Principal Network Engineer - JD & PS (PDF, 712.3KB)

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust; Plymouth; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading healthcare institution as a Principal Network Engineer, where your expertise will drive innovation and excellence in network infrastructure. This role involves providing specialist IT network engineering services, guiding teams, and resolving complex IM&T issues. With a commitment to continuous improvement and a supportive environment, you will play a crucial role in ensuring secure and reliable network operations. Collaborate with dedicated professionals in a vibrant city, contributing to high-quality patient care while enjoying opportunities for career development and work-life balance. Embrace this chance to make a significant impact in a dynamic healthcare setting.

Benefits

Career Development Opportunities

Flexible Working Options

Supportive Work Environment

Health and Wellbeing Programs

Qualifications

• Expertise in managing enterprise-scale computer network infrastructures.
• Ability to resolve complex technical problems quickly and effectively.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical guidance to Network Operations and Infrastructure teams.
• Develop and implement strategies for network infrastructure improvements.

Skills

Network Engineering

Problem Solving

Technical Leadership

Communication Skills

Education

IT or Technical Masters Degree

Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP)

Tools

Network Monitoring Tools

Cisco Networking Equipment

Job description

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

About

Welcome to University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.

We are rated Outstanding for Caring and that includes caring for our staff.

When you join our #1BigTeam of more than 10,000 staff and volunteers we are committed to helping you develop your career and enjoy a great life.

At University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) we are the regions Major Trauma Centre and we are responsible for providing care across the widest of spectrums: from within peoples homes and working with our voluntary sector partners in local communities, to offering the most specialist hospital care available in our regional centre: for example immunology, cardiothoracic surgery and kidney and bone marrow transplants. We care for 475,000 in our secondary care catchment population, with a wider peninsula population of almost 2,000,000 people who can access our specialist services.

Delivering our services through a number of key sites across Plymouth and the surrounding area:

• Mount Gould Hospital - We have 30 beds for general rehabilitation plus 15 beds for stroke rehabilitation patients and a discharge assessment unit with 10 beds available and a further 30 to follow.
• South Hams Community Hospital - We have 15 beds here and began managing the site in 2021.
• Tavistock Hospital - We have 13 beds here and began managing the site in 2021. Urgent Treatment Centre and Minor Injuries Units We run an Urgent Treatment Centre at the Cumberland Centre in Devonport, central Plymouth and minor injury units in Tavistock and Kingsbridge.
• Child Development Centre - Developmental services for young children are provided at the Child Development Centre, Scott Business Park.
• The Plymouth Dialysis Unit - Patients needing treatment for renal failure are cared for in state-of-the-art, purpose-built facilities in Estover.
• Radiology Academy - The Plymouth Radiology Academy is the only purpose-built Radiology Academy in the world and provides an inspirational environment in which to learn radiology.

We are a teaching hospital in partnership with the University of Plymouth and working with Plymouth Marjon University. As host to the Joint Hospital Group South West (JHG(SW)) in a city with a strong military tradition, we have a tri-service staff of nearly 200 military doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who are fully integrated within our facilities.

We know the importance of civility and saying thank you and actively encourage patients, their families and our colleagues, to send thank you messages through a number of channels. By capturing episodes of excellence we can learn from these events, improve practice and safety and spread the good practice throughout the Trust. Last year over 1,800 nominations were received.

UHP were chosen as one of seven Trusts to take part in the national NHS Improvement Programme, to create a culture of continuous improvement by empowering staff to develop their own ideas for improvement and lead their own projects.

Key Details

Location: Digital & Innovation Services (D&I)
Address: 11 Research Way, Plymouth Science Park, Derriford
Town: Plymouth
Postcode: PL6 8BT
Major / Minor Region: Devon

Contract type & working pattern

Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37.5 hours per week (Full time. 0900-1700 Monday to Friday)

Salary

Salary: £50,952 - £57,349 Per Annum
Salary period: Yearly
Grade: (NHS AfC: Band 8a)

Specialty

Main area: Principal Network Engineer

Job Overview

To provide specialist IT Network engineering services for the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHPNT) and IM&T supported organisations. Provide expert guidance to Network Engineers, Network Manager, and stakeholders. Investigate a range of complex IM&T issues. Provide expert opinion on matters relating to network infrastructure, IM&T infrastructure strategy, and emerging network technologies. Follow the relevant policies, standards, and practices. Primarily remote working with some on-site duties.

The role is part of the Network on-call rota.

Advert

The Principal Network Engineer works alongside the Network Manager to provide technical expertise and leadership to the Network Ops, Network Infrastructure, and Telecoms teams. They work closely with the Network Manager to develop and implement infrastructure strategies, and ensure that the network infrastructure is secure, reliable, and performing optimally. They proactively identify and implement technical improvements, including automation and monitoring, to optimize the infrastructure's performance. In addition to providing technical guidance and support to the Network Manager, they will help mentor the leading engineers in both the Network Operations and Network Infrastructure team, enhancing their skills and knowledge. The Principal Network Engineer's expertise and knowledge are critical in troubleshooting complex network faults and issues and ensures that the Network Ops and Inf teams are up-to-date with industry best practices, and well equipped to deliver a service that enables high-quality patient care.

Working for our organisation

We are a people business where every member of staff matters and can make a difference. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Joining University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust means becoming part of a team of dedicated staff, who are committed to leading the way through innovation, clinical excellence and great customer care. The Trust has great opportunities for career development in a highly progressive working environment. We offer all of this in a vibrant, modern city with a historic reputation for adventure. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION WILL BE ELECTRONIC, PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT REGULARLY. If you have any issues with applying online and need additional support including reasonable adjustments with the application process please contact the recruitment team on 01752 432100. We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants around less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss this prior to your application submission. We commit to giving this full consideration in each case. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply for our roles, as diversity strengthens our teams.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

Using highly developed specialist knowledge, underpinned by theory and experience, to provide expert technical guidance and support to the Network Operations and Infrastructure teams in identifying and resolving complex infrastructure issues.

Collaborate with the Network Manager to develop and implement strategies and policies that align with the organisation's goals and objectives. This includes dealing with highly complex, sensitive, and contentious information relating to the infrastructure.

Collaborate with the Network Manager on a range of documentation; including but not limited to, business cases, infrastructure reviews, restructures, prioritisation work, and both internal and third-party audits.

Identifying and testing technical improvements and opportunities for automation and monitoring to optimise the infrastructure's performance.

Conducting regular audits and assessments of the infrastructure and making recommendations for improvements.

Producing metrics/evidence to support ongoing maintenance, hardware and software purchases, network refreshes, and improvement workstreams.

Developing and implementing training and mentoring programs to enhance the skills and knowledge of the Network Ops and Inf teams.

Evaluating and testing emerging technologies and recommending solutions to improve the infrastructure.

Providing technical leadership and mentoring to the Network Ops and Infrastructure teams.

Providing technical guidance to the Telecoms team.

Participating in the development of infrastructure budgets and forecasts.

Propose changes to, and redesign, infrastructure related policies and procedures and align with industry best practices.

Working with the Network Ops Lead and the Infrastructure Team to align workloads and avoid conflicting priorities.

Ad hoc duties as directed by the Network Manager and Head of Technical Services.

Represent the interests of the Network Ops and Infrastructure teams at meetings with stakeholders at all levels, when required and in the absence of the Network Manager.

To advise and assist the Network Operations and System Infrastructure Leads with D&Is Problem Management function.

Required to liaise with our contracted suppliers to ensure that they are providing the required technical solutions.

Where required, engage with vendors, and build working relationships with 3rd parties.

Pro-actively review new and emerging technologies in relation to role.

Sit on project boards for ongoing support of the Network infrastructure where appropriate.

Review OBS responses from vendors to ensure the requirements can be met and do not present a technical risk.

Part of the Infrastructure On Call rota.

For further details please see the attached JD & PS.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to an IT or Technical Masters degree level or Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP) or equivalent demonstrable experience.

Aptitude & Abilities

Essential criteria

• Ability to act on own initiative to solve highly complex technical problems within a short period, by looking at complex facts or situations, analysing, interpreting and comparing a range of available options.
• Ability to remain calm and cope effectively with critical network and system failures.
• Makes judgements on multi-stranded or complex D&I problems which may have no precedent or where there are conflicting opinions.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to serve on task forces and/or committees.
• Excellent presentational skills.

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• Graduate calibre professional with demonstrable experience supporting and managing enterprise scale computer network infrastructures.
• In-depth proven knowledge and demonstrable experience of specialist networking technologies including IP addressing, Ethernet switching and network routing, both wired and wireless, across Local Area Network and Wide Area Network environments.
• In-depth proven knowledge of enterprise wireless networking.

Desirable criteria

• Awareness: up to date with the NHS Programme for IT and other national directives.
• Demonstrable experience of project management/technical leadership.

Further details / informal visits contact

Name: Ben McConnon
Job title: Network Manager
Email address: [email protected]
Telephone number: 01752 437000