Senior Network Engineer

Senior Network Engineer

12 month contract

£82.19 per hour (Inside IR35

Hereford (Mostly on site)

We are expanding our IT Infrastructure Engineering capability and are now looking to recruit a Senior Network Engineer to compliment the established team.

You will join a highly skilled engineering team supporting a mission‐critical tactical communications platform used by hundreds of deployed users within a UK government environment. This is a hands‐on, high‐impact role where reliability, performance, and security are paramount.

Reporting to the Lead Infrastructure Engineer, you will help design, build, operate, and evolve a secure on‐premise infrastructure that underpins real‐world operational outcomes.

• Work on real, mission‐critical systems with tangible operational impact
• Be part of a highly skilled engineering team in a secure, specialist environment
• Influence infrastructure design decisions, not just operate what already exists
• Gain exposure to defence, secure networks, and international collaboration

There is a requirement for the infrastructure team to provide continuous 24/7 support. In the event of an incident arising out-of-hours, or at the weekend, an in-person on-site response will be required within a 3-hour window. You must be prepared to provide such 7-day support once every 4-6 weeks.

Location: Herefordshire. On‐site; minimum 4 days per week, 5 days when required.

Travel: Occasional visits to UK MoD sites. Opportunity for two one‐week trips to the USA.

Security: SC required to start. DV to follow.

On‐call: Out‐of‐hours support covering 8-13 weeks per year.

You will work across the full infrastructure lifecycle, balancing operational excellence with continuous improvement:

• Design, build, and maintain resilient on‐premise IT infrastructure
• Support a complex tactical mission network with high availability requirements
• Troubleshoot incidents and lead root‐cause analysis and problem resolution
• Deploy new infrastructure and systems to meet evolving operational needs
• Monitor system health, performance, and capacity
• Contribute to end‐user device build and deployment processes
• Collaborate closely with project, security, and stakeholder teams
• Take ownership of systems and continually improve reliability, security, and user experience

You’ll be trusted to think strategically, act decisively, and contribute ideas that strengthen both the platform and the team.

We value breadth of knowledge alongside deep expertise. You may specialise in one area, but you’re comfortable working across the stack and learning where needed.

Knowledge:

• Minimum of 5 years as an infrastructure engineer
• Minimum of 8 years in a related IT field
• Proven troubleshooting and problem‐solving capability
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non‐technical stakeholders
• Comfortable working independently while contributing effectively within a team

Desirable:

• Knowledge of information security and compliance frameworks (ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials+)

Skills:

• Proficient in routing protocols, switching technologies and QoS
• Network monitoring and diagnostic tools
• Secure gateways
• Linux operating systems (Ubuntu and RedHat)
• Infrastructure as Code (Ansible and Terraform)
• Scripting and automation skills (PowerShell, Python, Bash)
• Virtualisation platforms (VMware and/or Hyper‐V)

Desirable:

• Valid industry certification(s)
• Containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes, Podman)
• Administration of enterprise platforms (Atlassian, GitHub, Microsoft 365)