Network Engineer in London

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.

Key Skills required for a Network Consultant:

• 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.

Additional Qualifications (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.

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.