Network Operations Engineer

Graphcore; West of England; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Generous leave

Pension matching

Job summary

Graphcore in Bristol, UK seeks a Senior Network Operations Engineer to maintain reliable networks and resolve complex incidents across on-premises and AWS environments.

You will shape operational requirements, improve monitoring, and automate routine operations, with occasional travel for hands-on support across data centres and offices.

Qualifications

• Five years' hands-on network engineering experience, with certification in a major networking platform.
• Strong practical knowledge of large-scale L2/L3 networks including BGP, OSPF, switching, routing and resilience.
• Experience supporting centrally controlled Wi‑Fi (Cisco Meraki or Aruba).
• Experience managing centralised firewalls, including rulesets, NAT and VPNs; familiarity with pfSense.
• Hands-on use of Ansible, Python or similar tools to automate operations.
• Evidence-led troubleshooting using monitoring, packet captures and logs, with clear communication and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Shaping operational requirements and resolving complex incidents to improve reliability.
• Troubleshoot routing, firewalls, and monitoring; drive automation of routine tasks.
• Support upgrades and deployments via testing, controlled changes and clear handovers.
• Occasional travel to remote data centres and offices for installations, troubleshooting and hands-on support.

Skills

Network engineering

BGP

OSPF

Wi‑Fi management

Firewalls

NAT & VPNs

Automation

Monitoring

Incident resolution

Tools

Ansible

Python

Job description

As a Senior Network Operations Engineer in Bristol, UK, you'll keep Graphcore's networks reliable and secure. This full-time role spans the network lifecycle, from shaping operational requirements to resolving complex incidents. Your improvements will reduce downtime and manual errors across new and existing services. You'll help colleagues operate services confidently, with practical runbooks and recovery procedures ready when problems arise. You'll troubleshoot routing and firewalls, improve monitoring and automate routine operations. You'll also support upgrades and deployments through testing, controlled changes and clear handovers. Your scope includes AWS networking, Cisco Software-Defined Access and SD-WAN across cloud and on-premises environments. Occasional travel to remote data centres and offices will involve installations, troubleshooting and hands-on support.

The team and culture

You'll join a supportive, multidisciplinary IT infrastructure team that works closely together and regularly shares knowledge. With new projects ahead, you'll bring operational experience into network designs alongside architects and project teams. As a senior escalation point, you'll own complex incidents through to resolution. You'll use monitoring evidence and recurring incident trends to prioritise reliability improvements.

AWS networking, Cisco Software-Defined Access (SDA) or SD-WAN experience would be particularly valuable, but is not essential.

• At least five years' hands-on network engineering experience, focused on production support, with certification in a major networking platform.
• Strong practical knowledge of large-scale L2/L3 networks, including BGP, OSPF, switching, routing and resilience.
• Experience supporting centrally controlled Wi-Fi, such as Cisco Meraki or Aruba, and resolving connectivity and performance issues.
• Experience managing and troubleshooting centralised firewalls, including rulesets, NAT and VPNs, plus familiarity with open-source products such as pfSense.
• Hands-on use of Ansible, Python or similar tools to automate operations and manage network configurations.
• Evidence-led troubleshooting using monitoring, packet captures and logs, alongside clear communication, documentation and sound judgement during incidents.

While we have outlined a set of requirements, we value transferable skills and diverse experiences. We also welcome engineers returning to the profession after a career break, including through returnship routes.

Graphcore is one of the world's leading innovators in Artificial Intelligence compute. It is developing hardware, software and systems infrastructure that will unlock the next generation of AI breakthroughs and power the widespread adoption of AI solutions across every industry. As part of the SoftBank Group, Graphcore is a member of an elite family of companies responsible for some of the world's most transformative technologies. Together, they share a bold vision: to enable Artificial Super Intelligence and ensure its benefits are accessible to everyone. Graphcore's teams are drawn from diverse backgrounds and bring a broad range of skills and perspectives. A melting pot of AI research specialists, silicon designers, software engineers and systems architects, Graphcore brings together deep expertise to solve complex problems and deliver meaningful progress in AI compute.

• Flexible working: Balance your work and personal life with greater flexibility
• Generous leave: Take time to rest, recharge and enjoy life outside of work
• Retirement planning support: Up to 5% matched pension
• Phantom equity: Share in Graphcore's success
• Workplace experience: Enjoy thoughtfully designed office spaces for collaboration, with free food and an on-site barista to support your day
• Peace of mind protection: Income protection and life assurance to provide financial security for you and your loved ones
• Electric Vehicle Scheme: Choose an electric vehicle and lease it through salary sacrifice
• Flexible benefits: Tailor your benefits package with a choice of additional options, including private medical insurance, cycle to work scheme and dental cover

We welcome people from all backgrounds and experiences and are committed to building an inclusive environment where everyone can do their best work. We're an equal opportunity employer and recognise that everyone brings different strengths and perspectives. If you need any adjustments during the interview process, just let us know - we're happy to support you.