Senior Network Engineer

About the Role

The National Physical Laboratory is the UK's leading centre for measurement science, engineering, and technology. We develop national measurement standards, support scientific and commercial innovation, and collaborate with industries to ensure precision in products and processes. Through our important scientific and research work we address key challenges in health, energy, security, telecommunications and sustainability, driving economic growth and enhancing quality of life.

We’re seeking a talented and experienced Senior Network Engineer to join our growing Technical Operations team. The primary focus of the role is network engineering, with a secondary requirement to provide on‑premises infrastructure support. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in managing and supporting complex network environments and ideally have some experience of working in a hybrid network/infrastructure role.

The role offers exposure to a wide range of technologies across networks, physical infrastructure and cloud computing and will be instrumental in ensuring that the critical technical systems supporting the essential work our scientists do, is maintained to a high standard.

The ideal candidate will live within commuting distance to our Teddington site as we support a physical network, but we will consider a degree of remote working for an exceptional candidate, and we welcome applications from experienced candidates, who have a wide range of technology experience even if that experience does not include some of the technologies listed below.

• Design, implement, and manage on-premises network infrastructure which is primarily based on Alcatel‑Lucent network switches and Wireless Access Points
• Configure and maintain Fortinet firewalls to ensure network security
• Monitor, manage and maintain network performance and troubleshoot issues to ensure optimal operation
• Implement network and infrastructure improvements and manage changes to support all users with minimal downtime
• Provide support to other Infrastructure team members responsible for Endpoint IPAM/DHCP/DNS services
• Undertake project work, maintenance and remediation on NPL’s on‑prem infrastructure including virtualisation, storage and backup systems (e.g. VMWare, Hitachi Storage Array, Rubrik, Nimble)
• Ensure that all network systems and equipment are appropriately patched and secured. Collaborate with cybersecurity to ensure internal and external networks are fully secured using network access control and segmentation technologies
• Manage and report on network utilisation and performance of wired and wireless infrastructure to ensure that business requirements are met, and solutions are developed that are fit for purpose
• Create and maintain operational documentation and diagrams relating to all of NPL’s network and telephone systems

• Network protocols and topologies including OSPF, BGP, VRFs
• Experience with Alcatel‑Lucent Enterprise switching and Omni Vista management is ideal but experience with other equivalent enterprise networking technologies is also acceptable
• Experience of Alcatel‑Lucent Enterprise Stellar Wi‑Fi or similar Wi‑Fi networks
• Stateful and Next Gen Firewalls (NPL uses Fortinet) and IPSec VPN
• Network security concepts such as NAC, 802.1x and segmentation systems and any experience with Forescout is beneficial
• Protocols used in resilient systems e.g. VRRP, LACP, Virtual‑Chassis
• Proficiency in using network management tools (e.g., Solar Winds)
• Experience of implementing SD‑WAN, MPLS technologies
• Experience with network segmentation, zero trust principles and micro‑segmentation
• Knowledge of IPv6 implementation and transition strategies
• Familiarity with wireless security…