Senior Network Engineer at Home Office in Hendon, Salford

Job summary

Networks and Infrastructure (N&I) delivers the foundational platforms and services that underpin this digital delivery landscape. Sitting inside the wider Enterprise Services family, Networks and Infrastructure are here to support Home Office portfolios with adopting a “Cloud First, Internet First” approach to IT infrastructure. By partnering with Crown Hosting Data Centres and using state of the art technologies, we look to deliver the speed and flexibility on par with industry to all our customers.

The Senior Network Engineer provides technical support and expertise within Network Operations, focused on rapid isolation, stabilisation, and resolution of high‑impact network incidents across multiple critical network domains; Wireless, LAN, SD‑WAN, Firewall, Law Enforcement Networks / Services.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office . Applicants can raise any queries to the email address at the bottom of the advert.

Watch this short video to hear from members of Home Office Digital talking about the projects they work on and their experience of working here: Working for Home Office Digital.

Job description

You will engage in programmes and projects and work with Technical Architects to translate the architectural designs into operational systems and support technical architects.

This is a dual-focus role, acting as a technical expert for Incident, Problem, and Change support. In addition, providing guidance, coaching, and structured technical uplift for Network Operations Engineers through targeted training, and the production of high‑quality technical documentation runbooks for Networks.

The role is key during major or business‑critical incidents, where calm logical analysis, decisive action, and technical troubleshooting are required to minimise service impact and restore operations quickly.

You will work with Network Operations Engineers in building, managing, transitioning, supporting, and maintaining solutions according to departmental policy and ensure a feedback loop exists with service support to ensure continuous improvement. You are responsible for providing input into management activities such as workforce planning, budgeting, technology roadmaps, projects, and tasks.

Tools and Technologies we use:

We would particularly encourage applications from candidates with strong experience in the following:

• Network Monitoring: Solarwinds
• Network Management Platforms: Cisco WLC, Meraki, Cisco vManage, vBond, vSmart, Cisco ISE, Checkpoint, Fortinet, Nexthink
• Service Management: ServiceNow, Jira
• General: Co-Pilot, SharePoint, Teams
• Cisco Certified Networks Assurance (CCNA) or equivalent experience.

Person specification

Main Responsibilities

Your main day to day responsibilities will be:

• Owning and resolving network operations incidents.
• Assisting the Network Operations Centre Lead in despatching incidents across the Network Operations Team.
• Reviewing the network designs of others to ensure, efficient network operation and use of resources and integration of multiple systems and technology.
• Gathering and analyse the network requirements that applications will place on the network, including bandwidth, latency, fault tolerance and access control.
• Initiating and monitor actions to investigate patterns and trends to resolve network problems, including consulting specialists where required. You will identify the appropriate remedy and assist with implementation of fixes as well as preventative measures.
• Identifying the correct procedures and appropriate channels for resolution and monitor resolution activities and progress updates to users.
• Evaluating the success of the project, after a solution has been integrated, identifying best practices and lessons learned. You will provide feedback to teams and incorporate this information into future plans.
• Coaching and mentoring more junior Network Engineers.

Working Pattern

This role is available on a full-time basis with the option of compressed hours working. This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 4 days per week due to business requirements.

Like many organisations we need to maintain our services 24/7, therefore, on occasions there may be a requirement to work out of hours, for which you will be paid an additional allowance.

Essential Skills

You’ll have a visible passion for Network Operations , with the following skills or strong experience in:

• Networking design concepts, switching, routing, firewalling and load balancing. (NTDS)
• Managing, testing and delivering complex technologies within time, cost and quality targets. (TEST)
• Dissecting a problem into its component parts to identify and diagnose root causes, allowing for problem resolution. (USUP)
• Providing technical direction and guidance to more junior members and taking part in their appraisal and related performance management processes. (TECH)
• Building effective partnerships across diverse teams and technologies, with an understanding of the wider organisational context, emerging trends, and how your work contributes to broader strategic objectives. (OFCL)
• Engaging in the process for installing or removing hardware and/or software, using supplied installation instructions and tools. (HSIN)

SFIA capability framework

Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) version 8 is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework: All skills A - Z English (sfia-online.org) .

We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process.

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework (based on the industry standard SFIA framework). Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each technical skills listed below.

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Specialist advice (TECH) - Level 3
• Network design (NTDS) - Level 4
• Testing (TEST) - Level 3
• Systems installation and removal (HSIN) – Level 3
• Incident management (USUP) - Level 2
• Organisational facilitation (OFCL) - Level 3

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £49,850, Home Office contributes

£14,441 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Why work for us...

Find out more information at : Benefits - Home Office Careers, but some of the primary ones are:

• A Civil Service Pension with employer contribution rates of at least 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service.
• 8 days of public holidays, plus 1 additional privilege day.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.

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Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and 1000 -word personal statement:

• CV – include a brief employment history outlining for each role, the organisation, job title, dates in post, and key responsibilities and achievements. Any recent employment gaps should be explained. A second section should set out the skills and experience most relevant to this role, drawing on your career, training, and other relevant activities without repeating the employment history. Focus on the evidence that best demonstrates your capability to meet the role requirements.
• Personal statement - this should present a clear and coherent narrative explaining why you are applying, what you would bring to the role, and how your experience meets the essential criteria. Use well ‑ chosen examples to illustrate your impact, drawing on STAR ‑ style thinking where helpful, but ensure the statement reads as a single, flowing document rather than a set of isolated responses.

To ensure you are assessed on merit alone, we ask you to anonymise your application. This means removing personal identifiers such as your name, age, and place of education. You do not need to remove your employment history, job titles, or any information about your work.

Watch our three short videos on how to apply for our roles: Applying - Home Office Careers.

Problems during the application process

If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application, please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website .

Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.

Sift Stage

The sift will be held on the CV and Personal Statement . Please read the essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirements.

In the event of a high number of applications received, an initial sift may be held on the CV .

Interview Stage

Candidates reaching the required standard will then be invited to attend an interview. The interview will assess your Technical Skills (SFIA Framework) using technical-based questions.

During the interview, you will be assessed on your technical capability through a combination of technical questions and problem-solving scenarios based on real-life network incidents. We will provide you with the information in the interview and you will be asked to provide your approach to investigate and resolve the incidents.

If you are invited to an interview, you will be required to bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks. Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Sift and Interview dates

The sift will commence from 26/10/ 2026.

Interviews are expected to take place from 12/11/2026. (Subject to the Panel’s operational requirements/priorities).

Interviews will be conducted remotely via MS Teams.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Further information

If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application, please reconsider