Network Operations Engineer

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading government department as a Network Engineer to transform the datacentre and remote site network infrastructure. Work on projects involving Wi-Fi, Cloud solutions, and legacy systems while ensuring stability and driving improvements. The role requires strong technical knowledge and excellent communication skills, with opportunities for training and development.

Benefits

Generous annual leave

Health and wellbeing support

Funded learning and development

Family friendly policies

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Experience of ITSM processes.
• Experience with network monitoring and analysis tooling.
• Experience in Cloud (AWS/Azure/OCI) and On-Prem Network Infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Provide support for incident and problem resolution.
• Conduct network monitoring and analysis tooling.
• Implement ‘business as usual’ exercises.

Skills

Communication

Problem-solving

Analytical skills

Education

Formal qualifications for Aruba

Formal qualifications for AWS

Formal qualifications for Azure

Tools

BMC Entuity

Wireshark

NetScout

Terraform

Ansible

Python

Job description

These roles may be located in one of the following locations; Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Please find further information on the Corporate hub locations here.

Job Summary

DWP have been carrying out a large technology transition over the past few years and there is still a long way to go.

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

We have several projects underway in Wi-Fi, On-Prem Datacentre and Cloud solutions that require skilled, self-sufficient, and determined engineers to drive improvements and good practices, as well as ensuring current legacy infrastructure remains stable.

Please note this role requires you to pass Security Check clearance. For further information, please see 'Selection process details'.

Job Description

You will:

• Provide support for incident and problem resolution, this could involve out of hours work.
• Implement ‘business as usual’ exercises, this could involve out of hours work.
• Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively interact with employees at all levels of the organisation and third party suppliers.
• Understand ITSM process with a focus on Incident, Problem and Accept into Service Management.
• Conduct network monitoring and analysis tooling – e.g. BMC Entuity, Wireshark and NetScout.
• Have a strong technical knowledge in Cloud (AWS/Azure/OCI) and On-Prem Network Infrastructure, Next Generation Firewall, Load-balancing, and PKI technologies as well as experience with either Aruba Wifi/Clearpass or Spine and Leaf topologies/DC-VXLAN (Preferably Arista).
  
  

As Well As This, If You Have Experience In The Following It Would Be Preferred But It Is Not Essential As Full Training And Development Will Be Given:

• Infrastructure as Code and Network Automation in Terraform, Ansible and Python.
• Formal qualifications for Aruba, Arista, AWS or Azure.
  
  

There is a requirement for you to work as part of a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week rota. This is on a week-by-week basis covering early mornings, days, evenings and overnight shifts (on call cover 5-7 days per month currently).

As Well As This, If You Have Experience In The Following It Would Be Preferred But It Is Not Essential As Full Training And Development Will Be Given:

• Infrastructure as Code and Network Automation in Terraform, Ansible and Python.
• Formal qualifications for Aruba, Arista, AWS or Azure.
  
  

There is a requirement for you to work as part of a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week rota. This is on a week-by-week basis covering early mornings, days, evenings and overnight shifts (on call cover 5-7 days per month currently).

Person specification

When Giving Details In Your Employment History And Personal Statement You Should Highlight Your Experience In Line With Essential Criteria Below:

• Experience of problem-solving, analytical skills, with the ability to think critically, creatively, and independently to solve issues.
• Excellent planning and implementation methodology.
• Experience of ITSM processes.
• Experience of and understanding of Network infra in Wifi, DC On-prem, Cloud (AWS/Azure/OCI), Next Generation Firewall, Load-balancing, and PKI technologies as well as experience with either Aruba Wifi/Clearpass or Spine and Leaf topologies/DC-VXLAN (Preferably Arista).
• Experience with network monitoring and analysis tooling.
  
  

We currently have another vacancy within the team for a role at a lower grade: Network Operations Engineer – Higher Executive Officer (HEO) campaign ID number 404224. If you're unsure of the appropriate level, we encourage you to apply for both the HEO and SEO vacancies.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact [e-mail].

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Networking experience
  
  

Alongside your salary of £42,614, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £12,345 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.
  
  

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Salary Information

Pay for this role is from £42,614 to £52,442.

The maximum salary for the grade is £45,081, however a Digital Allowance of up to £7,361 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed.

Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.

Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary.

Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion may move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or 10% increase in salary whichever would be the greater.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Your Application Will Consist Of Three Parts:

• A Personal Details application form.
• Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed based on the essential criteria.
• Personal statement - up to 1250 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria listed in the Person specification.
  
  

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The sift panel will use the information in your employment history and personal statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria.

You will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your CV and Personal Statement.

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

Applications will be sifted at regular intervals from the date the posts are advertised. Please apply as soon as you can, do not wait until the end of the campaign.

Important Information

• You will be asked to complete your employment history any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
• Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
• If your employment history/personal statement contains any personal details your application will be withdrawn.
• We recognise that AI may be helpful when applying for this role, but it is important to use it in the right way. Read the DWP AI Candidate Guide to understand how you can make the best use of GenAI while ensuring your application remains authentic and effective.
  
  

Stage 2: Interview 1

If you’re successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an initial short video interview via Microsoft Teams. This will last for about 30 minutes and you will be asked technical questions to assess your networking experience.

Stage 3: Interview 2

If you’re successful at the initial interview stage you will be invited to another video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the experiences listed in the essential criteria.

Interviews will take place from end of June 2025. Interview dates to be confirmed.

Further information

Find out more about Working for DWP

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.

Security Clearance Requirement

You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.

Reasonable Adjustment

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via [e-mail] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact :

• Name : Akhtar Ali
• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles. If you wish to make a complaint, please find further details here: https://careers.dwp.gov.uk/how-we-recruit/.