Business Automation & AI Program Manager

AKS Engineering & Forestry, LLC•Tualatin, OR

About The Position

The Business Automation & AI Program Manager leads AKS’s strategy and execution for artificial intelligence, workflow automation, business process improvement, application development, systems integration, data, and analytics. This role partners closely with executives, discipline leaders, department leaders, and technical teams to understand how work is performed today, identify opportunities for improvement, and turn those opportunities into practical, secure, scalable digital solutions. The ideal candidate is curious, collaborative, technically capable, and highly business-oriented. They are comfortable discussing AI strategy with executives, mapping a process with discipline leaders, reviewing an API integration with developers, and demonstrating a new digital solution to employees.

Requirements

Experience with Power Platform solutions, environment management, connection references, environment variables, deployment between development/test/production environments, and application lifecycle management.
Demonstrated experience with business process analysis, process improvement, and converting manual or inefficient processes into scalable digital workflows.
Demonstrated experience with Microsoft Power Automate, Power Apps, and Power BI, with the ability to provide technical direction and evaluate solution approaches.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, Dataverse, or comparable enterprise data platforms.
Strong understanding of REST APIs, JSON, HTTP, OAuth 2.0, webhooks, and system integration patterns.
Experience gathering business requirements and translating them into practical technical solutions.
Strong understanding of data governance, access controls, security, permissions, and enterprise data architecture.
Excellent written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.
Ability to build credibility and trusted relationships with technical and nontechnical stakeholders, influence change across departments, and drive successful adoption of new technologies, processes, and ways of working.
Personable, approachable leadership style with the ability to build genuine trust and relationships across field crews, engineers, surveyors, project teams, and executives; a strong cultural fit for a collaborative, hands-on AEC organization.
Strong project and program management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading an enterprise AI, automation, or digital transformation program, including generative AI, AI agents, RAG, LLMs, or enterprise AI platforms.
Experience with Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, Data Factory, semantic models, and Power Platform governance or Center of Excellence practices.
Experience with Azure, SQL, Python, PowerShell, or other data and integration technologies.
Experience integrating ERP, HR, finance, project management, CRM, or other enterprise business systems.
Experience supporting an architecture, engineering, construction (AEC), surveying, or land development organization, with an understanding of field operations, project delivery, and how platforms such as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, or Revit fit into the broader technology and data ecosystem.

Responsibilities

Lead the enterprise roadmap for artificial intelligence, automation, data, and digital transformation.
Identify and prioritize high-value opportunities based on business impact, complexity, risk, and organizational readiness.
Lead practical adoption of generative AI, enterprise AI assistants, AI agents, workflow automation, and data-driven tools.
Ensure AI and automation initiatives are tied to measurable business outcomes rather than technology for technology’s sake.
Work directly with discipline and department leaders to understand current-state business processes and proactively identify manual, repetitive, spreadsheet-driven, email-driven, or disconnected processes that can be simplified, improved, automated, or redesigned.
Design improved future-state processes and determine when automation, applications, integrations, analytics, or AI are appropriate.
Challenge existing processes when appropriate rather than simply automating the way work is performed today, with a focus on simplifying and improving the process before technology is applied.
Provide leadership and technical direction for Microsoft Power Automate, Power Apps, Dataverse, and related Power Platform capabilities.
Establish standards for environments, security, development, testing, documentation, deployment, support, and lifecycle management.
Provide leadership, prioritization, technical direction, and mentorship to team members and technical resources responsible for delivering Power Platform, automation, integration, data , and AI solutions.
Set the organization’s Microsoft Fabric and OneLake direction in partnership with IT, data teams, and vendors.
Guide enterprise data integration, pipelines, semantic models, Power BI and analytics capabilities, data quality, governance, and security.
Define the strategy for integrating enterprise systems using REST APIs, JSON, HTTP, OAuth 2.0, webhooks, connectors, and related technologies.
Build strong, trusted relationships with executives, discipline leaders, department leaders, technical teams, and end users.
Lead organization adoption of new AI, automation, and digital solutions through stakeholder engagement, communication, demonstrations, pilot programs, training, feedback, and change management.
Translate business challenges into technology opportunities and explain technical concepts clearly to nontechnical audiences.
Establish success metrics and measure the business impact of initiatives, including hours saved, cycle-time reduction, error reduction, user adoption, ,improved data quality,, cost avoidance, and other measurable operational improvements.
Establish and maintain governance for AI usage, Power Platform development, data access, security, documentation, solution ownership, and lifecycle management.
Manage a portfolio of AI, automation, integration, data, and analytics initiatives.