Automation Architect Salary Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Ignite Digital has an exciting opportunity for an Automation Architect to support our client engagement within the federal government for the Charleston, SC area. The ideal candidate is a self-starter with strong automation technical skills and a strong work ethic. This position serves an important role in supporting the Navy's ability to recruit, onboard, and retain top talent through automation of current workflows.

The Automation Architect is responsible for designing and building prototype onboarding automation workflows to expedite the ability to remove current manpower intensive repeatable tasks. This role owns the operating model, governance, and enablement structures required to ensure automation initiatives are aligned to mission priorities and delivering measurable outcomes across the enterprise; owns automation as a productized enterprise capability, including backlog management, value-based prioritization, and lifecycle governance aligned to mission outcomes.

Key responsibilities include:

• Defining the automation vision, roadmap, and maturity model aligned to organizational priorities
• Establishing and managing automation intake, prioritization, and value realization frameworks
• Designing and implementing the prototype operating model (centralized, federated, or hybrid)
• Developing governance structures, standards, and reusable frameworks to enable consistent, scalable delivery
• Architecting end-to-end automation solutions leveraging RPA, AI/ML, workflow, and integration platforms
• Ensuring alignment with enterprise systems, data strategies, cybersecurity, and compliance requirements
• Establishing delivery pipelines and enabling enterprise-scale execution across business units
• Supporting adoption through training, playbooks, and citizen development models with appropriate guardrails
• Partnering with executive leadership and stakeholders to align automation efforts to strategic priorities
• Translating technical capabilities into measurable business and mission value
• Defining and tracking KPIs, dashboards, and reporting to provide visibility into automation performance and impact
• This role requires an enterprise mindset and experience building automation capabilities beyond individual solutions to deliver sustained, organization-wide impact.

Required Experience:

• 10+ years of experience in automation, digital transformation, or enterprise architecture roles within the DoW
• Proven track record of transitioning organizations from ad hoc automation efforts to structured, enterprise-scale delivery
• Experience defining and managing automation intake, prioritization, and governance frameworks
• Proven ability to manage a portfolio of automation initiatives aligned to business or mission priorities
• Experience enabling enterprise adoption, including distributed teams or citizen developers
• Strong understanding of value realization, including ROI, efficiency gains, and mission impact
• Hands-on experience with UiPath
• Experience architecting end-to-end automation solutions across enterprise systems, APIs, and data environments
• Experience delivering automation solutions within DoW or federal environments, including familiarity with ATO and compliance requirements
• UiPath Certified Professional - Automation Solution Architect (ASA) (required)
• UiPath Certified Professional - Automation Business Analyst (ABA) or 5+ years of demonstrated equivalent experience, including:
  • Leading automation intake, assessment, and prioritization pipelines within an enterprise or large program environment
  • Defining and applying automation qualification criteria (e.g., feasibility, ROI, complexity, risk)
  • Managing a portfolio of automation use cases aligned to business or mission priorities
  • Establishing and tracking value realization metrics, including efficiency gains, cost savings, and mission impact
  • Partnering with stakeholders to translate operational needs into automation-ready requirements and roadmaps

Preferred Experience:

• Active DoD SECRET security clearance
• Experience with AI/ML-enabled automation, including intelligent document processing or NLP
• Familiarity with low-code/no-code platforms and workflow tools (e.g., Power Platform, ServiceNow)

Salary: $110k+ to align with experience and education