Principal Network Engineer - Hybrid WAN/SD-WAN Leader

National Grid; Warwick; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days' holiday + bank holidays

Generous pension with company match

Life insurance

Cycle scheme

Share incentive plan

Digital GP service

Access to Work + Family Space

Job summary

National Grid is hiring a Principal Network Engineer in Warwick, UK. You will lead the design, implementation, and lifecycle management of resilient, secure, and scalable WAN, LAN, WLAN, and SD-WAN network services.

You will create low-level designs, provide guidance on architecture, and ensure security, performance and reliability across enterprise networks. You will drive standards, mentoring, and automation initiatives while engaging senior stakeholders and aligning with roadmaps.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in networking/engineering or related field.
• 10+ years of enterprise network engineering and architecture experience.
• CCNP required; CCIE preferred.
• Azure AZ-700, Cisco DevNet, SAFe Agilist or similar certifications preferred.
• Experience developing network standards, documentation, and artifacts.
• Experience with network automation tools such as Ansible, NetBrain, and Python.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain WAN, LAN, WLAN, and SD-WAN infrastructure for high availability and security.
• Provide strategic guidance on network architecture and technology direction.
• Lead network projects and run complex workstreams, delivering on time and within budget.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, vendors, and MSPs to ensure requirements and risks are managed.
• Create and maintain comprehensive network documentation and runbooks.
• Support major incidents, investigations, and escalations related to network services.
• Participate in on-call rotations and after-hours maintenance.
• Prepare operational readiness materials and hand over to support teams.
• Stay current with industry trends and advocate automation, AI, and SRE practices.
• Coach and mentor a small team of network engineers (2-6) within a SAFe Agile framework.

Skills

BGP

OSPF

SD-WAN

Cisco LAN

Wireless networks

Network security

Azure networking

Automation

Python

Ansible

NetBrain

Viptela

Education

Bachelor's degree in networking or related field

Tools

Ansible

NetBrain

Python

Cisco Viptela

Azure networking

Job description

National Grid is hiring a Principal Network Engineer in Warwick, UK. You will lead the design, implementation, and lifecycle management of resilient, secure, and scalable WAN, LAN, WLAN, and SD-WAN network services.

You will create low-level designs, provide guidance on architecture, and ensure security, performance and reliability across enterprise networks. You will drive standards, mentoring, and automation initiatives while engaging senior stakeholders and aligning with roadmaps.