Digital Solutions Specialist

Job Description

The Office of Research has an outstanding opportunity for a Digital Solutions Specialist to join their team.

Reporting to the Executive Director of the Research Administration Collaborative, the Digital Solutions Specialist is responsible for translating operational needs and service opportunities into practical digital solutions, with particular emphasis on workflow automation, AI-enabled support tools, technology integration, data-informed services, and scalable digital service delivery. The Digital Solutions Specialist develops solutions using enterprise-licensed, and emerging, technology platforms, including but not limited to Microsoft Power Automate, Power BI, and UW-supported artificial intelligence tools.

Working closely with Business Analyst and User Experience functions, the position participates throughout the solution lifecycle from problem definition and requirements development through prototyping, testing, implementation, adoption, and continuous improvement. The position combines technical fluency with a strong understanding of business processes and user needs, ensuring that technology is applied purposefully rather than simply introducing new tools.

The Digital Solutions Specialist operates within established institutional technology, data governance, security, accessibility, and responsible AI requirements and collaborates with central technology partners when solutions require capabilities beyond the position’s scope or authority.

Design, build, and maintain digital solutions that improve the efficiency and reliability of research administration services.

• Develop workflow automations using Microsoft Power Automate and other approved platforms.
• Translate defined business requirements into functional workflows, applications, dashboards, and digital tools.
• Prototype, test, deploy, document, and maintain solutions through an iterative development lifecycle.
• Identify opportunities to replace repetitive manual processes with sustainable, scalable solutions.
• Point person for defining and requesting improvements to existing tools as well as new tools

Develop and responsibly implement AI-enabled tools that improve access to information, decision support, and administrative services.

• Build and configure UW-supported AI agents for defined research administration use cases.
• Develop agent instructions, knowledge sources, workflows, and guardrails in partnership with subject matter experts.
• Test AI outputs for accuracy, reliability, usability, and appropriate escalation to human expertise.
• Monitor deployed solutions and refine them based on performance, user feedback, and evolving requirements.
• Manage small-scale technical projects including gathering business requirements and authoring specifications

Support an integrated digital service environment that connects users, information, workflows, and institutional systems.

• Configure solutions that connect approved platforms, data sources, and business processes.
• Develop reusable components and approaches that can scale across services and user groups.
• Partner with institutional technology teams when solutions require enterprise integrations, advanced development, or system-level changes.
• Maintain appropriate technical and operational documentation for supported solutions.
• Evaluates new information, system products, or services as opportunities arise and suggests changes to existing products or services to better aid the end user

Use data and reporting tools to improve operational visibility and support service decisions.

• Develop Power BI reports and dashboards that translate operational data into useful service information.
• Automate recurring reporting and data preparation where appropriate.
• Collaborate with business owners to define meaningful measures and reporting requirements.
• Support monitoring of digital solution adoption, performance, and effectiveness.

Partner across disciplines to ensure digital solutions address real operational and user needs.

• Relationship management with external stakeholders and internal IM groups.
• Collaborate with Business Analyst and User Experience colleagues to define problems, requirements, and user needs before development.
• Engage users in prototyping,…