Principal Network Engineer
About us
Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.
To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.
IT and Digital works in a harmonised partnership with the National Grid group of diverse energy businesses to deliver technology which revolutionises the way we operate. As we lead the charge towards a carbon-free future, our teams are embracing disruptive changes in our industry by working with Agile methodologies and adopting Digital mindsets to drive efficiency and bring new capabilities for our internal and external customers.
Our work here is critical. National Grid moves energy to millions of homes and businesses in the UK and US and the technology we utilise to complete that task is down to us. The successful applicant for this position will be an integral contributor towards this goal and we will support your professional development as part of our multi-cultural, customer-centric global team.
This role operates under a hybrid working model and is based out of the Warwick, UK office. Hybrid work expectations are subject to business needs and company policy.
About the Role
Our vision is to be recognised as a world leading Information Technology and Digital function in the energy sector and a trusted partner across National Grid businesses.
In the Principal Network Engineer role, you will lead the design, implementation, and lifecycle management of resilient, secure, and scalable WAN, LAN, WLAN, and SD-WAN network services.
You will create accurate low level designs and implementations plans adhering to defined standards, provide strategic guidance on network architecture and technology direction, and ensure operational readiness, security, performance, and reliability across enterprise network platforms.
You will lead on the creation and adoption of network engineering standards, with a view to adopting a automation first mindset and ensuring alignment to relevant technical roadmaps, working closely with Technical Leads, Architects and other engineers.
Bringing a calm, measured approach to incident response—even in challenging situations—you’ll provide clear technical direction grounded in integrity and aligned with National Grid’s values.
You’ll also have the presence and credibility to engage senior stakeholders, provide authoritative technical leadership, and communicate complex concepts in a clear and meaningful way aligned to project outcomes.
What You'll Do
As an employee in the Principal Network Engineer role, your key roles and responsibilities will include:
• Design, implement, and maintain WAN, LAN, WLAN, and SD-WAN infrastructure, ensuring high availability, security, resiliency, and scalability.
• Provide technical expertise and strategic guidance on network architecture, upgrades, lifecycle management, and emerging technologies to meet evolving business needs.
• Lead network projects and complex technical workstreams, acting as both a team leader and an individual contributor to deliver outcomes on time and within budget.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders, managed service providers, and vendors to ensure requirements are understood, risks are managed, and solutions are delivered effectively.
• Create and maintain comprehensive network documentation including network engineering standards, configurations, diagrams, low-level designs, implementation records, as-built documents, and operational processes.
• Support major incidents, problem investigations, and escalations relating to network services or performance, driving troubleshooting to resolution and identifying structural improvements.
• Support planned network changes and maintenance activities outside normal business hours.
• Participate in an on-call rota to provide out-of-hours support for critical network incidents and service restoration.
• Prepare operational readiness by creating and maintaining configuration standards, support runbooks, and handover material; store artefacts in SharePoint and complete transition to support where required.
• Stay current with industry trends and innovations, recommending practical improvements that enhance capability, standardisation, automation, and service quality.
• Expected to continually identify opportunities to leverage automation, AI, and SRE practices to streamline delivery, improve network reliability, increase operational resilience, and support the evolution towards intelligent network operations.
• Partake in peer reviews, technical governance, and knowledge sharing across the Network Engineering Chapter.
• Coach, mentor and have line management responsibilities for a small team of network engineers (2-6).
• Operate within a SAFe Agile delivery model, with active participation in agile ceremonies, effective management of work through Jira, and collaboration with cross-functional teams to deliver network engineering outcomes.
About You
- Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 10+ years of experience in enterprise network engineering and architecture.
- Cisco CCNP required; CCIE preferred.
- Azure Network Engineer (AZ-700), Cisco DevNet, SAFe Agilist, or similar certifications preferred.
- Experience developing technical documentation, network standards, and implementation/support artifacts.
- Experience with network automation tools such as Ansible, NetBrain, and Python.
- Strong stakeholder management, vendor engagement, and collaboration skills.
Technical Expertise:
- Advanced knowledge of BGP, OSPF, SD-WAN (Cisco Viptela), carrier WAN, and internet services.
- Expertise in Cisco LAN technologies, including VLANs, STP, EtherChannel, stacking, redundancy, and QoS.
- Experience with Cisco and Aruba wireless and network access solutions (WLAN, ISE, ClearPass).
- Strong Layer 2/3 routing, switching, wireless, and troubleshooting skills.
- Knowledge of network security, internet gateways, and secure connectivity practices.
- Experience with Azure networking and hybrid cloud connectivity.
- Understanding of cloud networking, resiliency, scalability, and automation.
- Proven experience creating detailed network designs, implementation plans, change records, runbooks, and operational documentation.
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What You'll Get
- Competitive Salary: circa £65,000 – £75,000 per annum (based on capability, and experience)
Additional Benefits
- 28 days’ holiday plus 8 statutory bank holidays, with the option to buy additional leave and swap up to 3 bank holidays to better fit your personal needs.
- A generous pension scheme with double matching up to 6% of your salary each month. For every £1 you contribute, we’ll contribute £2 — meaning a 6% personal contribution becomes an 18% total pension contribution.
- Life insurance cover of 10x your basic salary
- Flexible benefits such as a cycle scheme, share incentive plan, technology schemes
- Access to apps such as digital GP service for round the clock access to GP video consultations and NHS repeat prescriptions, wellbeing app to support your health and fitness
- Access to Work + Family Space, providing support and resources for work and family life, including paid emergency childcare and eldercare
More Information
- This role is offered on a full time basis.
- Based in Warwick, with hybrid working. You’ll primarily work from the Warwick office, with occasional travel to other offices as needed to collaborate with wider teams and stakeholders.
- This role closes on 11th of August, however we strongly encourage candidates to submit their application as early as possible."
We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for all. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates – we make appointments purely on merit, assessed against objective selection criteria. We support flexible working and will make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process should you have any physical or mental impairment which may affect your ability to participate in the process.
Please note that in most cases, National Grid is unable to offer sponsorship for employment under the UK points-based immigration system. As such, applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK without requiring sponsorship now or in the future under the UK points-based immigration system. However, in exceptional circumstances where there is a clear and demonstrable need for specialist skills that cannot be sourced from the local labour market, National Grid may consider offering sponsorship. All applications are welcome from candidates who meet these requirements, regardless of race, nationality, or ethnic origin.