Network Services Senior Firewall Consultant in Gateshead

About Aspire

At Aspire Technology Solutions, we look for dynamic individuals who want to work for one of the fastest growing IT and Cyber Security providers in the UK. It is an exciting time to join us on our journey as we grow and expand!

Our mission: To deliver technology like no other!

About the role

We are looking for a Senior Firewall Consultant to join our Network Services team. You will play a key role in designing, delivering, and supporting advanced customer network security solutions, with a primary focus on the Fortinet product stack. You will work closely with our architecture, engineering, and delivery teams to ensure that every solution is correctly specified, seamlessly deployed, and aligned with customer requirements and best practice.

Your core responsibility will be leading the design and deployment of next-generation firewall and large-scale SD-WAN solutions, ensuring robust security, scalability, and performance across customer environments. While your main focus will be on Fortinet technologies, you will also work across multi-vendor environments involving complex switching, wireless, and routing scenarios.

You’ll collaborate with customers from initial consultation through to implementation, translating technical requirements into clear deliverables, managing expectations, and ensuring smooth migration of customer networks onto new platforms. Beyond technical excellence, success in this role requires clear communication, strong documentation, and the ability to coordinate complex projects across multiple teams and technologies.

What you will be doing

• Design and deliver advanced firewall and SD-WAN solutions—primarily based on the Fortinet product stack—from initial scoping through to deployment, testing, migration, and customer handover.
• Translate customer requirements gathered from SOWs, discovery sessions, and site surveys into robust technical solutions—highlighting assumptions, dependencies, and potential risks.
• Produce detailed low-level designs, configuration guides, and migration runbooks (including rollback and validation plans) in line with company standards and change control processes.
• Lead and execute complex firewall and network migrations, working hands‐on with FortiGate, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer platforms, as well as supporting infrastructure such as switches, wireless access points, and routing components.
• Collaborate closely with project managers, engineers, and customers, providing clear technical direction, progress updates, and issue management throughout the project lifecycle.
• Ensure all solutions are delivered to a high standard, applying security best practices, hardening configurations, maintaining thorough documentation, and completing clean handovers to Operations and NOC teams.
• Troubleshoot and resolve deployment or migration issues, engaging internal specialists and vendor support channels where appropriate.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records in our documentation and asset systems, including as‐built diagrams, change logs, and configuration baselines.
• Contribute to continual improvement, feeding lessons learned into our delivery frameworks, Fortinet configuration standards, and network solution templates.

You will suit the role if you have

• Extensive experience with Fortinet technologies, including FortiGate, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiSwitch, with strong knowledge of firewall policy design, NAT, IPsec VPNs, SSL inspection, and security profiles.
• Experience delivering SD‐WAN and network security solutions at scale, from initial design through to migration and optimisation.
• Experience in routing (BGP, OSPF), switching (VLANs, STP, LACP), and wireless networking, with the ability to design and troubleshoot end‐to‐end solutions beyond just the security perimeter.
• Exposure to ISP‐grade connectivity and customer migrations, including DIA/Ethernet services, L2/L3 handoffs, and CPE deployment and commissioning.
• Experience working in multi‐vendor environments, ideally with exposure to platforms including Cisco, Juniper, Palo Alto, Check Point, Aruba, and Fortinet.
• Experience working in an MSP, ISP, or systems integrator environment, delivering network security projects to external customers.
• Experience producing LLDs, configuration guides, migration plans, and maintaining complete and accurate project documentation.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical topics clearly to both technical and non‐technical audiences.
• A customer‐focused mindset with strong ownership, analytical, and problem‐solving abilities.

Desirable

• Familiarity with network automation (e.g., Ansible, Python, PowerShell) and monitoring/telemetry tools (e.g., FortiAnalyzer, SolarWinds, PRTG).
• Knowledge of SASE architectures, NAC/802.1X, load balancing, or cloud network security (Azure/AWS).
• Fortinet NSE certifications (e.g., NSE 4, 5, 6, or 7) strongly preferred; equivalent vendor certifications (CCNP, JNCIS, PCNSE) are advantageous.
• Willingness to travel occasionally to customer sites and support out‐of‐hours work when required for change windows or migrations.

Our values

We understand that you might not have all of the qualifications and experiences that we think are key to succeeding in this role, therefore we provide continuous learning and development at Aspire, which is at the heart of everything we do. As long as you are passionate, eager to learn and driven to be the best at what you do and live our values this role may be a fit for you.

Salary

£45,000 to £65,000 per annum (depending on experience)

Benefits

Here at Aspire, we offer a great benefits package and a competitive salary. Being a people‐centric organisation is what sets us apart – we strive to look after our people in the best way we can!

• Travel benefits including free parking, subsidised travel passes and much more
• Health Cash Plan
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Network Benefits
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Enhanced Annual Leave Entitlement (increasing with length of service)
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity and Parental Schemes
• Enhanced Pension Scheme
• Home & Tech Purchase Scheme
• Electric Vehicle Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Employee referral scheme
• New business referral scheme
• Discounted Gym Membership
• Life Assurance and Critical Illness cover

Location and Working Arrangements

You will be based at Aspire's Gateshead head office with travel as required.

Hours of work

37.5 hours per week, Monday - Friday

Equality, Inclusion and Diversity at Aspire

Aspire is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a culture that respects and values each other's differences, that promotes dignity, equality and diversity that encourages individuals to develop their true potential.

Interview Process

We generally conduct interviews in three stages, lasting approximately 2-3 weeks, depending on everyone's calendars. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a pre‐screening call via Teams to discuss your experience and what you’re looking for in your next role. Successful candidates will be invited to an interview with the Hiring Manager. If successful in an interview, candidates will be invited to an informal interview with key stakeholders at Aspire to meet the wider team(s).