SC Cleared Network Engineer

Network Engineer
24 month contract (Inside IR35)
£450-500 p/d (Inside IR35)
Hybrid (2 - 3 days onsite in Bristol or Portsmouth)

The Network Engineer will operate within a specialist team responsible for the design, development, documentation, build, and validation of the core physical and virtual networking components forming the backbone of the deployed operational platform. The role demands deep expertise across routing, switching, firewalling, and overlay network technologies, with the ability to deliver resilient, secure networking solutions at scale.

• Design, develop, build, and validate all networking components of the operational platform.
• Produce and peer‑review design artefacts at all levels of detail.
• Support platform‑wide system testing and validation activities.
• Collaborate with Service Management to investigate and resolve operational issues.

Candidates must demonstrate a minimum of 3 years' hands‑on industry experience with detailed knowledge of the design, implementation, and troubleshooting of the following:

• Core Networking
• Hierarchical IP subnetting.
• Routing protocols (internal and external) — OSPF and BGP.
• Advanced knowledge of routers, switches, and firewalls.
• All aspects of QoS — traffic shaping, policing, scheduling, congestion management and avoidance.

• Cisco Nexus and Cisco IOS XE
• Leaf‑and‑Spine network architecture
• VXLAN overlay networks
• Dual Cloud Dual Hub DMVPN solutions
• Firewall IPS/IDS
• AAA Management — e.g. Cisco ISE
• TRL Crypto — device configuration and keymat management

At least one of the following, obtained within the last 5 years:

Networking — CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional) or equivalent
Virtualisation — VMware VCP‑NV (VMware Certified Professional — Network Virtualisation)

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent critical thinking and analytical ability, with the capacity to solve complex problems and propose innovative solutions.
• Valid Security Clearance (SC).
• Proficiency in the MS Office suite.

• Experience working within the UK public sector, preferably within the Defence domain, and ideally with Defence Digital.
• Familiarity with defence networks and gateways.
• A track record of delivering accredited, secure solutions within UK Government.
• Delivery experience across both Agile (SAFe) and Waterfall project methodologies.
• Hands‑on experience with large‑scale virtualisation infrastructure environments operating at scale.
• Familiarity with the Atlassian toolset (JIRA and Confluence) for task tracking and documentation.
• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related discipline.
• Experience designing secure architecture within multi‑tenanted environments.