Third Line Support Engineer

Talk Straight; Ilkley; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary up to £35,000 pa

Hybrid working

25 days holiday + Bank Holidays

Wellbeing day

Company pension - 5% employer contrib.

Referral programme

Contractual sick pay

Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

Schools Broadband, a division of Talk Straight Ltd, seeks a Third Line Support Engineer to join the busy support team in Ilkley. You will provide advanced network support, monitor systems, and lead incident response in a fast-paced ISP environment.

The role requires deep networking knowledge (BGP/OSPF/MPLS/DNS/DHCP/TCP/IP/VPNs), strong RCA skills, and collaboration with 2nd line, vendors, and customers. Hybrid working with three days in the Ilkley office is offered.

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of core networking protocols and security concepts.
• Experience configuring and troubleshooting enterprise routers, firewalls, and load balancers.
• Ability to diagnose complex network issues and perform RCA.
• Experience in large-scale ISP or telecom environments preferred.

Responsibilities

• Proactively monitor the network, infrastructure, and customer services using advanced monitoring tools.
• Perform health checks on network systems and address issues before they escalate.
• Serve as the top-level escalation point for critical and complex issues.
• Troubleshoot routing, switching, VPNs, DNS, firewalls.
• Investigate and resolve service-impacting incidents and lead major incident response.
• Manage incident resolution from start to finish with updates and RCA.
• Assist with configuration, deployment, and optimization of core network devices.
• Provide support for changes, upgrades, and migrations with minimal disruption.
• Monitor capacity and performance and propose improvements.
• Collaborate with network/system engineering and third-party vendors.

Skills

BGP

OSPF

MPLS

DNS

DHCP

TCP/IP

VPNs

Network monitoring tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Networking

Tools

Cisco routers

Juniper devices

Fortinet firewalls

Load balancers

Job description

Third Line Support Engineer

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Third Line Support Engineer to join our busy Third line support team with in the Support Department. In this role, you will be responsible for providing advanced technical support for network infrastructure and services, resolving complex issues, and ensuring optimal network performance. You will monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot the network and customer services, working closely with second line support, network engineers, and third-party providers to ensure the highest levels of uptime and service quality.

This is a high-responsibility role, requiring a deep understanding of networking technologies, rapid troubleshooting capabilities, and the ability to manage large-scale incidents within a fast-paced ISP environment.

Key responsibilities of this role:

• Proactively monitor the network, infrastructure, and customer services using advanced monitoring tools to detect performance issues or outages.
• Perform regular health checks on network systems, ensuring optimal functionality and addressing any potential issues before they escalate.
• Serve as the top-level escalation point for critical and complex technical issues that cannot be resolved by the first or second line support teams.
• Troubleshoot complex network issues involving routing, switching, VPNs, DNS, firewalls.
• Investigate and resolve service-impacting incidents, such as outages, degradation of performance.
• Lead the response to major network incidents, coordinating with internal teams and third-party providers to restore services promptly and minimize downtime.
• Manage incident resolution from start to finish, providing detailed updates to stakeholders and post-incident reporting, including root cause analysis (RCA) and suggested preventive measures.
• Assist with the configuration, deployment, and optimization of core network devices.
• Provide support for network changes, upgrades, and migrations, ensuring minimal disruption to customer services.
• Monitor network capacity and performance, identifying trends and bottlenecks to recommend and implement improvements.
• Work with the network/system engineering team to plan and execute network expansions, upgrades, and performance enhancements.
• Share knowledge with the first and second line support teams, providing technical training and support to improve overall team capabilities and mentor members of the 2nd line team.
• Collaborate closely with network engineers, systems engineers, and third-party vendors to resolve complex issues and implement solutions.
• Manage escalations with hardware vendors and service providers, ensuring timely resolution of external issues impacting network performance.
• Monitor for potential security threats, DDoS attacks, and vulnerabilities, responding quickly to mitigate risks and protect the network.
• Ensure that all network configurations and policies comply with industry standards and best practices for security and data protection.

How we'll support you:

• Structured training.
• Regular 1-1's with your line manager to review progress and provide support.
• Annual performance review.
• A friendly, welcoming and supportive culture.
• Development opportunities.

Working Environment

We offer hybrid working to promote a healthy work/life balance, working remotely and attending our Ilkley office 3 days per week. Therefore you will need to be within a reasonable commute of this office.

Essential

Strong knowledge of networking protocols such as BGP, OSPF, MPLS, DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, and VPNs.

Experience configuring and troubleshooting enterprise-grade routers, firewalls (e.g., Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet), and load balancers.

• Proficiency with network monitoring tools.
• Demonstrated experience in diagnosing and resolving complex network issues and performing root cause analysis (RCA).
• Ability to think critically under pressure and resolve high-priority incidents with minimal supervision.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate across teams and communicate complex technical information to non-technical stakeholders.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a focus on customer satisfaction and clear documentation.
• 3-5 years of experience in a similar third line or NOC engineer role, ideally within an ISP or telecommunications environment.
• Hands-on experience with large-scale network environments, including core networking, enterprise services, and security principles.

Desirable

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Networking, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Relevant industry certifications such as CCNP, JNCIP, CompTIA, Network+, Fortinet NSE 7, or equivalent would be advantageous.
• Familiarity with configuration management tools like Ansible or similar.

• Salary up to £35,000 pa, depending on experience
• Up to 25 days holiday per year plus Bank Holidays
• Wellbeing day.
• Hybrid working.
• Company events.
• Company pension - 5% employer contribution
• Referral programme.
• Contractual sick pay.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Contractual maternity and paternity pay.
• Health Cash Plan.
• Non-work related training allowance.
• Volunteering day.
• Day off for your birthday.

Closing date for applications: 17/09/2026

Who we are

Schools Broadband, a division of Talk Straight Ltd, is now the leading provider of web filtering, safeguarding and security software for schools and multi academy trusts. We place safeguarding and security at the heart of everything we do and as such have received several awards from the Internet Service Providers Association for providing the best security in the country. We now protect over 2500 organisations against advanced cyber-attacks and keep nearly one million school children safe online with our unique cloud-based platform.

With steady year on year growth since our inception in 2007, we are a rapidly growing company with a talent pool of over 60 employees who we place at the centre of our success.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the job and the general nature and level of work performed by job holders within this job. However, this job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of qualifications, skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with the position.