Contract

Comgent; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Competitive freelance terms

Job summary

Zohorecruit seeks a Senior Network Architect for a freelance hybrid role in London. This position requires hands-on design and strategic thinking to converge legacy and ACI network environments within a major banking infrastructure transformation.

The candidate will engage with senior stakeholders, manage complex routing and data-centre designs, and shape secure, scalable networking across on-prem and cloud connectivity. Hybrid work and strong vendor coordination are essential.

Qualifications

• Must have deep Cisco networking expertise (Nexus 7K/5K/2K/9K, IOS, NX-OS).
• Strong working knowledge of Cisco ACI and target-state design for hybrid deployments.
• Expert-level routing and switching with OSPF, BGP, EIGRP and remediation of misconfigurations.

Responsibilities

• Lead hands-on senior architecture work with strategic and detailed engineering input.
• articulates complex technical problems to senior stakeholders.
• Collaborate with security, ICT vendors and business units to manage costs and architecture.

Skills

Cisco Nexus

Cisco IOS/NX-OS

Cisco ACI

Routing Protocols (OSPF/BGP/EIGRP)

Data centre design (spine-leaf)

Firewall architecture (Palo Alto/Cisco

WAN/MPLS concepts

IPAM/DNS/DHCP

SD-WAN & Cloud Networking

Network automation

Collaboration & stakeholder management

Tools

Python

Ansible

Terraform

Job description

Senior Network Architect - freelance - hybrid, London, UK

London, United Kingdom | Posted on 09/03/2026

Start date: Apr/ May 2026 Location: London, UK (Hybrid — minimum 2 days per week in office) Industry: Financial Services / Banking

Job Description

We are committed to building an inclusive workplace and encourage applications from all qualified candidates.

A major banking group operating in EMEA is undergoing a significant infrastructure transformation programme, converging two separate network environments (a legacy three-tier Cisco campus network and an ACI spine-leaf fabric) alongside the integration of a European banking subsidiary. This is a hands-on senior architecture role requiring both strategic thinking and the ability to roll up sleeves and engage at detailed engineering levels. Requirements Must have Deep expertise in Cisco networking: Nexus (7K, 5K, 2K, 9K), IOS, NX-OS Strong working knowledge of Cisco ACI — ability to assess hybrid/pseudo-ACI deployments and define target-state app-centric or network-centric design Expert-level routing and switching: OSPF, BGP, EIGRP (including identification and remediation of misconfigurations) Data centre network design: spine-leaf, three-tier, convergence strategies Firewall architecture: Palo Alto (PA-40 series), Cisco ASA (legacy and migration) WAN/MPLS concepts and managed service architectures (NTT or similar providers) IP address management (IPAM) and DNS/DHCP strategies Network security design principles Familiarity with SD-WAN, cloud networking (Azure, AWS), and hybrid connectivity Advantageous Cisco CCIE (Routing & Switching or Data Centre) or equivalent demonstrable expertise Experience with network automation and orchestration tooling Knowledge of co-location and proximity hosting environments Understanding of financial services network requirements (trading floor, market data, payment systems) Soft skills Able to operate with ambiguity — comfortable in environments without fully defined organisational structure Strong communication skills: able to articulate complex technical problems to non-technical senior stakeholders Commercial awareness — understanding of total cost of ownership, vendor contracts, and infrastructure spend Collaborative and pragmatic, with the confidence to challenge incumbents and advocate for sound design principles Self-starter capable of providing direction to others with limited supervision

We are committed to building an inclusive workplace and encourage applications from all qualified candidates.

A major banking group operating in EMEA is undergoing a significant infrastructure transformation programme, converging two separate network environments (a legacy three-tier Cisco campus network and an ACI spine-leaf fabric) alongside the integration of a European banking subsidiary. This is a hands-on senior architecture role requiring both strategic thinking and the ability to roll up sleeves and engage at detailed engineering levels. Requirements Must have Deep expertise in Cisco networking: Nexus (7K, 5K, 2K, 9K), IOS, NX-OS Strong working knowledge of Cisco ACI — ability to assess hybrid/pseudo-ACI deployments and define target-state app-centric or network-centric design Expert-level routing and switching: OSPF, BGP, EIGRP (including identification and remediation of misconfigurations) Data centre network design: spine-leaf, three-tier, convergence strategies Firewall architecture: Palo Alto (PA-40 series), Cisco ASA (legacy and migration) WAN/MPLS concepts and managed service architectures (NTT or similar providers) IP address management (IPAM) and DNS/DHCP strategies Network security design principles Familiarity with SD-WAN, cloud networking (Azure, AWS), and hybrid connectivity Advantageous Cisco CCIE (Routing & Switching or Data Centre) or equivalent demonstrable expertise Experience with network automation and orchestration tooling Knowledge of co-location and proximity hosting environments Understanding of financial services network requirements (trading floor, market data, payment systems) Soft skills Able to operate with ambiguity — comfortable in environments without fully defined organisational structure Strong communication skills: able to articulate complex technical problems to non-technical senior stakeholders Commercial awareness — understanding of total cost of ownership, vendor contracts, and infrastructure spend Collaborative and pragmatic, with the confidence to challenge incumbents and advocate for sound design principles Self-starter capable of providing direction to others with limited supervision