Network Support Specialist

Patriot Home Funding, Inc.; Harrogate; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Network Support Specialist to join their dynamic team in Harrogate. This role offers the chance to tackle complex technical challenges while providing top-notch support to customers. You will play a pivotal role in mentoring junior engineers and driving continual service improvement initiatives. With a hybrid work model, you’ll enjoy flexibility while collaborating with a talented group of professionals. If you have a passion for networking, excellent communication skills, and a desire to make a difference, this is the perfect opportunity for you to grow your career in a supportive environment.

Benefits

Flexible Working Hours

On-call Allowance

Training and Development Opportunities

Hybrid Work Model

Qualifications

• Proven technical experience in a service provider or network project role.
• In-depth knowledge of major internet routing protocols like BGP and OSPF.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-level technical support and resolve complex network issues.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to continual service improvement.

Skills

Network Troubleshooting

Customer Service

Communication Skills

Technical Leadership

Problem Solving

Attention to Detail

Education

CCNP or equivalent

ITILv3 qualified

Tools

Cisco Hardware

Fortinet Products

SD-WAN Technologies

Elastic (SIEM)

Python

Job description

Redcentric | Network Support Specialist

Division: Connectivity - Network Support
Job Location: Harrogate
Reports To: Network Support Team Leader

Job Description

As a Network Support Specialist at Redcentric, you will be part of a team of 3rd Line Engineers who work closely together to provide the highest level of technical support to our customers. You will handle complex queries, resolve faults, and implement network changes, playing a critical role in maintaining our customers' IT environments. When not working on customer-facing issues, there are lots of opportunities to get involved with internal projects.

Working within this team means you will have access to a wealth of technical expertise and knowledge, as well as the opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues to resolve complex technical challenges. You will also have a key role to play in mentoring and supporting junior engineers, sharing your knowledge and expertise to help them develop their skills and grow within the organisation. This will require excellent communication skills, as well as a patient and supportive approach to training and development.

Continual service improvement (CSI) plays a big part in this role. You aren't expected to fix a fault and move on to the next one; instead, you should identify improvements to services, processes, or tools that may have prevented the fault from happening in the first place. For the engineers looking to expand their knowledge and start working with programming languages such as Python, there are lots of exciting DevOps opportunities within the team that are critical to Redcentric achieving their continual service improvement goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Communicate with customers on a highly technical level to provide immediate resolution where possible; ensuring tickets are managed and progressed correctly within the appropriate SLAs.
• Work with customers to scope out, document, and implement proposed changes to network solutions.
• Participate in an on-call rota and be an escalation point for service incidents.
• Create and maintain tools and platforms that improve operational efficiency.
• Develop a deep technical understanding of the business product set, contributing towards the development and continual improvement of new and existing products.
• Offer technical leadership to other support teams by providing support and formal training.
• Develop and maintain customer-facing and internal documentation.
• Manage the integrity of configuration information stored on internal systems.
• Liaise with suppliers and vendors in relation to customer-related issues and internal projects.
• Analyse network and security data and recommend, plan, and implement actions based on the results.
• See a problem or opportunity, take ownership, and act on it independently.

Person Specification

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate at all levels, both internally and externally.
• Professional, positive, confident, and friendly.
• Proven technical experience in a service provider, network project role, or similar.
• Strong technical understanding of network and security.
• Customer service skills and proven record of liaising directly with customers, vendors, service providers, and Telcos.
• Experience in configuring, delivering, and troubleshooting various network equipment and technologies.
• Highly self-motivated.
• Ability to work well under pressure within a busy environment and prioritise tasks accordingly.
• Committed to delivering high-quality work.
• Excellent attention to detail, accuracy, time management, organisational, and administrative skills.

Essential Skills/Experience

• In-depth knowledge of and experience with major internet routing protocols; BGP, OSPF, etc.
• Experience in a service provider environment, specifically with MPLS technologies.
• Experience with Cisco hardware and the associated Cisco software (IOS, NX-OS, CatOS, etc.).
• Experience with Fortinet's suite of products (FortiGate, FortiPortal, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer).
• Experience with implementing and supporting SD-WAN (Fortinet & Meraki).
• Excellent network analysis fundamentals and robust troubleshooting skills.
• Excellent IP networking fundamentals and extensive experience in TCP, UDP, DNS & DHCP.
• Experience with protocols and technologies such as STP, First Hop Redundancy Protocols, EtherChannel, QoS, NTP, 802.1x & NetFlow.
• Experience with IPsec / Remote Access VPN technologies, Firewalls (FortiGate & ASA), Wireless (802.11x) & IT security best practices.

Advantageous Skills and Experience

• A minimum of 2 years technical experience in a 3rd line or senior engineer role.
• CCNP or equivalent.
• ITILv3 qualified or experience within an ITIL environment.
• Experience in a SOC / SIEM environment, specifically Elastic.
• Experience with scripting, specifically Python.
• Experience with UNIX.
• Experience with cellular technologies - 3G, 4G, etc.
• Experience with public service networks - N3, HSCN, Janet, PSN, etc.
• Experience with the following vendors, hardware, software:
• SD-WAN (Fortinet & Meraki)
• Fortinet - FortiGate, FortiPortal, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer
• Cisco Firepower
• Cisco Meraki
• Citrix NetScaler
• Watchguard
• Draytek
• Huawei
• OneAccess
• Juniper
• Palo Alto
• PulseSecure
• RANCID

Hours of Work

The company's standard hours of work are 9.00 until 5.30pm, Monday to Thursday, and 3:30pm on a Friday, with one hour for lunch.

Overtime and travel for business purposes are generally planned, and notice will be given wherever possible. After training has been completed, the post holder would be on-call 1 in every 7 weeks (an allowance is paid for this) and overtime is often required.

Location

This is a hybrid role, with a minimum of one day a week expected in our Harrogate office. The York office can also be used when there is no requirement to be in Harrogate.