Lead Network Engineer

Sopra Steria Ltd; Salisbury; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the Aerospace, Defence and Security sector is seeking a Lead Network Engineer for a hybrid role in Salisbury. This position involves managing complex network infrastructures and requires strong technical abilities alongside mentorship responsibilities. With a focus on professional development, Sopra Steria Ltd emphasizes employee support and growth within a security-critical environment.

Benefits

£5,400 car allowance

25 days annual leave with the option to buy additional days

Private medical

Life assurance

Pension

Flexible benefits fund

Qualifications

• Solid experience within a networking environment.
• Current CCNA qualification is essential.
• DV Clearance eligibility is a must.

Responsibilities

• Manage client network infrastructure and provide support.
• Lead investigations into network faults and performance issues.
• Mentor team members and foster a culture of learning.

Skills

Networking experience

Routing/Switching skills

Ansible or similar technologies

Cisco ACI experience

ITIL certification

Windows/Linux Server Administration

Education

CCNA qualification

Current DV Clearance or eligibility for DV clearance

CCNP accreditation (desired)

Tools

Cisco Routing

Cisco Switching

Cisco Wireless devices

AWS networking skills

Cisco security technologies

Job description

Come and work with us on this large, IT Estate within Defence. Job satisfaction, exciting work, complex technologies, it is all here, waiting for a Lead Network Engineer. Accountable for multifaceted aspects of our groundbreaking enterprise networking platforms.

You do need to be eligible for DV Clearance for this position.

Hybrid fixed with 2-3 days per week on site in Salisbury.

What you’ll be doing

• Provide mentorship and guidance across the team and foster a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
• Act as a point of escalation and support for complex issues, while coaching others through troubleshooting processes.
• Maintain and manage client network infrastructure (including but not limited to Cisco Routing, Switching, Security, SDN, Unified Communications and Wireless technologies).
• Identify and explore opportunities for enhancing efficiency, leveraging orchestration technologies to streamline and automate.
• Lead 'Root Cause Analysis' investigations into network faults, security and performance issues.
• Support the Principal NetOps Engineer and Architects with project implementation.
• Liaise with third party service providers for WAN provision and maintenance.
• Lead and progress third party vendor support cases to provide resolutions for complex technical issues.
• Lead collaborative efforts across the Platform Engineering team to resolve issues and drive improvements across multiple technology areas.
• There may be a requirement for ad-hoc out of hours working (weekday and weekend) hours and the successful candidate must be willing to travel to other sites where necessary in support of the client’s network and delivery of projects.

Essential skills:

• Solid experience within a networking environment.
• Current CCNA qualification.
• Strong Routing/Switching skills with both IOS and NX-OS.
• Experience of Ansible or similar automation/orchestration technologies or willingness to build expertise.
• Cisco ACI software defined networking experience or preparedness to build expertise.
• ITIL certification or experience.
• Full UK Driving Licence as travel to other sites will be required.
• Current DV Clearance or eligibility to gain DV clearance is essential for this role.

Desired skills:

• Agile working experience.
• Current CCNP accreditation or preparedness to gain a CCNP accreditation.
• AWS, Azure and OCI networking skills.
• Working knowledge of Cisco Wireless networking applications and devices.
• Working knowledge of Cisco Unified Communication platforms and devices.
• Cisco security technologies including ISE and ASA Cisco VPN.
• #Network management platform knowledge (Catalyst Center/Solar Winds/Nagios/Nexus Dashboard).
• Experience of Windows/Linux Server Administration.
• Experience of Broadcom/VMware virtualisation technologies.
• Experience working within a secure defence environment.

If you are interested in this role but not sure if your skills and experience are exactly what we’re looking for, please do apply, we’d love to hear from you!

Employment Type: Permanent
Location: Hybrid Fixed: 2 to 3 days in Salisbury.
Security Clearance Level: Eligible for DV Clearance.
Internal Recruiter: Jane
Salary: To £56000.00.
Benefits: £5,400 car allowance, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy additional days, private medical, life assurance, pension, and generous flexible benefits fund

Loved reading about this job and want to know more about us?

Sopra Steria’s Aerospace, Defence and Security business designs, develops and deploys digital solutions to Central Government clients. The work we do makes a real difference to the client’s goal of National Security, and we operate in a unique and privileged environment. We are given time for professional development activities, and we coach and mentor our colleagues, sharing knowledge and learning from each other. We foster a culture in which employees feel valued and supported and have pride in their work for the customer, delivering outstanding rates of customer satisfaction in the UK’s most complex safety- and security-critical markets.