Network Design Lead

Network Engineering Design Lead
Location: London

Duration: 6 months

Rate: £700, Inside IR35

Clearance: DV required

If you enjoy designing complex enterprise networks and turning technical thinking into solutions that stand up to real-world operational demands, this is a leadership role where you'll make a genuine difference. Hiring for a reputed client, you'll lead a specialist team of network engineers delivering high-quality network designs for critical services-supporting resilience, security and long-term platform strategy.

What you'll be doing:
* Lead the end-to-end design of network solutions, from high-level direction through to detailed design outputs
* Produce and review both high-level and low-level network designs, ensuring they meet availability, scalability, resilience, security and supportability needs
* Define network architectures and establish design principles, standards, blueprints and reference architectures
* Drive network lifecycle planning, including technology refresh, capacity growth and platform evolution
* Carry out technical assurance and design governance, reviewing designs from engineers, suppliers and third-party partners
* Ensure operational support requirements are built into solutions from the start
* Collaborate closely with solution and security architects to create integrated, end-to-end outcomes
* Lead technical investigations, proof of concepts and technology evaluations

What you'll bring:
* Extensive experience designing complex enterprise network solutions across routing/switching and core/distribution/access concepts
* Strong network architecture fundamentals and the ability to translate business requirements into practical network designs
* Proven experience producing and reviewing HLDs and LLDs, with confidence in design governance and technical assurance
* Understanding of NIST and CIS security controls
* Demonstrable experience across several areas such as: Layer 2/Layer 3 design, STP variants, LACP/port channels, first-hop redundancy, OSPF/EIGRP, data centre spine-and-leaf, VXLAN overlays, and/or network security/firewalling
* Hands-on technical leadership with the ability to balance technical, commercial and operational considerations
* A people-focused approach to developing others while maintaining technical authority

Additional information:
* You'll work within a customer-first team protecting critical national infrastructure, with a culture of clear communication and collaboration

Ready to lead network design that's resilient, secure and future-ready? Apply today and let's talk about how you can help shape the next phase of network engineering.

If you receive suspicious outreach claiming to be from us, please contact us via the ManpowerGroup website.