About this role
Salary: £65,000 - 70,000 per year
Requirements: Unrestricted right to work in the UK; we do not offer sponsorship for this role.Ideally, hands-on network operations experience in the ISP industry.A strong track record in a Network Engineering role and an interest in developing line management experience; previous management experience is preferred but not essential for an engineer aspiring to team leadership.Experience in an ISP, telecommunications, or managed services environment, and familiarity with data centre and Openreach exchange environments.Excellent routing and switching knowledge, troubleshooting and network diagnostic skills, strong analytical skills, and the ability to identify service risks and provide technical solutions.CCNP/JNCIP or equivalent knowledge.Experience with large-scale ISP network technologies, including MPLS, IPv4/IPv6, ISIS, ISIS-SR, BGP, QoS, OSPF, NAT, VLAN, STP, VRRP/HSRP, EVPN, VXLAN, and optical networking.Experience with large-scale ISP access services, including Ethernet access, broadband (BNG, L2TP, PPP), IP-VPN (L2 and L3), VoIP, and FTTX.Experience with one or more of Juniper, Arista, or Cisco hardware, and network management tools such as Zabbix, Grafana, Cacti, and NetBox.Ability to write low-level designs and implementation plans for non-routine work.Ability to work independently, communicate positively, and demonstrate patience, friendliness, and strong interpersonal skills.An understanding of ITIL is advantageous; knowledge of automation using Ansible and/or Python is expected.Desirable experience or knowledge includes Python, SQL, or other scripting languages; fibre and WDM systems; GEA and EAD services; test and lab environments; IXIA testing; Azure DevOps; and Juniper SRX. Responsibilities: Manage, motivate, and develop a team of Network Engineers through activities such as development discussions, one-to-ones, and six-month performance reviews.Provide technical assistance to the team and senior engineers, and act as an escalation point for the Network Engineering team.Support the Network Engineering Manager with process improvements and keep management informed about team performance and project progress against deadlines.Ensure our core and enterprise networks meet required security, availability, and performance levels.Monitor the status, utilisation, performance, and availability of our network and network services.Respond promptly to network faults, alerts, escalations, and change requests; manage escalations and communications in a timely manner.Deliver planned changes and improvements to live environments in line with our change management process, including effective peer review and testing before implementation.Participate in operational projects and safely implement changes to our core and enterprise network.Build and deploy routine network expansions continuously, including exchange rollouts.Identify and escalate issues with problematic platforms and recurring technical problems, and protect the security of our services and data.Apply agreed security and technical standards in our operating practices.Encourage and support the development of our team, including our NOC team, through coaching and by acting as a role model.Write technical documentation and prepare low-level designs and implementation plans for non-routine work.Carry out planned work outside office hours when needed to minimise customer impact. Technologies: AnsibleAzureCiscoDevOpsEthernetGrafanaHardwareSupportITILMPLSNATNetworkPythonSQLSecurityVPNZabbixCloudMobile More:
We are hiring for a Network Engineering team leadership role at Zen, reporting to our Network Engineering Manager. Our team builds, operates, maintains, and routinely deploys our core IP, transit and peering, distribution, access, data centre, exchange, and network automation platforms. The role covers technologies and services including FTTX, Ethernet, IP-VPN, QoS, VoIP, and equipment and tools from Juniper, Cisco, Arista, Zabbix, Grafana, and Cacti. We are the UKs largest independently owned telecommunications and technology provider, a certified B Corp, and put people and the planet before profit. We foster an inclusive workplace, value diversity, and offer opportunities for learning, development, coaching, and mentoring. We are open to discussing part-time or flexible working and reasonable adjustments. The role pays £65,000–£70,000 per year and is hybrid remote in Rochdale. Benefits include 25 days annual leave, increasing with service, the option to purchase additional leave, an extra day off for your birthday, life assurance, private medical healthcare and a healthcare cash plan, pension contributions, flexible and hybrid working, free parking and broadband, a subsidised onsite restaurant and nursery fees, learning and development, and various salary-sacrifice, wellbeing, recognition, and discount schemes.
last updated 40 week of 2026