Network & Security Engineer

Places for People; England; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension with matched contributions up 

Bonus scheme up to 2%

35 days holiday including bank hols

Health cash plan and private GP

Wellbeing support and EAP

Job summary

Places for People is seeking an experienced Network & Security Engineer to protect and evolve our network infrastructure across on‑premise and cloud environments. You will work with LAN/WAN/WLAN, firewalls, VPNs and security platforms to maintain robust protection and performance.

You’ll collaborate with colleagues and external partners, tackling threats, improving runbooks, and driving automation and best practices to support audits and new tenders.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with networking tech including wireless APs, switches and routers.
• Strong troubleshooting skills and ability to resolve or escalate issues.
• Experience in large or complex organisations and managing multiple stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Engineering, monitoring and improving security controls protecting networks on‑premise and in the cloud.
• Maintaining and developing LAN, WAN, WLAN, firewalls, VPNs, web and email security platforms.
• Monitoring alerts from security operations and threat detection systems.
• Investigating network behaviour and vulnerabilities and supporting remediation.

Skills

Networking

Security

Troubleshooting

Stakeholder mgmt

Cloud basics

Education

Network engineering degree

Cyber security qualification

Tools

Azure

AWS

GCP

Job description

As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we move lives forward every day by building, managing and supporting thriving Communities. From new homes, social housing and student accommodation to leisure, education and Community initiatives, our work makes a positive difference to millions of People across the UK.

And that takes People who care about doing the right thing. People who are ambitious, ready to grow and motivated to make a difference through the work they do.

We're looking for Colleagues who bring energy, curiosity and ownership. People who enjoy being challenged, support those around them and want to keep raising the bar. Because when we perform at our best, we create more opportunities to invest in our Customers, our Communities and each other.

Experience matters, but it's only part of the story. If you share our values and want to build a career where your work has real impact, we'd love to hear from you.

More About Your Role

Are you an experienced Network & Security Engineer who enjoys solving complex technical problems, strengthening cyber security and continuously improving network performance?

What You’ll Be Doing

You’ll play an important role in protecting and developing our network infrastructure, working across both on-premise and cloud environments.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Engineering, monitoring and improving security controls protecting our networks, both on-premise and in the cloud.
• Maintaining and developing our LAN, WAN, WLAN, firewalls, VPNs, web security and email security platforms .
• Monitoring alerts from our Managed Security Operations Centre and other threat detection systems.
• Investigating network behaviour, security threats and vulnerabilities, supporting remediation activity where required.
• Creating, testing and improving runbooks and response scenarios, introducing automation wherever possible.
• Providing technical expertise to colleagues and engineers across incidents, problems, projects and the introduction of new technologies and services.
• Keeping up to date with emerging cyber security threats, technologies and approaches.
• Supporting cyber assurance requirements for audits and new business tenders.
• Working with colleagues and third‑party partners to continuously improve the performance and security of our services.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone who combines strong technical knowledge with a practical, collaborative approach.

You’ll ideally have:

• Hands‑on experience working with networking technology including wireless access points, switches and routers .
• Strong troubleshooting skills and experience resolving or escalating technical issues.
• Experience working within a large or complex organisation .
• Experience managing relationships with multiple internal and external stakeholders, including third‑party suppliers, vendors and contractors .
• A genuine interest in technology and a willingness to continually develop your knowledge as technologies and security threats evolve.

It would be great if you also have

• A relevant qualification or degree in areas such as network engineering, telecommunications, computer science, cyber security or another related IT discipline .
• Foundation‑level cloud qualifications or knowledge across platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS or GCP .

The opportunity

This role offers the chance to work across both network engineering and cyber security, contributing to the protection and ongoing development of critical IT infrastructure. You’ll work closely with colleagues and technical specialists while helping us build secure, resilient and continuously improving services.

What You’ll Get

We know rewarding work deserves rewarding benefits. That’s why, alongside a competitive salary, you’ll have access to a package designed to support you at work and beyond. You’ll receive:

• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Bonus scheme for colleagues up to 2%
• 35 days holiday (including bank holidays) with the option to buy or sell days
• Health cashback plan for everyday medical costs, with private GP and health support services available
• Comprehensive wellbeing support including counselling, flu jabs, our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and access to our Wellbeing Hub, supporting your mental, physical and financial wellbeing
• Access to Our Place Rewards, offering discounts and savings on groceries, travel, shopping, home products and other lifestyle purchases
• Ongoing training, professional qualifications, internal development programmes and career progression opportunities
• Recognition programmes including Star Awards and Colleague Awards, celebrating achievements and recognising great work
• Strong focus on inclusion, wellbeing and colleague engagement
• Free membership to Places Gyms
• Life Assurance to provide financial security for your loved ones, alongside access to will writing services to help you plan for the future with confidence

Safeguarding

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre‑employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities.

Armed Forces

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant. Places for People will guarantee an interview for any candidate who is serving or has formerly served in the Armed Forces, as a reservist, armed forces veteran (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructor and military spouse/partner and who meets the essential criteria for the vacancy.

Disability Confident

We are proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme certified as Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. This helps us to successfully employ and retain people with disabilities and health conditions. Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for a vacancy will be guaranteed an interview. The Equality Act 2010 (Disability Discrimination Act 1995 for NI) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has sa substantial and long‑term negative effect on their ability to do daily activities.

Neurodivergent

Neurodivergent – Neurodiverse individuals have highly valuable skills, and we recognise that a traditional interview process sometimes works against them and doesn’t allow them to self‑advocate. Neurodiverse applicants who meet the criteria for a vacancy will be guaranteed an interview.

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided you meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We’re happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best.

If you are a Places for People customer and you’re looking for support with your application, please contact our skills and employment team on

Please note that we may bring the closing date forward, if we receive a large number of quality applications. If you are interested in this role we would advise applying immediately to avoid disappointment.

If you are using a mobile device such as an iPad then ensure your CV is stored in the cloud, we currently support Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox.

We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours.