Solution Architect - Networking & Security

Focus Group; Shoreham-by-Sea; Hybrid; GBP 72,000 - 88,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hybrid

Job summary

Focus Group is seeking a Solution Architect to own the technical design of complex SD-WAN, SASE, and security projects. You will stay hands-on through delivery, building and commissioning solutions with the delivery team across the UK, including on customer sites.

You will translate customer requirements into designs, lead workshops, and mentor delivery engineers, with travel to customer sites and some out-of-hours work for change windows. Up to £80,000 depending on experience.

Qualifications

• CCNP minimum and related networking certs.
• Experience designing and delivering SSE or SASE in production.
• Hands-on design and delivery of multi-site SD-WAN projects.
• Comfort with on-site installations and UK travel.
• Clear written and verbal communication to non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end technical design of multi-site projects from pre-sales to hand-over.
• Hands-on configuration, build, migration and commissioning with the delivery team.
• Travel to UK customer sites for design workshops, surveys and installations.
• Produce High-Level and Low-Level Designs, build documents and runbooks to a customer-facing standard.
• Refine designs as real-world project realities emerge.
• Review engineer configurations and build documents to ensure technical quality.
• Lead and mentor delivery engineers on projects and their certification paths.
• Act as senior technical escalation point during build, migration and cut-over phases.
• Explain design decisions and trade-offs clearly to customers.

Skills

CCNP

SSE/SASE experience

SD-WAN design

Hands-on networking configuration

Customer-facing communication

UK travel readiness

Education

CCNP certification (Cisco)

Fortinet NSE 4 or higher (preferred)

Tools

Cisco devices

Fortinet FortiGate/FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer

SASE platforms (Cisco Secure Access, FortiSASE, Zscaler, Netskope, Cato)

SD-WAN platforms (Cisco Catalyst, Viptela, Meraki, Fortinet)

VPN and security tooling

Job description

Solution Architect - Networking & Security

Shoreham-by-Sea Flexible hybrid

Up to £80,000

(Internal Job Level Reference: Senior Specialist)

Focus Group is a £300m-revenue, 1,400-person technology services company backed by Hg Capital. Following our $1bn valuation in 2024, we're scaling rapidly and investing in AI to transform how we operate and how we serve our 30,000 SME customers. As we continue to expand our portfolio through acquisition and organic growth, we're committed to setting new industry standards in managed service excellence.

About the role

Our Networking and Security team is looking for a Solution Architect to own the technical design of complex customer projects across our SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network), SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), firewall and routing/switching portfolio - and to stay hands-on all the way through delivery.

This isn't a role where you hand off a design and move on. You'll translate customer requirements into High-Level and Low-Level Designs, act as design authority on your own projects, and then work alongside our delivery engineers to build, migrate and commission the solutions you've designed – both remotely and on customer sites. It's a genuine blend of architecture and hands-on delivery, with UK site travel and some planned out-of-hours work for change windows.

What you'll be doing

• Owning the end-to-end technical design of multi-site networking and security projects, from pre-sales and solution design right through to customer hand-over
• Staying hands-on through delivery: personally carrying out configuration, build, migration and commissioning of Cisco, Fortinet and adjacent platforms alongside the delivery team
• Travelling to customer sites across the UK to lead design workshops, attend kick-offs, run surveys, and complete installation, cabling and commissioning work where needed
• Producing High-Level and Low-Level Designs, build documents, configuration templates, runbooks and as-built hand-over packs to a customer-facing standard
• Turning customer requirements and commercial outcomes into deliverable architectures, refining designs as real-world project realities emerge
• Reviewing engineer-produced configurations, change records and build documents to own the technical quality of everything that reaches the customer
• Leading and mentoring delivery engineers on projects, supporting their certification paths and development
• Acting as the senior technical escalation point during build, migration and cut-over phases
• Explaining design decisions, progress, risks and trade-offs to customers in clear, plain language - no unnecessary jargon
• Leading pre-sales solution design, using your Cisco and Fortinet expertise to shape and pressure-test proposed approaches
• Helping set and improve the design and build standards the wider team works to

What you'll bring

• CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional) as a minimum
• Hands-on experience designing, configuring and deploying Fortinet platforms (FortiGate, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer and the wider Security Fabric) in production environments – NSE 4 or higher preferred
• Practical experience delivering SSE or SASE technology (for example Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Plus Secure Connect, FortiSASE, Zscaler, Netskope or Cato)
• Strong design and delivery experience on at least one major SD-WAN platform (Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN/Viptela, Meraki SD-WAN, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN or comparable)
• Solid working knowledge across networking fundamentals: routing and switching, VLANs, BGP, OSPF, IPsec, QoS, DNS, DHCP and wireless
• A track record of delivering multi-site network and security projects end to end, from design through to hand-over
• Hands-on, on-site implementation experience, including UK travel and physical installation work
• Confident written and verbal communication - able to explain technical decisions and trade-offs to customers and non-technical stakeholders alike
• A calm, methodical approach under pressure, particularly during cut-overs and migrations
• A full UK driving licence, as the role involves regular travel to customer sites

Nice to have

• Fortinet NSE 6 or NSE 7
• Wider Cisco specialisations (Meraki, Umbrella, Duo, ISE or ThousandEyes)
• Experience with HP/Aruba or SonicWall
• Public cloud networking experience (Azure and/or AWS)
• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) design experience
• Experience defining technical standards or reference architectures for a delivery team
• Ambition to grow into a Lead or Principal Solution Architect role over time

Why Focus Group

You’ll be joining a business that provides essential technology and support so our customers can focus on growing theirs – and we take the same approach with our people. This is a role with real ownership: you design it, you help build it, and you see it through to a customer standing on a solution that works. You’ll work alongside experienced engineers and architects, with support for further certifications and a clear path to progress your career.

We offer a competitive salary of up to £80,000, depending on experience, along with flexible hybrid working based out of our Shoreham-by-Sea office.