Principal Network Engineer

Salary: £52,000 - 92,000 per year

Requirements:

• Bachelors degree in a related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 10+ years of experience in enterprise network engineering and architecture.
• Cisco CCNP required; CCIE preferred.
• Azure Network Engineer (AZ-700), Cisco DevNet, SAFe Agilist, or similar certifications preferred.
• Experience developing technical documentation, network standards, and implementation/support artefacts.
• Experience with network automation tools such as Ansible, NetBrain, and Python.
• Strong stakeholder management, vendor engagement, and collaboration skills.
• Advanced knowledge of BGP, OSPF, SD-WAN (Cisco Viptela), carrier WAN, and internet services.
• Expertise in Cisco LAN technologies, including VLANs, STP, EtherChannel, stacking, redundancy, and QoS.
• Experience with Cisco and Aruba wireless and network access solutions (WLAN, ISE, ClearPass).
• Strong Layer 2/3 routing, switching, wireless, and troubleshooting skills.
• Knowledge of network security, internet gateways, and secure connectivity practices.
• Experience with Azure networking and hybrid cloud connectivity.
• Understanding of cloud networking, resiliency, scalability, and automation.
• Proven experience creating detailed network designs, implementation plans, change records, runbooks, and operational documentation.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain WAN, LAN, WLAN, and SD-WAN infrastructure, ensuring high availability, security, resiliency, and scalability.
• Provide technical expertise and strategic guidance on network architecture, upgrades, lifecycle management, and emerging technologies to meet evolving business needs.
• Lead network projects and complex technical workstreams, acting as both a team leader and an individual contributor to deliver outcomes on time and within budget.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders, managed service providers, and vendors to ensure requirements are understood, risks are managed, and solutions are delivered effectively.
• Create and maintain comprehensive network documentation including network engineering standards, configurations, diagrams, low-level designs, implementation records, as-built documents, and operational processes.
• Support major incidents, problem investigations, and escalations relating to network services or performance, driving troubleshooting to resolution and identifying structural improvements.
• Support planned network changes and maintenance activities outside normal business hours.
• Participate in an on-call rota to provide out-of-hours support for critical network incidents and service restoration.
• Prepare operational readiness by creating and maintaining configuration standards, support runbooks, and handover material; store artefacts in SharePoint and complete transition to support where required.
• Stay current with industry trends and innovations, recommending practical improvements that enhance capability, standardisation, automation, and service quality.
• Continually identify opportunities to leverage automation, AI, and SRE practices to streamline delivery, improve network reliability, increase operational resilience, and support the evolution towards intelligent network operations.
• Partake in peer reviews, technical governance, and knowledge sharing across the Network Engineering Chapter.
• Coach, mentor, and have line management responsibilities for a small team of network engineers (2-6).
• Operate within a SAFe Agile delivery model, with active participation in agile ceremonies, effective management of work through Jira, and collaboration with cross-functional teams to deliver network engineering outcomes.

Technologies:

• AI
• Ansible
• Aruba
• Azure
• Cloud
• Cisco
• Support
• JIRA
• LAN
• Network
• Python
• Security
• SharePoint
• WLAN

More:

We are a global energy business delivering safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses, and we are shaping a sustainable, carbon-free future through technology and innovation. Our IT and Digital teams work in close partnership across our diverse energy businesses to revolutionise the way we operate, embracing Agile methodologies and digital mindsets to improve efficiency and create new capabilities. This Principal Network Engineer role is based in Warwick, UK on a hybrid working model, with occasional travel to other offices as needed. We offer a competitive salary of circa 70,000–80,000 per annum, an annual performance incentive of up to 30%, 28 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays, a generous pension scheme, life insurance, flexible benefits, wellbeing support, and Work + Family Space resources. We support professional development, flexible working, and an inclusive workplace.

last updated 36 week of 2026