Principal Design Engineer Network in Somerset

Right across infrastructure, there’s a requirement to not only maintain, but also renew and reimagine. Whatever stage you’re at in your career, with us you’ll have an opportunity to grow and develop. Delivering essential infrastructure services for life, while being safety first, and client and customer centric in a friendly, fun and respectful environment where you are encouraged to thrive.

We are seeking an experienced Principal Network Design Engineer to provide senior technical leadership across our network design function, supporting critical national infrastructure programmes within the Nuclear and Utilities sector. This role acts as the senior technical authority, setting design direction, defining standards and ensuring robust, compliant and high-quality network designs across complex, safety-critical environments.

This role will see you work in a hybrid working set up - working from home at least 3-4 days per week, and travelling to our office in Bridgwater (South West of England) at least 1-2 days per week, and the occasional meeting at our Warwick HQ.

What you’ll do:

• Set and maintain technical solution priorities across the network design portfolio
• Provide senior technical oversight and assurance, reviewing and approving HLDs and LLDs across LAN, WAN, WLAN and security domains
• Define and evolve network design standards, reference architectures and best practice guidance
• Ensure compliance with relevant regulatory frameworks and industry standards
• Lead senior stakeholder engagement including technical workshops and governance boards
• Provide technical escalation support and ensure design integrity through delivery phases
• Lead technical risk management, mentoring and continuous improvement across the design function

Who you are:

An authoritative and highly experienced network design professional with a strong track record of leading complex design activity in regulated or critical environments. You bring deep technical expertise, strong leadership capability, and the credibility to influence senior stakeholders while mentoring and developing engineering teams.

Key Requirements:

• Extensive experience in network design and architecture within complex or regulated environments
• Expert knowledge of Cisco networking technologies and enterprise network design
• Strong experience with Palo Alto (or equivalent) firewalls and Zero Trust architecture
• Proven experience defining WAN strategy, SD-WAN and resilient network design
• Deep understanding of security frameworks (e.g. NIST, NCSC, IEC 62443)
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage senior stakeholders
• Degree-level qualification (or equivalent) with relevant industry certifications (e.g. CCIE or CCNP)

What we offer:

At Telent, we’re committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels valued, supported, and able to thrive. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage diverse perspectives across our teams.

The additional benefits with this role:

• Company car allowance
• Healthcare
• 26 days holiday, plus public holidays, and the option to buy or sell days annually
• Company pension scheme
• A range of family friendly policies
• Occupational health support and wellbeing Portal
• Discounts on Cinema, Restaurants and Shopping with Telent Reward scheme.

We are guided by our values and behaviours: Be Inclusive, Take Responsibility, Collaborate, Be Customer-focussed. Join us and help deliver critical infrastructure projects that make a real difference. It’s an exceptional time to be a part of M Group.