Network Engineer
Cambridge (Hybrid) | £400-£440 per day | Inside IR35 | 12-Month Contract
We are seeking an experienced Cisco Secure Network Analytics (SNA) Consultant to support a major network visibility and security analytics improvement programme for a leading global technology organisation.
This is an exciting opportunity for a specialist with strong Cisco SNA, NetFlow and network security analytics experience to lead the redesign, implementation and optimisation of a global monitoring environment.
You will play a key role in improving network traffic visibility, strengthening security analytics and developing a scalable, resilient architecture across a complex global network.
The Role
You will take ownership of assessing and enhancing the existing Cisco Secure Network Analytics environment, delivering a replacement platform and developing a strategy to expand NetFlow and syslog coverage across the global network.
A particular focus will be improving east-west traffic visibility across campus, data centre and cloud environments.
Key Responsibilities
Cisco SNA Architecture & Implementation
Assess the existing Cisco SNA architecture, configurations, integrations and telemetry collection.
Design and deploy a replacement Cisco SNA infrastructure using procured hardware and software.
Configure and optimise Flow Managers, Flow Collectors and UDP Directors.
Migrate existing configurations and data sources, ensuring platform functionality and resilience.
Evaluate load-balancing and high-availability solutions, including HAProxy and alternative technologies.
Network Visibility & Telemetry
Review existing global NetFlow and syslog coverage, identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement.
Develop strategies to improve network traffic visibility, particularly east-west traffic flows.
Design scalable collection, forwarding and distribution architectures.
Assess telemetry coverage across campus, data centre and hybrid cloud environments.
Identify opportunities to automate NetFlow and syslog deployment.
Security Analytics & Optimisation
Tune Cisco SNA security policies, behavioural analytics, alarms and detection thresholds.
Establish traffic baselines, host groups and network classifications.
Reduce false positives and alert fatigue while improving threat detection.
Optimise telemetry ingestion, data retention and overall platform performance.
Collaborate with Network Reliability Engineering and Security teams to develop meaningful monitoring use cases.
Documentation & Knowledge Transfer
Produce architecture diagrams, technical documentation and operational procedures.
Deliver knowledge transfer and operational handover to internal engineering teams.
Essential Skills & Experience
Proven experience designing, deploying and optimising Cisco Secure Network Analytics (SNA) environments.
Strong technical knowledge of NetFlow, syslog, Flow Managers, Flow Collectors and UDP Directors.
Experience with network traffic analytics, security monitoring and behavioural detection.
Strong Cisco enterprise networking and network security expertise.
Experience improving telemetry collection, network visibility and monitoring architectures.
Ability to design scalable, resilient and highly available network analytics platforms.
Desirable Experience
Network automation using Python, Ansible, Terraform or REST APIs.
Automation of NetFlow and syslog configuration and deployment.
Experience with Git and CI/CD workflows.
HAProxy, load balancing and high-availability architectures.
UDP traffic distribution and Flow Collector scalability.
Hybrid cloud networking and east-west traffic monitoring.
Project Deliverables
You will be expected to deliver:
A comprehensive assessment of the existing Cisco SNA environment.
A redesigned and fully operational Cisco SNA platform.
Optimised security analytics, monitoring policies and alerting.
Improved global NetFlow and syslog coverage.
A strategy and roadmap for enhanced east-west traffic visibility.
Recommendations for Flow Collector load balancing and high availability.
Complete technical documentation and knowledge transfer.
Contract Details
Location: Cambridge - Hybrid working
Rate: £400-£440 per day
IR35 Status: Inside IR35
Contract Length: 12 months
Interested? If you have hands-on Cisco Secure Network Analytics experience and a strong background in network visibility and security analytics, we'd be keen to hear from you.