Senior Specialist Engineer - Networks in Leeds

The Senior Specialist Engineer - Networks is a senior technical role responsible for delivering and maintaining excellence across the network infrastructure estate. The post holder acts as a subject matter expert and network architect, driving the design and evolution of the network environment, providing expert-level technical leadership during major incidents, and working across multi-disciplinary teams to ensure network services underpin the organisation's operational and scientific mission.

Working alongside the Network Manager, the post holder ensures all systems are optimally configured, resilient, secure, and performant. Beyond day-to-day operational responsibilities, the role carries explicit accountability for network architecture, strategic design, and cross-functional incident response.

Main duties of the job:

• Own and maintain a comprehensive and current understanding of the network architecture, acting as an authoritative technical reference for network design decisions.
• Maintain consistent availability and performance across specialist network systems, collaborating with other specialist engineers and ICT colleagues as required.
• Act as a primary network technical authority during major incidents, coordinating resolution activity across multi-disciplinary teams including infrastructure, security, application, and service management functions.
• Act as a technical point of expertise, providing advice, guidance, and training to improve and enhance services for end users.
• Support the Network Team in ensuring hardware, software, and associated technologies are designed, procured, and delivered efficiently and cost-effectively.
• Contribute to and lead the production of network architecture documentation, including High Level Designs (HLD), Low Level Designs (LLD), and As-Built records.

Essential criteria:

• Formal technical qualification equivalent to CCNP level or above, or substantial experience in a senior network engineering role, with advanced knowledge of enterprise routing and switching, network security, wireless technologies, and large-scale network infrastructure management.
• Proven experience producing and maintaining network architecture artefacts, including High Level Designs (HLDs), Low Level Designs (LLDs), topology diagrams, reference architectures, and As-Built documentation across enterprise LAN, WAN, WLAN, and security environments.
• Demonstrable ability to lead or contribute to network architecture initiatives, provide technical assurance and design reviews, and ensure solutions align with organisational standards, security-by-design principles, and best practice methodologies.
• Significant experience acting as a senior technical authority during major incidents, leading network diagnosis and resolution activities, collaborating within multi-disciplinary Major Incident Response Teams, and managing complex, high-pressure situations.
• Experience producing Root Cause Analysis (RCA) reports, Post-Incident Reviews (PIRs), and maintaining incident runbooks, playbooks, and escalation procedures while driving continuous service improvement and reducing recurrence of critical incidents.
• Skilled in monitoring network infrastructure to optimise performance, support capacity planning, identify risks, and proactively address technical issues to maintain service availability and resilience for large user populations.
• Excellent written, verbal, reporting, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, work effectively across multidisciplinary teams, deliver outstanding customer service, and manage competing priorities under changing timescales.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience with network Function Virtualisation (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) architectures, including overlay/underlay design models and virtual network appliance deployment.
• Experience with advanced network automation toolchains including Terraform, Ansible, or Python-based frameworks applied to infrastructure provisioning and compliance enforcement.
• Hands-on experience with SIEM platforms (e.g. Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel) in the context of network security monitoring, alert triage, and threat hunting.
• Experience with Zero Trust technologies such as Zscaler ZIA/ZPA, Illumio, or equivalent ZTNA platforms in an enterprise deployment context.
• Familiarity with network observability tools such as ThousandEyes, NetBrain, or Datadog Network Performance Monitoring for advanced path analysis and synthetic monitoring.
• Experience with ITSM platforms (e.g. ServiceNow or equivalent) including use of the platform for major incident management, problem records, and change advisory workflows.
• Familiarity with HPC or scientific network environments, including high-throughput storage networking or research network interconnect requirements.

This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQs in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool or London (Canary Wharf). We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow.