Director Network Engineering

GSK; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

GSK is seeking a Director Network Engineering to set, govern and improve engineering practices for its global network platform, spanning local and wide area networks, wireless and security. The role leads reliability, DevSecOps, observability and automation, with governance, measurable outcomes and strong collaboration across internal teams and suppliers.

The role emphasizes secure‑by‑design, compliance and continuous improvement, plus guidance on AI‑enabled engineering while ensuring governance

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Software Engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Significant experience leading network engineering in a large enterprise environment.
• Proven experience setting engineering standards, governance mechanisms, technical controls and quality expectations across multiple teams or suppliers.
• Experience governing delivery quality across suppliers and partner engineering teams without duplicating supplier management accountability.
• Experience applying DevSecOps, CI/CD, test automation, observability, SLOs, release governance, incident learnings and reliability practices to improve delivery outcomes.
• Experience influencing senior technology stakeholders and translating engineering health, risk and performance data into clear decisions and improvement actions.

Responsibilities

• Set and govern platform engineering standards.
• Embed secure‑by‑design, regulatory, privacy and resilience controls into engineering practices.
• Define guardrails for AI‑assisted engineering tools with human review.
• Govern delivery quality across the platform's engineering teams.
• Drive modern engineering capability, automation and continuous improvement.
• Build engineering capability across internal teams and suppliers through coaching and knowledge transfer.

Skills

Automation technology

Cloud based services

Computer programming

Configuration management

IP address management

Load balancers

Network design

Operational technology

Packet switching

Security engineering

Software‑defined networking

Zero trust architecture

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Job description

Director Network Engineering

Why Us! At GSK, we unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We are a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We’re proud to be leading a healthcare revolution, and we’re looking for people who can help us deliver on our ambition

Job Purpose

The Director Network Engineering sets, monitors and governs engineering practices and standards for GSK's network engineering platform, spanning local and wide area networking, wireless and network security. The role owns the engineering management system for the platform, including quality engineering, DevSecOps, platform‑specific observability, automation, release discipline, technical debt governance, secure‑by‑design controls and continuous improvement across the engineering teams delivering the platform. The role also promotes the responsible adoption of AI‑enabled engineering capabilities to improve productivity, quality, automation and knowledge reuse while ensuring appropriate governance, security and compliance controls. The role ensures network engineering outcomes are measurable, compliant, resilient and aligned to GSK's strategy, operating model and business priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Set and govern platform engineering standards Define and maintain platform‑specific engineering principles, golden paths, coding/configuration standards, quality gates and reusable patterns. Embed secure‑by‑design, regulatory, privacy, resilience and GxP‑aware controls into engineering practices where applicable. Define guardrails for the appropriate use of AI‑assisted engineering tools, ensuring code, configuration, documentation and operational outputs remain secure, explainable, compliant and subject to appropriate human review. Ensure standards are practical, adopted and evidenced through delivery pipelines, governance forums and supplier ways of working. Govern delivery quality across the platform's engineering teams Hold suppliers and internal engineering teams accountable for consistent engineering discipline, quality evidence and adherence to agreed patterns. Operate engineering governance using clear metrics, including deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, test coverage, defect escape rate, SLO attainment and technical debt trends. Provide escalation, challenge and assurance when engineering quality, resilience, security or operability standards are not met. Drive modern engineering capability, automation and continuous improvement Improve engineering productivity through DevEx, AI‑assisted engineering, automation, reusable assets, inner sourcing and reduction of manual toil, including practical use cases such as code generation, documentation, test automation, incident analysis and engineering knowledge management. Partner with Platform Management, Platform Architecture, Reliability Engineering, Operations Excellence, Cyber Security, Enterprise Architecture and the Automation Acceleration team to ensure engineering practices support end‑to‑end platform outcomes. Build engineering capability across internal teams and suppliers through coaching, communities of practice, standards adoption and structured knowledge transfer.

Why You!

We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Software Engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience gained in a senior technology engineering role.

Significant experience leading network engineering in a large enterprise environment.

Proven experience setting engineering standards, governance mechanisms, technical controls and quality expectations across multiple teams or suppliers.

Experience governing delivery quality across suppliers and partner engineering teams without duplicating supplier management accountability.

Experience applying DevSecOps, CI/CD, test automation, observability, SLOs, release governance, incident learnings and reliability practices to improve delivery outcomes.

Experience influencing senior technology stakeholders and translating engineering health, risk and performance data into clear decisions and improvement actions.

Strong engineering knowledge across local and wide area networks, wireless, security, automation and observability.

Desirable Requirements

Master’s degree, MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification is desirable, particularly where it demonstrates technology leadership, enterprise transformation, platform delivery or business management capability.

Professional certifications or demonstrable equivalent knowledge in modern engineering, DevSecOps, cloud/platform engineering, agile delivery, architecture, service management, cyber security or quality/compliance. Relevant examples may include certifications such as SAFe, Scrum/Agile, ITIL, TOGAF, cloud provider certifications, DevOps/DevSecOps, cyber security, reliability engineering or quality management where relevant to the platform domain.

For regulated or GxP‑impacting platforms, awareness of applicable quality, validation and compliance expectations.

Expert level enterprise networking certification, such as CCIE or JNCIE.

Experience with Network/infrastructure as code and automated testing.

Experience leading engineering in regulated, manufacturing or operational technology environments.

Other Job-Related Skills/Background

Ability to balance engineering autonomy with enterprise guardrails, compliance obligations and platform‑wide consistency. Strong supplier governance skills, including setting expectations, reviewing evidence, challenging quality and driving corrective action. Ability to interpret engineering, service and platform metrics and convert insight into improvement plans. Strong documentation, standards definition, governance design and policy‑writing capability. Commitment to continuous learning, AI fluency and adoption of modern engineering practices across the platform community

Working Pattern

This is a hybrid role, with a min of 2/3 days a week onsite at our central London HQ. Fully remote working is not available.

Closing Date: 4th November2026

#AGTech #LI-Hybrid

What we value

You are practical, inclusive and open to feedback. You bring technical understanding and strong empathy for users. You work in active voice and keep communication simple. You support colleagues and help teams make confident, evidence‑based decisions. You want to grow your product and security skills while delivering outcomes that matter.

What you will gain

You will join a supportive team that values clear communication and practical problem solving. You will have access to learning and development to grow both technical and leadership skills. Your work will support technology that enables critical work across the company and helps improve healthcare outcomes.

Skills

Automation Technology, Cloud Based Services, Computer Programming, Configuration Management (CM), IP Address Management (IPAM), Load Balancers, Network Design, Operational Technology (OT), Packet Switching, Security Engineering, Software‑Defined Networking Wide Area Network (SD‑WAN), System Monitors, Wireless System Design, Zero Trust Architecture

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale. People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are. Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at [e-mail] where you can also request a call. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a Recruitment FAQ guide.

We are a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together – so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns – as an organisation where people can thrive. Getting ahead means preventing disease as well as treating it, and we aim to impact the health of 2.5 billion people around the world in the next 10 years. Our success absolutely depends on our people. While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it’s also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where people feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can be themselves – feeling welcome, valued and included. Where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together. Find out more on our career site.