Network Engineer

Network Consultant – Gloucestershire, London, Manchester – Hybrid – Permanent – £60,000 - £90,000 per annum – DV Clearance

Company cultures & job summary

Our client is seeking an experienced Network Consultant to lead and manage a business-critical network and infrastructure estate supporting highly secure UK Government operations across multiple locations. The ideal candidate will bring a strong background in senior infrastructure, networking, or IT service delivery management, with experience gained within defence, government, or other highly regulated environments.

Working Patterns and location – Hybrid – 2-3 days on site per week

The Key Responsibilities of a Network Consultant:

• Take full ownership of the network and infrastructure estate across multiple secure government locations, encompassing servers, virtualisation technologies, WAN/LAN/SD-WAN, Citrix, and Riverbed environments.
• Lead the day-to-day delivery of infrastructure services, ensuring operational excellence and consistent achievement of agreed SLAs and KPIs.
• Oversee the transition of new and updated infrastructure services into production, ensuring robust operational readiness and seamless deployment.
• Act as the senior escalation point for critical incidents, leading Major Incident Reviews and driving effective root cause investigations and resolution plans.
• Chair the Change Advisory Board (CAB) and manage the end-to-end change lifecycle in accordance with government security and compliance standards.
• Provide leadership, mentoring, and technical direction to infrastructure and network engineering teams, promoting a culture of continuous improvement and service excellence.
• Manage infrastructure-related budgets, including forecasting, supplier management, commercial negotiations, and cost optimisation activities.
• Maintain compliance across the estate with key government security frameworks and policies, including Cyber Essentials Plus, JSP 440, JSP 604, and NCSC guidance.

Below is a list of Key Skills required for a Network Consultant, however you will not be expected to have everything:

• Demonstrated senior-level experience in infrastructure, networking, or IT service delivery management within defence, government, or other highly regulated sectors.
• Strong technical expertise across LAN/WAN networking, routing and switching, firewall technologies, SD-WAN, and WAN optimisation solutions such as Riverbed.
• Hands-on experience supporting and managing enterprise virtualisation platforms, including VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, and associated storage technologies.
• Extensive experience administering and supporting Citrix environments within large-scale, multi-site enterprise estates.
• Solid understanding and practical application of ITIL service management frameworks, with ITIL v3 or ITIL 4 Foundation certification highly desirable.
• Proven track record managing large-scale IT budgets, including forecasting, financial reporting, variance analysis, and cost optimisation.
• Experience chairing Change Advisory Boards (CAB) and representing IT within senior stakeholder meetings and programme governance forums.

The client would also like to see some of the below, but this is not essential:

• ITIL 4 Managing Professional certification, including modules such as Specialist: Create, Deliver & Support (CDS) and Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV), would be advantageous.
• PRINCE2 Practitioner certification or an equivalent project management qualification is highly desirable.
• Experience delivering or supporting cloud migration and transformation programmes within AWS, Azure, or secure GovCloud environments.
• Exposure to ISO 27001 implementation, compliance, or information security audit processes.
• Familiarity with UK government security frameworks and policies, including JSP 440, JSP 604, and the HMG Security Policy Framework.
• Previous experience working with defence, intelligence, or other highly secure government sector clients would be beneficial.

Our clients offer a range of benefits for permanent workers, as well as an excellent salary you will receive the following:

• Annual bonus up to 10%.
• Pension up to 5% Employee/10% Employer.
• Private Medical Cover.
• Dental Insurance.
• Health Assessment.
• Life Assurance.

Our client is committed to providing a diverse and inclusive workplace and welcomes applications from all backgrounds.

Part-time opportunities/flexible working is available to suit individual needs.

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You will be required to hold a minimum of DV Clearance. If you do not hold an active DV Clearance, please familiarise yourself with the vetting process before applying.

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