Having an automation expert would either hint to very unsuccesfull automation, or a very very large org.
I've been at a large organization for a while now and my backlog is mostly planned out quarters ahead and I don't feel like I have nearly the same impact.
And that is without considering that a full time role would keep doing more work than that singular time saving, or the decreased operational cost from failures in manual process execution.
Just because the jobs seem menial to you does not exclude it from bringing great value to an employer.
(Above numbers are subject to crude linear extrapolation, but are sufficient to make the point.)