IT Network Manager

NHS; Park Village; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider is seeking a Senior Network Team Manager responsible for overseeing the network infrastructure's performance and resilience. This role involves hands-on technical leadership, strategic oversight for IT security, and governance of network policies. The ideal candidate will lead a team of engineers, ensuring robust and secure services while aligning them with the organization’s priorities and responding to healthcare needs across the trust.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Professional development opportunities

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Qualifications

• Evidence of formal technical specialist training.
• Ongoing professional development in emerging technologies.
• Substantive experience in infrastructure support.

Responsibilities

• Overall responsibility for network and telephony systems.
• Lead the design of networking services and customer infrastructures.
• Manage the activities of and take full responsibility for the network team.

Skills

Proven expertise across diverse networking technologies

Proficiency in network monitoring tools

Strong understanding of WAN/LAN topologies

Demonstrated leadership in managing teams

Education

Degree-level education in IT or related disciplines

PRINCE2 certification

Professional certifications: CCNA/CCNP essential

Tools

Cisco VPN solutions

Aruba routers/switches

Fortinet firewalls

Job description

Senior Network Team Manager is responsible for overseeing the performance, resilience, and continuous improvement of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust's network infrastructure. This pivotal role combines hands‑on technical leadership with strategic input into IT security, cloud architecture, and policy development—ensuring our network services remain robust, secure, and aligned with organisational priorities.

Main duties of the job

Key Responsibilities

• Network Leadership & Strategy
  • Lead the design, implementation, and optimisation of the Trust's LAN, WAN, and voice infrastructure to ensure 24/7 availability of clinical and non‑clinical services.
  • Provide expert input into IT security and general policy development, ensuring alignment with Trust‑wide digital strategy.
  • Drive the development and implementation of network‑related policies, procedures, and standards.
• Operational Oversight
  • Manage the day‑to‑day support, configuration, maintenance, and monitoring of network systems.
  • Participate in the out‑of‑hours on‑call rota to ensure continuity of service and rapid incident response.
  • Take ownership of escalated network issues, leading resolution efforts and root cause analysis for complex technical challenges.
• Team & Project Management
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of network engineers, ensuring high performance and professional growth.
  • Oversee task allocation, project scheduling, and priority management across the network team.
  • Contribute to the wider IT leadership team, advising on strategic opportunities and risks.
• Governance & Change Control
  • Ensure all changes follow the Trust's change management protocols, with minimal disruption to services.
  • Assess the broader impact of network changes on interconnected systems and services.

About us

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust is one of the largest NHS trusts in the West Midlands providing primary, acute and community services and we are incredibly proud of the diversity of both our staff and the communities we serve. We are building a workforce that can help us to fulfil our values, improve the quality of care for patients, and solve the health care problems of tomorrow. We're passionate about the value that diversity of thinking and lived experience brings in enabling us to become a learning organisation and leader in delivering compassionate care for our patients.

We are delighted that we have been rated as “Good” by CQC. We have achieved numerous awards; The Nursing Times Best Diversity and Inclusion Practice and Best UK Employer of the Year for Nursing Staff in 2020.

The Trust is a supportive working environment committed to creating flexible working arrangements that suit your needs and as such will consider all requests from applicants who wish to work flexibly.

Job responsibilities

Overall responsibility for network and telephony systems. Take the initiative and ensure the future proofing of the RWT IT infrastructure to meet current and potential future business needs. Undertake appropriate capacity planning measures.

Management of critical remote working solutions to support agile home working and access to Trust resources from other organisations. This also provides support critical clinical services that provide diagnostics remotely (including Radiology and Pathology).

Responsible for providing critical telephony infrastructure support. This includes switchboard services, patient and staff call centres and remote telephony services.

Provide hands‑on 2nd and 3rd line support for the WAN and LAN infrastructure of the RWT with respect to hardware, software and cabling in accordance with service level agreements, taking ownership of issues through to satisfactory resolution and troubleshooting highly complex systems.

• Lead the design of networking services and customer infrastructures from conception to completion.

Manage the Network Team workload in relation to task prioritisation and scheduling, handling changing, and conflicting priorities as required. Manage the expectations and needs of both the reporting staff and the Head of Technical Services.

Responsible for the day‑to‑day management of the RWT data centres ensuring that best practice and Health and Safety standard are adhered to.

Ensure that there is adequate staff cover, to always support the network infrastructure.

• Ensure the 24/7 availability and performance of services and national programme applications at New Cross Hospital, Health Centres and GP Practices.

Day to day management and provision of support for RWT and GP networks, phones and related systems. Ensure that there is adequate staff available to support the infrastructure.

Ensuring that problems are reported to third parties as required ensuring a satisfactory resolution.

• To be responsible for security of systems and of traffic carried on the networks, ensuring Network Teams are in control of access to Infrastructure services and other systems security measures as necessary.

Have overall responsibility and control for producing management reports and statistics for measurement and network performance and availability against SLAs. Analysing results, identifying issues where possible before they arise and proactively taking appropriate corrective actions.

• Responsible for the production and maintenance of technical documentation and procedures and keeping them up to date. Ensure that an asset inventory of all Infrastructure equipment and software at all sites is readily available and up to date.

Manage the activities of and take full responsibility for the network team staff including performance appraisals and Personal Development Plans, training, mentoring, holidays, sickness reviews, recruitment, salary awards, disciplinary and grievance issues.

Ensure appropriate levels of maintenance on networking equipment, and software. Negotiate contracts with suppliers for supply of goods and services and monitor any SLAs in place. Ensure value for money is maintained.

Project Management and planning of network related projects including reviews and upgrades of varying complexity with regularly changing and conflicting priorities. Deal with changes in workload and priorities at short notice.

Design solutions to highly complex problems and lead IT related projects to PRINCE2 equivalent standards. The Post Holder will specify the resources necessary to complete projects as well as plan and manage the time needed, highlighting when problems arise to line manager.

Troubleshoot highly complex network configurations quickly and efficiently to ensure the 24/7 availability and performance of networks and connectivity to national programme applications at all offices, Health Centres and GP Practices of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

Responsible for the installation and configuration of voice, routers, switches and other equipment without supervision and project lead LAN, WAN and voice installations.

Responsible for researching innovations in network hardware and systems and proposing improvements for the cost‑effective improvement of Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust network infrastructures. Design highly complex network systems with many interdependencies affecting other areas of IT. This includes preparing papers for new projects and running pilot projects such as wireless and VOIP solutions.

Maintain an up‑to‑date and advanced knowledge of network technologies and management tools for networks devices and peripheral devices including firewalls.

Manage an appropriate disaster recovery testing programme ensuring lessons learnt are acted upon speedily or highlighted for future planning where immediate implementation is not possible.

Ensure that all IT Data Security is managed effectively and that all work conforms to NHS, government and/or industry standards.

Develop and monitor budgets for major ICT Technical projects that fall within the remit of the Service

Ensure that regular housekeeping tasks are performed including but not limited to:

Maintenance of systems and environments together with testing.

Disaster recovery scenarios and how to deal with them.

Maintenance and monitoring, where appropriate escalating to NHSIA or the Head of Technical Services.

Implement policies for network related services, impact on both clinical and administrative systems. Implement national security policies and practices.

Assist in managing and planning network related projects including reviews and upgrades of varying complexity with regularly changing and conflicting priorities. Deal with changes in workload and priorities at short notice.

Responsibility for external and internal security of all networks, ensuring that security monitoring systems are operational. Responsible for the day to day running of network and firewalls and other systems security as necessary.

To support the cyber security team in diagnosing and resolving issues that may have been identified with potential impact to the security of the RWT infrastructure. This is to be done so in a timely manner defined by the Cyber Security Team or the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Board.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Evidence of formal technical specialist training and ongoing professional development in emerging technologies.
• Degree‑level education with a strong academic foundation in IT or related disciplines.
• PRINCE2 certification
• Professional certifications: CCNA/CCNP essential; CCIE

Experience/Skills

• Proven expertise across diverse networking technologies, including Cisco VPN solutions and Aruba routers/switches.
• Proficiency in network monitoring tools
• Substantive industry experience, including substantive experience in infrastructure support.
• Skilled in business planning, annual planning, and facilitating change to enhance service delivery.
• Strong understanding of WAN/LAN topologies, protocols, and firewall systems (Cisco, Fortinet)
• Demonstrated leadership in managing teams (2‑8 staff), network strategy development, and service improvement initiatives

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.