Our world-leading Time & Frequency department are seeking a Senior Network Engineer with hands-on infrastructure and network design and implementation experience.

We are now working in a hybrid way, with a mix of remote and office working. We strive to offer a great work life balance - if you are looking for full time, part time or flexible options, we will try to make this work where business possible. This will be dependent on the kind of role you do and part of the business you work in.

You will be joining our team at an exciting time - we maintain the UK’s National Time Scale, UTC (NPL), and are currently developing a new resilient Time Scale facility that will underpin our Critical National Infrastructure. This will address the risks associated with our dependency on global navigation satellite systems (such as GPS) that are vulnerable to both natural and intentional interference.

You’ll enjoy collaborating with prominent Scientists, Engineers, and Specialists in Cyber Security, to design and implement network infrastructure to time, quality, and cost.

Key responsibilities:

• Design and Architecture: Develop comprehensive network designs that support the unique needs of scientific and engineering capabilities, ensuring robustness, scalability, and security.

• Build and Specification: Oversee the specification, selection, and procurement of networking equipment, ensuring compatibility and integration with existing and future scientific instruments.

• Configuration and Implementation: Configure and deploy networking solutions, including routers, switches, firewalls, and other network devices, tailored to the specific requirements of each project.
  
  
• Security Hygiene: Keep up to date with and apply best practice, collaborating with security specialists.
  
  
• Testing: Execute integration tests where appropriate, meticulously documenting, and analysing results to identify potential vulnerabilities and areas for improvement.

• Troubleshooting and Support: Provide expert-level troubleshooting for complex network issues, ensuring minimal downtime and optimal performance of scientific equipment and IT infrastructure.

• Collaboration and Leadership: Work closely with scientific, engineering and IT leadership to ensure technology solutions align with research objectives. Mentor junior staff and lead by example in technical excellence.
  
  
• Quality Assurance Coordination: Maintain meticulous records to support quality assurance processes.
  
  
• Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with a diverse array of stakeholders, to ensure networking requirements are met and understood.

This role offers exciting opportunities to collaborate with subject-matter experts across the business.

We believe that diversity and unique perspectives are key to the success of our science projects. For this role, we particularly encourage applications from candidates underrepresented in STEM disciplines, in particular women, disabled, black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates.

To be successful in this role, you will have the following skills, experience, and qualifications:

Essential:

• Hands-on experience of installing, testing and integrating network equipment
• Relevant academic and professional qualifications, or equivalent hands-on experience
• Experience with IT and network infrastructure (servers, switches, firewalls, WAN, LAN, routers, proxy servers), their management software, IT, security tooling setup, and applying policy-based processes
• Design and commission of systems, aligned with standards and certifications
• Cyber security hygiene practices and technology
• Experience with network monitoring software/tools
• Cloud-native products, virtualisation, containerisation, and databases technologies installation and management
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex technical concepts
• Team player with a proactive, never-fail attitude in the face of ambiguous situations

Highly-desirable:

• Experience of Microsoft Azure DevOps
• Agile working practices

It is also desirable if you have interest in Physics, measurements, and communications, for example: 

- Time and frequency measurement and time scale steering
- Real-time monitoring and control of electronic hardware
- Satellite communication, optical fibre and GNSS-based systems 

We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in this specific area means that nationality, residency and elevated security requirements are more tightly defined than others. You will be asked about this throughout the recruitment process. To work in this role, you will need to have a SC clearance with no restrictions, or you must have the ability to obtain a SC clearance.

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a world-leading centre of excellence that provides cutting-edge measurement science, engineering and technology to underpin prosperity and quality of life in the UK. 

NPL and DSIT have strong commitments to diversity and equality of opportunity, and welcome applications from candidates irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or age, providing they meet the required criteria. Applications from women, disabled, black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates in particular are encouraged. All disabled candidates (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) who satisfy the minimum criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme. 

At NPL, we believe our success is a result of the diversity and talent of our people. We strive to nurture and respect individuals to ensure everyone feels valued by treating everyone on the basis of their own individual merits and abilities regardless of their own or perceived identity, as part of our commitment to diversity & inclusion, we hold memberships and accreditations to ensure we’re creating an environment where all our colleagues feel supported and welcome, please see our Diversity & Inclusion page.

 We are committed to the health and well-being of our employees. Flexible working and social activities are embedded in our culture to create a positive work-life balance, along with a broad range of benefits. Our values are at the heart of what we do, and they shape the way we interact, develop our people and celebrate success. 

To ensure everyone has an equal chance, we’re always willing to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss, please contact us. 

As part of our commitment to diversity & inclusion, we signed up to the Institute of Physics' Project Juno in 2015 as a Juno Supporter. NPL were proud to be awarded Juno Practitioner status in 2018. NPL also joined Stonewall as a Diversity champion in 2015, participating in their annual Workplace Equality Index for the equality of LGBT+ community at NPL. In 2018, NPL became a member of the Business Disability Forum and joined the disability confident scheme as level 1 committed employer.

To ensure everyone has an equal chance, we’re always willing to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss, please contact us.