Platform Technical Lead, Enterprise Network Services

About us

At National Grid, we keep people connected and society moving. But it’s so much more than that. National Grid supplies us with the environment to make it happen. As we generate momentum in the energy transition for all, we don’t plan on leaving any of our customers in the dark. So, join us as a Platform Technical Lead, Enterprise Network Services, and find your superpower. We need you!

We want to find an innovative, adaptable, and results-oriented Platform Technical Lead for our Enterprise Network Services. This position can be located in Northboro, MA or Syracuse, NY,  (candidates may also reside in either Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, or Maine). If you yearn to be innovative, contribute new ideas, and play a critical part in our Technology & Innovation organization, we want to hear from you!

About the role

Enterprise Network Services is a global infrastructure technology service delivery function which operates in the UK and northeast US. We deliver high-uptime LAN/WAN/Internet connectivity and voice across multiple technologies at over 1000 sites for 35000 colleagues. Our major interfaces are security, property, critical national infrastructure (CNI)/operational technology teams. In the Director, Platform Technical Lead role for Enterprise Network Services (ENS), your purpose is to own the technical journey of the platform from where our enterprise network is today to where the organisation needs it to be.

Enterprise Network Services is a global infrastructure technology service delivery function which operates in the UK and northeast US. We deliver high-uptime LAN/WAN/Internet connectivity and voice across multiple technologies at over 1000 sites for 35000 colleagues. Our major interfaces are security, property, critical national infrastructure (CNI)/operational technology teams. As Director, Platform Technical Lead  for Enterprise Network Services (ENS), you'll own the technical journey of the platform from where our enterprise network is today to where the organisation needs it to be.

You'll also own the technical health, lifecycle, value and coherence of the platform, ensuring that investment decisions, service evolution and delivery outcomes remain aligned to business priorities, security requirements and measurable operational value.

What you'll do

As the Technical Lead for the Enterprise Network Services (ENS) Platform, your key responsibilities will include:

• Define and drive the technical vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap for the Enterprise Network Services platform.
• Partner with network platform owners and operational stakeholders across the UK and US to align technology strategy with business objectives.
• Lead network modernization initiatives, including standardization, consolidation, lifecycle management, and OT/IT convergence.
• Provide architectural leadership across enterprise networking technologies, including SD-WAN, LAN, Wi-Fi, voice, network security, observability, and management platforms.
• Serve as the primary interface between Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, and the network domain.Establish and govern architecture standards, design patterns, technical guardrails, and technology governance processes.
• Define technology selection criteria, architecture exception processes, technical debt management, and production-readiness standards.
• Ensure seamless integration of network services with cloud, cybersecurity, identity, endpoint, workplace, data, and service management platforms.
• Own platform health, resilience, performance, availability, capacity planning, and technology lifecycle management.
• Develop and track KPIs covering reliability, security, compliance, cost efficiency, automation, service quality, and business value realization.
• Partner with Finance, Procurement, and platform leaders to build investment cases and optimize technology, supplier, and cloud-network spend.
• Lead vendor and supplier architecture reviews, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards while minimizing technology lock-in.
• Shape reusable network services and standard consumption models that support scalable, repeatable business solutions.
• Embed Zero Trust, segmentation, SASE, secure-access, and threat management principles into network architecture.
• Provide architecture assurance and governance for major programs, ensuring solutions meet standards, support models, and operational requirements.
• Lead the ENS Zero-Ops, automation, and AI strategy, driving increased self-service and reducing manual engineering and operational work.
• Oversee data, automation, and AI architecture, including systems integration, network orchestration, governance, and automated change controls.
• Design and implement integrations using APIs, scripting, webhooks, ServiceNow, automation platforms, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Establish modern engineering practices, including CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, automated testing, and software-defined network management.
• Mentor engineering teams, evaluate emerging technologies, and advise leadership on network innovation, market trends, risks, and strategic opportunities.

About you

• 10+ years of progressive experience in the network domain through operations, engineering, and architecture with significant expertise in leading technology strategies.
• Formal academic qualifications in a relevant technical discipline, or equivalent experience.
• Network automation and development - a proven, hands-on track record of building and operating production network automation and systems integrations, including:

• • Python for network automation (e.g. Netmiko, NAPALM, Nornir, Scrapli, ncclient), with structured parsing and test frameworks such as Cisco pyATS/Genie and TextFSM, plus Linux and shell scripting.
  • Model-driven programmability using NETCONF, RESTCONF and YANG data models, and streaming telemetry (gNMI).
  • Vendor and controller APIs across the network estate, e.g. Cisco Catalyst Center, Meraki Dashboard, Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, Cisco ISE, Infoblox, F5, NetBrain and ThousandEyes.
  • Systems integration with ServiceNow (ITSM, ITOM, Telecom Network Inventory, CMDB and scripted REST APIs) and CSDM-aligned CMDB data, using REST APIs, webhooks and event-driven workflows, bots and Microsoft Teams ChatOps, and AI and agentic architecture for ticket deflection.
  • Infrastructure as code and NetDevOps - strong working knowledge of tools used across the infrastructure-as-code space, including:
  • Ansible (including Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform) and Terraform/OpenTofu for declarative configuration and provisioning, with Jinja2 templating and YAML/JSON data models.
  • Git-based workflows and CI/CD pipelines (e.g. GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps or Jenkins) with automated testing and peer review of every change, taking prototypes and MVPs to production.
  • Network source of truth platforms such as NetBox or Nautobot, with golden-configuration, drift and compliance management.
  • Pre-change validation and network digital-twin testing (e.g. Batfish, Containerlab, Cisco Modeling Labs), secrets management (e.g. HashiCorp Vault) and containers (Docker).

• Solid understanding of multi-vendor enterprise network technologies and operations, and of shift-left KPIs such as automated versus manual change, auto-remediation rate, alert-to-incident ratio, MTTD/MTTR and self-service adoption.
• Experience designing infrastructure solutions that are audited against cybersecurity frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001, NCSC CAF, NIST and CIS.
• Proven ability to lead in a matrixed environment across the US and UK, aligning teams to shared objectives and fostering collaboration.
• Demonstrated experience managing technology lifecycle, technical debt, platform health, total cost of ownership, investment trade-offs and measurable benefits realisation.
• Experience providing design authority and delivery assurance across complex programmes, strategic suppliers and cross-platform integrations.
• Strong understanding of Zero Trust network architecture, identity-aware access, segmentation, SASE and the governance of security exceptions and technical risk.
• Desirable: exposure to emerging Cisco capabilities such as Cisco Cloud Control, AgenticOps (AI Canvas, Agentic Workflows, Deep Network Model, Cloud Control Studio), ThousandEyes Agentic Actions, Splunk Agent Builder, unified Meraki and Catalyst Center management, and MCP servers. Experience with OT systems (especially utility) and OT/IT convergence patterns. Certifications such as CCNP or CCIE Automation (formerly Cisco DevNet), Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Network Automation or HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate.

More Information

Are you the right fit for this exciting role? You want to learn more about the position and National Grid's ambitious Digital Transformation? Then let's chat!

Rewarding work and a collaborative, team-oriented culture are just the beginning.  Review our digital benefit guide at ngbenefitslivebrighter.com  for full details and descriptions. 

Our organization follows a hybrid work structure in our service territory (NY & MA) where employees can work remotely or from the office, as needed.  Working from the office is encouraged when working on tasks that require a high degree of collaboration.  We work with our employees to foster a flexible work schedule.

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