Senior Network Engineer in Newcastle upon Tyne

The Senior Network Engineer is a technical expert responsible for the design, implementation and support of enterprise-scale network infrastructure, ensuring secure, stable and scalable services across the organisation. You will work within the Networks Engineering team as part of Global IT Operations, collaborating with Network Operations, Infrastructure Services and stakeholders across regions.

What you will be responsible for:

• Ensuring that defined network and security standards are consistently implemented and maintained across the organisation.
• Contributing to technical design and implementation activities and providing technical support to offshore Network Operations, acting as an escalation point during critical incidents.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ensure network and security standards are implemented and adhered to across all environments.
• Deliver technical design, implementation and lifecycle management of network infrastructure.
• Maintain stability, performance and security of the enterprise network.
• Act as the escalation point for complex and critical network/security incidents.
• Support incident response.
• Drive continuous improvement of network operations, security posture and operational processes.
• Participate in the on-call rota for out-of-hours and weekend support (1 in 3).
• Services within remit include routing & switching, LAN & WAN, ISE, wireless, load balancing, NGFW, SASE, DNS, ZTNA.
• Capability in automation is highly desired and will influence how the department matures this capability.

Design & Engineering:

• Define and enforce standards throughout the global infrastructure.
• Own design and delivery of network and network security projects.
• Produce technical level documentation (HLD, LLD, KBs).
• Identify and correct non-compliance issues.
• Help shape strategic direction for network services.
• Maintain a delivery roadmap with a rolling 2-year outlook.
• Manage technology lifecycle, reviewing bi-annually.
• Support investment planning, including business case and budgeting.
• Produce accurate bills of materials for hardware, software and licensing.

Qualifications:

• At least 10 years of network and network security experience within a global enterprise (5,000–50,000 users) and 2–3 years as a similar engineer role.
• First-hand experience defining standards and creating designs, and implementing solutions.
• Experience providing technical support in a pressurised environment, ideally in legal or banking.
• Effective communication with stakeholders and global colleagues at all levels.
• Expert knowledge and experience in: Routing & switching, Network access control, Wireless LAN controller & access points, LAN & WAN design, Load balancing, SD WAN, Meraki.
• Preferred understanding or experience in: QoS, Network monitoring & alerting, TLS, Unix command line, API, NGFW, SASE / Web filtering, DNS, Azure.
• Nice to Have: Network automation (Terraform, Ansible), Proficiency in a high-level programming language (e.g. Python), Modern authentication (SAML, SSO).

Work Pattern & Hybrid Working:

Monday–Friday, 09:30–17:30. Majority of work remote, with regular visits to London headquarters on a monthly basis, and an initial induction period requiring more frequent attendance that relaxes to 2–3 consecutive days per month. Occasional out-of-hours including weekends.

Equal opportunities:

Clifford Chance is committed to delivering fair and equal access to all applicants and employees irrespective of background. We comply with the laws in every location where we operate and support an inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives.