AI & Business Solutions Graduate
Reports to: Deputy Chairman
Location: Shanly Group, Beaconsfield
Level: Graduate / entry level
About Shanly Group
Shanly Group brings together Shanly Homes, a residential developer building high-quality homes across the South East; Sorbon Estates, which manages a commercial property portfolio including marinas; and the Shanly Foundation, the Group’s registered charity. The businesses are varied, and so are the problems we want this role to help solve.
About the role
We are looking for a bright, technically capable graduate to help us use AI, automation and emerging technology to make our business simpler and more efficient.
Working under the direction of the Deputy Chairman, you will spend time across the Group understanding how things are currently done and identifying where they could be done better. You will then help design, build and deliver working solutions. Projects will be agreed and prioritised with the Deputy Chairman in line with the Group’s business priorities. This is a hands-on role. We want someone who enjoys making things work, not just recommending what could be done.
It is not a traditional IT role, and it is not a web development role. But the solutions you help build will be used by busy colleagues, many of whom are not technical, so they must be easy and intuitive to use as well as effective.
A key part of the role will be looking at existing processes and software and asking whether there is now a simpler or better way. That might mean automating repetitive tasks, improving how information is captured and shared, connecting existing systems, or building something ourselves using tools already available in the business rather than relying on standalone third-party software.
You will work with other stakeholders, such as our IT Manager and external IT partners, so that what you build is secure, supportable and fits with our wider technology plans.
What you will do
- Spend time with teams across the business to understand their processes, systems and day-to-day challenges.
- Identify repetitive, manual or inefficient processes that could be improved through AI or automation.
- Help design, build and test practical solutions, including automated workflows, AI agents, apps and other tools, in line with agreed business priorities.
- Make sure solutions are intuitive and well-designed from the user’s point of view, testing them with the people who will use them and refining them based on feedback.
- Help to maximise use of the technology we already have, particularly Microsoft 365, Copilot, Power Automate and the wider Power Platform.
- Help connect information and processes that currently sit across different systems, including through APIs.
- Research emerging AI tools and assess their practical strengths and limitations.
- Explore whether existing software can be simplified, consolidated or replaced.
- Trial ideas on a small scale before wider rollout.
- Work with external IT and technology specialists where more technical expertise is needed.
- Document solutions clearly so that they can be understood, supported and maintained by the business.
- Help colleagues understand and adopt new tools and ways of working.
- Keep up to date with developments in AI and identify those with a practical application for the Group.
What we are looking for
This is a graduate role, so we do not expect extensive professional experience. We do expect a serious interest in AI and technology, and evidence that you have acted on it.
If you are genuinely interested in this area, you will almost certainly have built things already, whether through your studies, a placement, a job, or projects connected to your own hobbies and interests. They do not need to have had a commercial purpose. What matters is that you can show us what you built, why, and how you went about it. The strongest candidates will be able to point to several examples.
Essential
- A degree or equivalent experience demonstrating strong analytical and problem-solving ability.
- A serious personal or academic interest in AI, automation and technology.
- Demonstrable hands-on experience of working with some or all of the following:
- building AI agents or automated workflows;
- no-code or low-code development;
- Microsoft Power Automate or the wider Power Platform (for example Power Apps or Copilot Studio);
- APIs and connecting different systems.
- Confident use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or similar.
- An eye for usability, and an understanding that good solutions need to be simple and intuitive for the people using them.
- The ability to take an idea from investigation through to a working solution.
- Good communication skills, including the ability to explain technical ideas simply and to speak confidently with people at all levels of the business.
- A practical, commercial mindset, recognising that the simplest solution is often better than the most technically sophisticated one.
- Good organisation and attention to detail.
Desirable
- Coding or scripting experience (for example Python or JavaScript).
- Data analysis or visualisation, including Power BI.
- Experience with SharePoint or Dataverse.
- Any experience of user interface design, prototyping or user testing.
- Process mapping or business analysis.
What success looks like
In your first year, we would expect you to have got to know how teams across the Group work, helped deliver a number of working solutions that colleagues actually use, and played an active part in helping the business get value from Copilot and our other Microsoft platforms.
How we will support you
You will work directly with the Deputy Chairman and gain exposure to decision-making across the Group.