Network Operations Engineer

DWP Digital; Lancashire; Hybrid; GBP 44,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading government agency in the UK seeks a Network Operations Engineer to enhance its network infrastructure. This role involves supporting both legacy systems and modern platforms, engaging hands-on with tools like Wireshark and NetScout. You'll benefit from competitive pay up to £52,442 and a generous pension scheme. The position also offers a supportive hybrid working environment, professional development opportunities, and ample time-off packages. If you thrive in a tech-driven setting, this might be the job for you.

Benefits

28.97% employer pension contributions

Flexible hours

26 to 31 days holidays

Time off for volunteering

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Strong working knowledge of Aruba Wifi / Clearpass or Spine and Leaf topologies.
• Proven ability to solve problems with critical thinking.
• Demonstrable experience of planning and implementation methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Support incident response and handle BAU tasks.
• Monitor network performance using tools like Wireshark.
• Drive improvements in legacy and modern infrastructures.

Skills

Aruba Wifi

Routing and Switching

Cloud (AWS / Azure / OCI)

Next Generation Firewall

Load-balancing

PKI technologies

Tools

Wireshark

NetScout

Terraform

Ansible

Python

Job description

Network Operations Engineer

Join to apply for the Network Operations Engineer role at DWP Digital.

This range is provided by DWP Digital. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience - talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

Pay up to £52,442 plus 28.97% employer pension contributions, hybrid working, flexible hours, and great work life balance.

DWP. Digital with Purpose.

Join our Network Service Operations team as Network Engineer in the next step to transform the DWPs datacentre and remote site network infrastructure into leading edge technologies.

We're using fresh ideas and leading-edge tech to build and maintain digital solutions that will be used by nearly every person in the UK, every day and at key moments in their lives.

DWP is the UK's largest government department. We help people into work and make payments worth over £195bn a year to support and empower millions of people.

The scale of what we do is extraordinary, and our purpose is unique. We'd love you to join us.

What skills, knowledge and experience will you need?

• Lead criteria: Strong working knowledge and experience of and understanding of either Aruba Wifi / Clearpass or Spine and Leaf topologies / DC-VXLAN (Preferably Arista) as well as a strong understanding of Routing and Switching and a good working knowledge of Cloud (AWS / Azure / OCI), Next Generation Firewall, Load‑balancing, and PKI technologies.
• Proven ability and experience of problem‑solving, analytical skills, with the ability to think critically, creatively, and independently to solve issues.
• Demonstrable excellent planning and implementation methodology.
• Demonstrable experience of ITSM processes.
• Working knowledge and experience with network monitoring and analysis tooling.

You and your role

We're rolling out new projects in Wi‑Fi, datacentres and cloud and we need engineers who love getting stuck into tech and making things better.

You’ll help keep our legacy infrastructure stable while driving improvements across modern platforms.

Expect hands‑on work with incident support, BAU tasks and network monitoring tools like Wireshark and NetScout. If you know your way around Aruba Wi‑Fi, Arista networks, cloud platforms, firewalls and load balancers you’ll feel right at home.

Bonus points if you’ve played with automation tools like Terraform, Ansible or Python but if not, we’ll help you get there.

Location

You’ll join us in one of our brilliant digital hubs in Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester or Newcastle, whichever is most convenient for you.

Hybrid Working

We work a hybrid model – you’ll spend some time working at home and some time collaborating face to face in a hub.

Pay

We offer competitive pay of up to £52,442.

Pension

You’ll get a brilliant civil service pension with employer contributions worth 28.97%, worth over £12,000 per year.

Holidays

A generous leave package starting at 26 days rising to 31 days over time.

You can also take up to 3 extra days off a month on flexi‑time. You’ll also get all the usual public holidays.

Benefits

• An award‑winning environment and culture: Employer of the Year 2023 (Women In IT Awards), Founders Award for Outstanding Digital Leadership 2023 (Digital 100).
• Flexible working including flexible hours and flex‑friendly policies.
• Time off volunteering and charitable giving.
• Bring your authentic self to work with ‘I Can Be Me in DWP’.
• Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more.
• Interest‑free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, so it’s even easier for you to get to work and start making a difference.
• Professional development, coaching, mentoring and career progression opportunities.

Process

We know your time is valuable, so our application and selection process are just two stages:

• Apply: complete your application on Civil Service Jobs. There will be full instructions when you click through.
• Interview: a single stage interview online.

Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Full-time

Job function

Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

Computer Networking Products, Embedded Software Products, and Technology, Information and Internet