Head of Data, Automation & AI Reporting

ALink Recruitment are working with a fast-growing infrastructure business operating across railway asset management, surveying, examinations, compliance and technical reporting. Working with major infrastructure organisations, the business is investing heavily in data, automation and AI to support its next phase of growth. The role will be fully office based, Monday-Friday.

Role Purpose

This is a business-critical role responsible for making operational, commercial and technical performance measurable, visible and actionable. Working closely with directors, managers and delivery teams, you will transform data into meaningful insight, automate repetitive processes and help build a scalable operating model.

This is not a passive analyst role. The successful candidate will be expected to challenge poor data quality, expose inefficiencies, improve reporting and use technology to drive measurable business improvements.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop a business-wide KPI and performance measurement framework.
• Build executive, operational and commercial dashboards that support decision-making.
• Create visibility of revenue, margins, productivity, utilisation, project performance and quality metrics.
• Improve data quality, governance, consistency and auditability across the business.
• Standardise data capture, reporting structures and operational workflows.
• Turn operational activity into meaningful management information and actionable insight.
• Identify and automate repetitive administrative, reporting and monitoring tasks.
• Lead the development of AI-assisted technical reporting solutions.
• Design and implement controlled AI agents and agentic workflows.
• Improve report-writing efficiency while maintaining technical quality and human review.
• Support resource planning, workload forecasting and operational control.
• Provide insight into profitability, margin leakage, productivity trends and business risk.
• Identify performance gaps, inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement.
• Work across Microsoft 365, Power BI, SharePoint, Excel, financial systems and operational platforms.
• Ensure AI, automation and reporting solutions remain secure, controlled and commercially valuable.

Key Deliverables

• Business-wide KPI and reporting framework.
• Executive and operational performance dashboards.
• Improved data quality and reporting consistency.
• AI-assisted reporting workflows and pilot solutions.
• Automated business processes that reduce manual administration.
• Monthly management information and performance reporting.
• Recommendations for future systems, automation and AI development.

Skills & Experience

• Data analysis, business intelligence and performance reporting.
• Power BI or equivalent dashboard and visualisation tools.
• Advanced Excel, data modelling and structured data design.
• KPI development, process improvement and workflow automation.
• Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Teams environments.
• Commercial reporting, profitability analysis and operational performance measurement.
• Experience implementing AI tools, AI-assisted workflows or automation technologies.
• Ability to turn complex operational data into clear business insight.

Why Apply?

Opportunity to build and shape a data, automation and AI function from the ground up.