CNI Infrastructure Lead Engineer

About us At National Grid, we keep people connected and society moving. But it’s so much more than that. National Grid supplies us with the environment to make it happen. As we generate momentum in the energy transition for all, we don’t plan on leaving any of our customers in the dark. So, join us as a CNI Infrastructure Lead Engineer, and find your superpower.

National Grid is hiring a CNI Infrastructure Lead Engineer for our CNI Operations team. This role is based at our Warwick office, with hybrid working (1 day per week on-site). You’ll play a key role in designing, developing and supporting secure, scalable infrastructure platforms that underpin critical operations across our enterprise.

About The Role Join National Grid’s CNI Operations Team as a CNI Lead Infrastructure Engineer and play a pivotal role in protecting the systems that keep the country running. In this high‑impact role, you’ll take ownership of designing, implementing and maintaining the core technology infrastructure that powers our most critical business applications and services. As a lead engineer, you’ll shape our technical direction, champion platform stability and drive continuous improvement across our infrastructure services. This is a role where your expertise genuinely matters. You’ll combine hands‑on engineering with architectural influence and technical leadership—guiding our engineering teams, setting best practice, and acting as the go‑to escalation point for complex operational challenges. Every day, you’ll help ensure our platforms are secure, scalable and resilient, delivering the reliability our organisation depends on, while aligning strategic decisions with IT and wider business goals. If you’re driven by impactful engineering, love solving complex problems, and want to make a difference at national scale, this is your opportunity.

What You’ll Do

• Lead Infrastructure Operations: Oversee the performance, monitoring and maintenance of core infrastructure services. Drive improvements in reliability, automation and observability, and ensure robust backup, disaster recovery and business continuity.
• Provide Technical Leadership: Mentor engineers, act as a technical authority in architecture discussions, and contribute to strategic planning. Build a collaborative, high‑performing engineering culture.
• Shape Infrastructure Architecture: Define and maintain infrastructure standards, patterns and best practices. Lead automation of provisioning using IaC tools such as Terraform to increase consistency and reduce risk.
• Champion Security & Compliance: Implement strong security controls, identity management and network segmentation. Work with security teams to ensure regulatory compliance, manage risks and lead mitigation across infrastructure components.
• Engage Stakeholders & Vendors: Partner with architects, business teams and other stakeholders to align infrastructure with business needs. Manage third‑party relationships and communicate technical topics clearly to non‑technical audiences.

About You

• Strong expertise across enterprise IT infrastructure, including compute, storage, backups, networking, operating systems (Windows/Linux) and middleware.
• Deep understanding of Active Directory Domain Services and identity management.
• Solid experience working with Windows and Linux server environments.
• Good knowledge of virtualisation technologies, ideally VMware VCF.
• Strong networking understanding, including TCP/IP, DNS, LAN/WAN and firewalls.
• Hands‑on experience with automation and configuration tools such as Terraform and Ansible.
• Scripting capability in PowerShell, Bash or Python to drive automation and efficiency.
• Experience delivering resilient solutions across backup, disaster recovery, high availability and business continuity.
• Familiarity with modern storage solutions, including vSAN, NAS and object storage platforms.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex issues across multiple technologies and environments.

What You’ll Get

• Competitive Salary: circa £55,000 – £65,000 per annum (based on capability, and experience)
• Additional benefits: A competitive contributory pension scheme where we will double match your contribution to a maximum company contribution of 12%
• You will receive a bonus based on personal and company performance
• Flexible benefits such as a cycle scheme, share incentive plan, technology schemes
• Access to apps such as digital GP service for round the clock access to GP video consultations and NHS repeat prescriptions, wellbeing app to support your health and fitness
• Access to Work + Family Space, providing support and resources for work and family life, including paid emergency childcare and eldercare

More information

This role is offered on a full‑time basis. This role will require National Security Vetting (NSV) checks. We are also offering hybrid/flexible working where travel to the office will be as per business need - 1 day per week on average. Base location for this role will be NG House, Warwick. This role closes on 9th February however we strongly encourage candidates to submit their application as early as possible.

Please note that in most cases, National Grid is unable to offer sponsorship for employment under the UK points‑based immigration system. As such, applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK without requiring sponsorship now or in the future under the UK points‑based immigration system. However, in exceptional circumstances where there is a clear and demonstrable need for specialist skills that cannot be sourced from the local labour market, National Grid may consider offering sponsorship. All applications are welcome from candidates who meet these requirements, regardless of race, nationality, or ethnic origin.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion National Grid is an equal‑opportunity employer that values a broad diversity of talent, knowledge, experience and expertise. We foster a culture of inclusion that drives employee engagement to deliver superior performance to the communities we serve. National Grid is proud to be an affirmative action employer. We encourage minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans to join the National Grid team. At National Grid, we work towards the highest standards in everything we do, including how we support, value and develop our people. Our aim is to encourage and support employees to thrive and be the best they can be. We celebrate the unique differences people bring into our organisation, and welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences and backgrounds, and offer flexible and tailored support, at home and in the office. Our goal to drive, develop and operate our business in a way that results in a more inclusive culture. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, the innovation that comes with having diverse teams and business need. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and provide a working environment where everyone feels valued, respected, fairly treated, and able to reach their full potential.