Network Security Engineer

North Northamptonshire Council; Kettering; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Assistance Programme

Employee Benefits Scheme

Wellbeing support

HMRC travel rates

Active Employee Network Groups

Job summary

North Northamptonshire Council is seeking a Network Security Engineer to help secure and modernise our estate as part of a broader digital transformation. You will monitor and support network and cyber security services across on-site and remote locations, coordinate incident response, and work with infrastructure and security leads to implement fixes and improvements.

The role requires hands-on experience with network and security tools, familiarity with ITIL processes, and the ability to

Qualifications

• Technology related degree level certification or equivalent experience.
• Relevant apprenticeship or A-Level qualifications.
• 5 GCSEs grades A-C including English and Maths or other equivalent qualifications.
• At least 2 years working in a relevant role.
• Proven experience with network and cyber security tools across providers such as Microsoft, Juniper, Fortinet, Sophos and others.
• Experience coordinating incidents with 3rd parties and changes.
• Background in infrastructure, network and security-related support.
• Working knowledge of ITIL processes and service desk operating model.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication and teamwork.
• Additional certifications such as Microsoft Security, Comptia Security+, ISC2 associate are beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Day-to-day monitoring and support of North Northamptonshire Council network and cyber security services, on-site and remote.
• Planning/documentation to improve resiliency and security; propose and implement changes.
• Act as escalation point for network, cyber security and infrastructure incidents.
• Coordinate reporting of cyber security or network incidents to relevant teams and managers.
• Support remediation activities from penetration tests and security certifications (Cyber Essentials, PSN, PCI).
• Maintain and monitor end-point patching across devices, including anti-virus and OS updates.

Skills

Technology degree level certification

Apprenticeship or A-Level

ITIL knowledge

Problem-solving

Strong communication

Education

Technology related degree level certification

Relevant apprenticeship or A-Level qualifications

5 GCSEs including English and Maths

Tools

Microsoft security solutions

Juniper

Fortinet

Sophos

Palo Alto

SIEM

Linux

Job description

Our benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we're transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You'll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About the role

The North Northamptonshire Council technology team deliver technology services to over 3,000 colleagues and in partnership with our transformation colleagues we are on a path to deliver our digital transformation strategy.

We are working to deliver multiple projects focused on migrating our traditional on-premise services into the Microsoft 365 environment as well as unifying our core network infrastructure across our entire estate (65+ different locations). Our goal is to deliver a single colleague user experience, regardless of if they are working in one of our offices, at home, or delivering essential services in the community.

As we move into the next critical phase of these projects, we are now looking for a Network Security Engineer to play a pivotal part in this journey.

What will you be doing?

North Northamptonshire Council are in the process of delivering their technology strategy and digital transformation, and this involves a complete overhaul of our IT infrastructure and supporting network estate.

This role will play a key part in both the project delivery of new network services (both LAN and WAN) across the estate, and in the ongoing support and security of these services as the organisation evolves in future years.

This role will work closely with both the infrastructure and cyber security leads, with the focus on the day-day support and monitoring of the network and security services.

• Play a leading role in the day-to-day monitoring and support of the North Northants Council network and cyber security services. This involves both on-site and remote support across the North Northants Council estate.
• Contribute to any planning and/or documentation required to improve and maintain resiliency and security for the North Northants Council network and cyber security services. Make proposals for changes and work with the wider teams to implement such changes as they are agreed.
• Act as an escalation point for any network, cyber security and infrastructure related support incidents.
• Co-ordinate reporting of any cyber security or network-based incidents to relevant teams and managers. This will include point in time escalation of critical incidents, as well as regular status reports which can be used for developing the service and evidencing due diligence to internal and external auditors.
• Support the regular delivery and follow up remediation activity, of penetration tests and assessments for security certifications (such as Cyber Essentials, PSN compliance, PCI compliance and various others) as and when required.
• In conjunction with the service delivery team maintain and monitor the end-point patching processes for user and server devices, including anti-virus, operating system and hardware specific updates.

This is a role with a broad remit and will provide a huge opportunity for someone to have a genuine impact on safeguarding the critical services delivered by the authority.

About you

We are looking for someone with a solid grounding in technical support and networking, but who also has a passion for all things cyber and security. This role will be a critical link between the policy controls and the technical aspects of actually delivering cyber security for a complex organisation.

To enable you to thrive in this role, you will need :

• These qualifications or equivalent experience:
  • Technology related degree level certification or equivalent experience
  • Relevant apprenticeship or A-Level qualifications
  • 5 GCSE's grades A-C including English and Maths or other equivalent qualifications
• This working knowledge:
  • At least 2 years working in a relevant role
  • Proven experience of working with network and cyber security tools across leading providers such as Microsoft, Juniper, Fortinet, Sophos and others
  • Experience working with 3 rd parties and coordinating incidents and changes
  • A base background in infrastructure, network and security related support
  • A working knowledge of ITIL processes and demonstratable experience of working within a service desk operating model
• These personal skills:
  • Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail
  • Strong communication and teamwork abilities
  • Ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions

Any additional qualifications or experience which would also be beneficial:

• Any 3 rd party security-based certification e.g:
  • Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals
  • Microsoft Identity and Access
  • Comptia Security +
  • ISC 2 associate
• Any fundamental network or supplier certification:
  • Comptia Network +
  • Cisco CCNA
  • HP Aruba ACP/ACSP
• Previous experience operating as a dedicated network and/or cyber security-based engineer
• Any experience working with these technologies:
  • Palo Alto
  • Fortinet
  • Juniper
  • Sophos end-point tools
  • SIEM
  • Linux
• Previous experience supporting SDWAN based wide area networks
• Any experience working in a local authority or central government-based organisation

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

• Customer-focused
• Respectful
• Efficient
• Supportive
• Trustworthy

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

Disability Confident Employer

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Our Employment and Disability Service provides bespoke support to individuals facing barriers to employment, helping them work towards their goals to start, stay and succeed in employment. For further information please click here The Employment and Disability Service (EADS) | North Northamptonshire Council

Armed Forces Community

The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)

Attached documents:

• Network Security Engineer JDPS 2026.pdf - Network Security Engineer JDPS