Network Security Lead

️ Network Security Lead (BPSS Cleared / Eligible)

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Location:

London, UK (Hybrid - 2 days on-site/week)
💼 Position Type:
Full-Time, Permanent
💰 Salary: £70,000 - £80,000 per annum + Benefits

🌐 Role Overview

We are seeking a senior, hands-on Network Security Lead with 8+ years of expertise spanning enterprise routing/switching, multi-vendor firewalls, Software-Defined Networking (SDN), and hybrid cloud connectivity.

In this role, you will act as the principal L3 technical escalation authority and operational lead across our secure network estate. You will drive high-availability network operations, lead major incident resolution, enforce rigorous security posture, and champion compliance within BPSS-governed and enterprise-scale environments.

🔑 Key Responsibilities

🚨 Technical Leadership & Incident Management

🎯 Serve as the senior Subject Matter Expert (SME) and primary escalation point for L3 network and security incidents, troubleshooting complex multi-technology outages through to root cause analysis (RCA).
📋 Oversee enterprise incident, change, and problem management processes, ensuring strict alignment with SLAs, operational resilience, and Change Advisory Board (CAB) governance.
🔄 Lead scheduled hardware/software lifecycle upgrades, firmware patching, and configuration hardening across all edge, campus, and core infrastructure.
⏰ Provide escalation coverage within a 24/7 operational framework, participating in on-call rotations and critical response scenarios.

🔒 Network Security, Firewalls & Access Control

🧱 Administer, tune, and harden enterprise perimeter and internal firewalls across Palo Alto (PAN-OS), Fortinet (Forti Gate), Cisco FTD, and Cisco Meraki.
🛂 Design, deploy, and support enterprise Network Access Control (NAC) via Cisco ISE, covering 802.1X policy enforcement, posture assessment, guest access, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) integrations.
🔍 Monitor vulnerability advisories, evaluate threat profiles, execute remediation programs, and maintain adherence to audit baselines and BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) standards.

🔀 Core Routing, Switching & Infrastructure Operations

🏢 Configure, optimize, and troubleshoot large-scale data centre and enterprise campus fabrics, including Cisco Nexus, Aruba, Dell, and HP hardware estates.
⚡ Maintain advanced routing and data centre protocols, including BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, VXLAN/EVPN, DMVPN, HSRP/GLBP, and VPC.
📶 Manage enterprise wireless infrastructures across Cisco, Aruba, and Meraki controllers and access points, ensuring optimized RF coverage and guest/corporate network isolation.

⚙️ Governance, Continuous Improvement & Mentorship

🤖 Identify and build operational automation scripts using Python, Power Shell, or Ansible to streamline routine configurations, backups, and health checks.
📚 Maintain clear operational documentation, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), network topologies, and knowledge-transfer repositories.
👥 Mentor, train, and guide mid-level network and security engineers, promoting best practices in technical governance and customer stakeholder communication.

🎓 Qualifications & Experience

📌 Essential

⏳

Experience:

Minimum 8 years of dedicated experience delivering and supporting enterprise-grade network and security operations.
🔌 Routing & Switching:
Proven mastery of Cisco data centre and campus platforms (Catalyst, Nexus) and industry routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, VXLAN).
🛡️ Network Security:
Deep hands-on engineering background with next-generation firewalls (Palo Alto, Fortinet, or Cisco FTD) and enterprise VPN architectures (IPsec, SSL).
🔑 Identity & NAC:
Practical deployment and troubleshooting experience with Cisco ISE or comparable 802.1X authentication systems.
🇬🇧 Security Clearance:
Must hold active BPSS clearance…