At AQA, we’re committed to advancing education and we’re committed to our people. As the largest provider of academic qualifications in the UK, we mark over 10 million exam papers each year and it’s our people who make this happen.
Senior Network Engineer
Permanent
Salary
Manchester: £46,400 - £52,500
Hybrid working
Want to join a forward thinking business adopting a cloud first mentality?
Love exploring new ideas and learning?
Want to be part of an approachable, fun, down-to-earth team?
AQA are on an ambitious journey and as our new Senior Network Engineer you’ll be crucial to the organisation continuing to deliver it’s charitable purpose of enabling millions of students to reach their potential every year.
Using your good speaking and communications skills, you will support internal stakeholders across the business, supporting projects and responding to service issues, and you will be able to liaise with external stakeholders and partners.
What’s in it for me?
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The opportunity to learn different technology and get involved in large projects
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The ability to influence the direction of the business connectivity
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Smart Hybrid working – 2 days in the office on average per week with occasional travel to the other offices in London, Guildford and Milton Keynes,
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Newly refurbished office space with a gym, games room, yoga room and subsidised café
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25 days’ annual leave rising to 30 days, plus all Bank Holidays and additional Christmas leave
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35 hour working week
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Excellent contributory pension (6% - 11.5% dependent on employee contribution)
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Private Medical Insurance & Health Care Cash Reward Plan
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Good rates of pay or time off in lieu for volunteering for the out of hours call rota (5-8pm evenings and some weekends)
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The satisfaction of working for a charity, knowing that the work you do really makes a difference to millions of people
What will I need to succeed?
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5+ years network experience supporting enterprise networks at CCNP level.
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A flexible approach to adapt to changing business needs.
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Ability to configure and maintain network equipment.
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Ability to assess and design new network requirements.
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Balance project and BAU workloads.
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Expected to be SME for all network technologies.
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Experience with network monitoring and management tools to manage capacity and availability.
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Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving abilities, clearly using logic and reasoning.
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Familiarity with security protocols and best practices to ensure AQA remains safe and legally compliant.
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Ability to manage internal and external stakeholders, ensuring clear communication.
Technical skills
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Cisco Firewalls, IPS, Switching & Routing (Essential)
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Cisco ISE (Essential)
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Cisco Umbrella (Essential)
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MPLS / SDWAN routing (Essential)
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Meraki switching (MS), Firewall(MX) & Wireless(MR) technologies (Essential)
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FortiGate Firewalls (Desirable)
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Cisco WSA proxies (Desirable)
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Cisco Nexus Data Centre Switching (Desirable)
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F5 WAF (Desirable)
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Solarwinds monitoring (Desirable)
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Azure networking (Desirable)
How to apply
Read the full job description then upload your CV and covering letter. Interviews will be over two stages, a teams call with the hiring manager followed by a face to face interview in the office (so that you can see what you are letting yourself in for)
Applications will be reviewed as they are received and we may close the advert early if an appointment is made.
AQA is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, disability status, citizenship, or any other aspect which makes people unique.
#PRO22
Recruitment Agencies
We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place.
Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.
Full Job Description
Summary
To manage and maintain cost effective, robust and secure networking and corporate computing services to cost, quality and time criteria ensuring SLAs are adhered to.Senior Network Engineer – Cisco Network and Security Focus
Permanent
Manchester / Guildford
North: £43,258 - £49,776 / South: £46,219 - £52,738 + Attractive benefits
Key accountabilitiesManage and maintain secure, robust and cost effective services including networks and communications systems as well as computing, storage and back up platforms. Ensure effective systems monitoring processes are in place to identify issues and ensure timely resolution and/or make proposals for improvements.
Carry out and/or facilitate service and systems maintenance to ensure effective delivery of service against agreed cost, quality and time criteria.
Take ownership of personal development activities and actively pursue cross skilling to enable flexible working between Network and Data Centre Engineers.
To liaise with, direct and contribute to professional development of Infrastructure Technicians working on Engineering activity.
Engage in supplier management meetings and tasks to ensure effective business relationships are in place and monitored against SLAs and other performance criteria.
Identify and resolve problems and issues on existing systems, networks and platforms, fully document and contribute to analysis and review processes.
Monitor, document and report systems capacity and usage and contribute to capacity management processes to ensure business needs are met.
Make effective and timely contribution to and implementation of solutions designs in conjunction with Project Teams and the Standards and Architecture Team.
Actively promote, contribute content to and support IT standards including Architecture and Security.
Proactively support reporting on SLAs, activity and outputs and make proposals to improve service efficiency as required.
General accountabilitiesTo comply with all AQA’s policies and other legislative requirements, including but not limited to H&S, Equal Opportunities and ISMS.
Where business needs change, to undertake other responsibilities which are of a commensurate level outside the terms of this role profile.
Person profile
Knowledge
I/P - Broad understanding of the political, educational and business context within which AQA works.
A/I/P - Understanding of programme and project management methodologies.
A/I/P - Demonstrably high level of competence in:
telecoms (Inc. VoIP)
networking, especially Cisco technologies.
MPLS
wireless technologies
VPN protocols
firewalls & FWSM
Cisco ACS & ISE
IPS.
A/I/P - A sound working knowledge of:
mainstream operating systems
MFA
virtualisation
video conferencing.
Qualification
A - Computing degree or equivalent level of business computing experience and/or Professional accreditation (BCS etc).
A - Relevant vendor accreditations - CCNE etc.
Skills
A/I/P - Logical thinker, able to diagnose and troubleshoot complex technical issues in a pressured environment.
A/I/P - Demonstrable ability to manage and troubleshoot network technologies and processes. Broad knowledge of data centre technologies.
I/P - Commercial awareness, ensuring value for money principles are applied to own area of work.
I/P - Proven ability to produce and maintain effective documentation.
A/I/P - Expertise in resource management and risk management methodologies and processes.
I/P - Good communications skills, able to engage with colleagues and customers at all levels, whether technical or otherwise.
I/P - Well developed, demonstrable planning ability.
I/P - Persuades and influences both internally and in external networks.
I/P - Resilient and able to work under pressure and in a fast-moving change environment.
Leadership skills
I/P - Ability to resolve problems and adapt to change.
I/P - Maintain constructive links with other teams and work collaboratively to deliver targets.
I/P - Receive feedback and learn from mistakes for continuous self-development.
Experience
I/P - Experience of supplier/service management move to experience section.
A/I - Extensive experience of a broad range of network installations and configurations in a similar business environment.
A/I - Experience in successfully delivering enterprise class computing and networking infrastructure including high availability and disaster recovery services.
A/I - Experience of complex problem analysis and resolution in a high pressure environment.
A/I - Extensive experience of delivering mainstream networking technologies and telecoms and at least one of the following: enterprise backup tools, SAN technologies, blade servers and datacentre ancillary services.
Assessment key (criteria to be assessed at the selection stage):
A – application (it is essential to provide evidence on application for shortlisting purposes)
I –interview
T – test (or work sample)
P – probation.
Top Skills
What We Do
At AQA, we’re proud to be the leading provider of accessible qualifications and support services for teachers and students. We set and mark around half of all GCSEs and A-levels taken in the UK every year; we ask the questions that matter, so that every learner can achieve the results they deserve.
Teachers and learners are at the heart of everything we do. As an independent education charity, any money we make is reinvested back into research so that every learner receives fair and inclusive assessment. We’re always here for our teachers and support them through free training, expert guidance and unbeatable resources. As the most chosen awarding body, we have the biggest teaching community too – teachers are in good company with AQA.
The AQA Group also includes Exampro, TQUK, Project Q, AlphaPlus, Grademaker.
