivering scalable solutions that reduce manual effort, simplify processes, improve quality and controls, accelerate reporting cycles and strengthen the stakeholder experience.

R&DA; Automation Lead

- Function - Reporting & Data Analytics (R&DA;)
- Focus - Automation, innovation, standardisation and process efficiency
- Role type - Transformation, solution delivery and change leadership

The opportunity

The R&DA; Automation Lead will shape and execute a function-wide agenda for automation, innovation, standardisation and process efficiency across reporting, analytics and related finance processes. The role will connect business priorities with technology capabilities, convert opportunities into governed delivery plans and ensure that solutions deliver measurable and sustainable outcomes.

The role is intentionally broad and is not tied to a single programme. It covers the full improvement lifecycle, from opportunity discovery and process simplification through solution design, testing, deployment, adoption and benefits realisation.

Primary objectives

- Reduce manual and non-value-adding work through automation and AI-enabled solutions.
- Establish common process, data, reporting, documentation and control standards before technology is applied.
- Build a prioritised, transparent and value-led automation pipeline.
- Improve turnaround time, accuracy, consistency, controls and scalability.
- Encourage experimentation, reuse and responsible adoption of emerging capabilities.
- Create sustainable ownership through documentation, training, support models and continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities Automation, standardisation and portfolio leadership
- Define and maintain the R&DA; automation, innovation, standardisation and process-efficiency roadmap.
- Translate business and transformation priorities into a sequenced portfolio of initiatives.
- Establish intake,



assessment and prioritisation criteria covering value, feasibility, complexity, risk, control impact and scalability.
- Balance quick wins with strategic, reusable capabilities and longer-term platform opportunities.
- Maintain visibility of pipeline, delivery status, dependencies, decisions, benefits and next-wave opportunities.

Opportunity discovery and process efficiency
- Lead discovery sessions with process owners, report owners, SMEs, technology teams and stakeholders.
- Build fact-based baselines covering volumes, effort, cycle time, frequency, manual touchpoints, exceptions, rework, quality issues and controls.
- Map current processes and identify bottlenecks, duplication, low-value activities and unnecessary hand-offs.
- Challenge processes constructively and simplify, standardise or rationalise them before automating.
- Identify opportunities for report consolidation, decommissioning, self-service, re-platforming and improved operating models.

Standardisation and scalable operating practices
- Define and maintain common standards for processes, report structures, naming conventions, templates, business rules, controls, documentation and repositories.
- Identify variations across teams and regions, distinguish justified local requirements from avoidable complexity and drive alignment to agreed standards.
- Create reusable process patterns, automation components, parameter libraries, validation rules, exception categories and support artefacts.
- Establish design and readiness checkpoints so initiatives enter build only when inputs, ownership and standards are sufficiently complete.
- Track adoption of agreed standards and address non-compliance, duplication or unnecessary customisation through governance and stakeholder engagement.





Innovation and AI enablement
- Identify practical use cases where AI, advanced analytics, automation or workflow capabilities can enhance reporting, insights, efficiency and decision support.
- Facilitate ideation, proof-of-concept activity and controlled pilots with clear hypotheses and success measures.
- Promote responsible experimentation, reuse of proven patterns and evidence-based scale-up decisions.
- Monitor emerging capabilities and translate relevant developments into practical R&DA; opportunities.
- Build an innovation culture through showcases, communities, reusable assets and knowledge sharing.

Solution design and delivery
- Convert approved opportunities into transparent business requirements, process designs, acceptance criteria, delivery plans and ownership models.
- Partner with business, enablement, data and technology teams to assess feasibility and define scalable solutions.
- Address source access, service accounts, environments, licences, security, privacy, compliance, integration, monitoring and support needs.
- Guide solution build and configuration while maintaining traceability to business outcomes and control requirements.
- Ensure standard design patterns, documentation and governance are applied across initiatives.

Testing, deployment and operational readiness
- Oversee unit, system, integration, performance, exception and user-acceptance testing as appropriate.
- Ensure automated outputs are compared with approved baselines and that defects are tracked to closure.
- Confirm deployment readiness, rollback considerations, runbooks, monitoring, alerts, access and support arrangements.
- Lead pilot, go-live, stabilisation and handover activities.
- Embed operational controls, ownership, service expectations and escalation routes.

Benefits, controls and continuous improvement
- Define baselines and measures for effort reduction, cycle time, quality, control effectiveness, adoption and stakeholder experience.
- Track forecast and realised benefits and secure appropriate business acceptance.

📌 R and DA Automation Lead (Kochi)
🏢 EY
📍 Kochi