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