Lead Network Engineer - Media & Advertising in London

Join one of the UK's most established and respected media and content production organisations, delivering live broadcasting, award-winning journalism, and streaming content to audiences around the world. The organisation relies on highly resilient network infrastructure to support mission-critical broadcast and production environments. This opportunity is ideal for an experienced Lead Network Engineer looking to take technical ownership of a complex network estate supporting live broadcast operations. You'll lead a small team, own the network architecture, and deliver resilient connectivity for high-profile live events, bridging the gap between enterprise networking and real-time IP broadcast infrastructure.

Responsibilities:

• Provide architectural oversight and technical leadership for corporate and broadcast network infrastructure across all sites.
• Design, implement, and operate mission-critical IP networks supporting live broadcast, streaming, and corporate services.
• Lead multicast routing design and optimisation, PIM, SSM, IGMPv2/v3, Rendezvous Points for streaming and broadcast workflows.
• Plan and deliver network services for large-scale live events, elections, major outside broadcasts, high-profile transmission where zero downtime is essential.
• Own network performance, capacity, resilience, and security across broadcast and corporate environments.
• Collaborate with broadcast engineering and production teams to integrate new systems into the IP production environment.
• Line manage and mentor a small team of network engineers.
• Act as senior escalation point for complex network incidents and high-risk project delivery.
• Manage external suppliers and carriers on circuit provisioning, SLA management, and connectivity projects.
• Arista core broadcast and data centre fabric.
• Cisco, corporate and campus networking.
• Palo Alto, firewalls and security.
• BGP / OSPF, EVPN / VXLAN.
• Multicast: PIM / SSM / IGMPv2 / IGMPv3.
• SMPTE ST 2110, PTP / IEEE 1588, NMOS IS-04/IS-05.

Skills/Must Have:

• Broadcast networking background, this is essential, not a nice-to-have.
• Deep multicast expertise, specifically in broadcast or streaming environments, not just general enterprise multicast.
• Strong BGP and OSPF routing experience, Cisco and Arista in a production environment.
• Solid EVPN/VXLAN overlay architecture experience.
• Proven track record delivering networks for live, high-pressure events where availability is non-negotiable.
• Experience leading or mentoring a small technical team.
• Familiarity with SMPTE ST 2110, PTP (IEEE 1588), and NMOS is a significant advantage.
• Arista ACE or Cisco CCNP certification preferred.
• Confident communicator, able to bridge IT and broadcast engineering teams clearly.

Location & Working Pattern:

• Central London.
• Primarily onsite with some flexibility.
• Standard hours: 9am–5:30pm.
• No on-call requirement.

Benefits:

• Work for one of the UK's most recognisable media organisations, supporting infrastructure with genuine national significance.
• Gain experience delivering broadcast networking for high-profile live events, including elections, royal events, and major outside broadcasts.
• Combine technical leadership with team management, taking ownership of architecture, project delivery, and people development.
• Work across a best-of-breed, multi-vendor environment including Arista, Cisco, and Palo Alto technologies.
• Enjoy a role with no on-call requirement and a healthy work-life balance.
• Collaborate closely with broadcast engineering, production, and cybersecurity teams across the organisation.

Salary: £75,000 base salary