Network & Systems Engineer

Network & Systems Engineer

Location: Cambridge

Salary: £48,000—£52,000 depending on qualifications and experience

Vacancy Type: Permanent

Working hours: 37.5 per week, full year

The Perse School Cambridge is one of the country’s leading independent co-educational day schools for children aged 3-18.

Our aim is to be a leading employer of choice. This means we strive to be a school where staff say they are proud and excited to work, and feel valued, respected and motivated.

We are committed to providing a very competitive salary and benefits scheme at the same time as offering a wide range of opportunities for personal and professional development. We want our staff to feel engaged and purposeful so that they, in turn, help pupils to be happy and successful.

The Role

The Perse School is seeking to appoint an experienced and motivated Network and Systems Engineer to play a key role in the development and resilience of its IT infrastructure. This is a newly created post, reflecting the School’s continued investment in technology and its commitment to providing a secure, reliable and future-ready digital environment for teaching, learning and operations.

The School operates a complex, multi-site network supporting pupils, staff and parents across three campuses. The Network and Systems Engineer will work with enterprise-grade technologies, including VMware, Veeam, Cisco, and Microsoft on-premises and cloud services (Microsoft 365 and Azure), as well as specific cybersecurity applications and a large-scale wireless network, gaining exposure to a broad and modern technical estate.

Working closely with the Network Manager, the post holder will help to maintain and enhance core infrastructure services, while also taking ownership of defined projects and acting as a technical lead where appropriate. The role offers a strong balance between hands-on engineering, project delivery and strategic input, with opportunities to collaborate across the IT department and engage with the wider school community. This is an excellent opportunity for a skilled network professional who is looking to apply their expertise in a varied, well-supported and technically ambitious environment.

As a member of the Support Staff, the Network and Systems Engineer’s ultimate line manager will be the Bursar, although day-to-day responsibility will be to the IT Manager.

Job Purpose

The purpose of the Network and Systems Engineer role is to ensure the ongoing reliability, security and performance of the School’s IT infrastructure. The post holder works alongside the Network Manager to maintain and enhance core systems, including VMware, server and storage environments, network architecture and cyber security controls to support the School’s operational and educational activities.

The Network and Systems Engineer provides advanced technical support, acts as an escalation point for the Helpdesk team and delivers infrastructure projects that improve system resilience and capability. Through specialist technical knowledge and proactive system management, the role contributes to a robust, secure and futureready IT environment that underpins the School’s strategic objectives.

Person Specification

• Strong experience managing enterprise network infrastructure, including switches, firewalls, wireless systems, VPNs and WAN/LAN environments.
• Proven ability to configure and support core network services such as DNS, DHCP, VLANs, routing and content filtering.
• Experience supporting virtualised server environments and core services including Active Directory, Group Policy, file/print services and authentication systems.
• Practical experience administering Microsoft 365 services (Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Azure AD).
• Solid understanding of cybersecurity principles, including firewalls, intrusion prevention, patching and vulnerability management.
• Proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex 3rd-line infrastructure issues efficiently.
• Experience using monitoring tools to proactively identify performance, capacity or security issues.
• Experience contributing to infrastructure projects, upgrades or migrations.
• Strong understanding of network resilience, high availability and disaster recovery principles.
• Knowledge of modern cybersecurity threats, mitigation strategies and best practices.
• Awareness of business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

Technical Qualifications Essential

• CCNA, CompTIA Network+ (or equivalent).
• Microsoft 365 / Azure certification (AZ-104 or similar).
• Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance and Identity Fundamentals.
• Significant experience with VMware or similar virtualisation platforms.

Personal Attributes & Competencies

• Methodical and analytical approach to problem solving.
• Ability to work calmly and effectively under pressure during incidents.
• Strong attention to detail, particularly in documentation and configuration management.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues to non-technical colleagues.
• Collaborative team player, able to work effectively with IT colleagues and wider stakeholders.
• Proactive and self-motivated, with a commitment to continuous improvement and professional development.
• Flexible approach to working hours, including planned out-of-hours work when required.

To Apply

If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for The Perse School, please click apply to be redirected to our website to complete your application.