Network Infrastructure Engineer

We're looking for an exceptional Networks Infrastructure Engineer to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Networks Infrastructure Engineer, the job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work.

Our opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week. Our people are at the heart of what we do and we'll do our best to agree a working pattern that works for everyone.

World changing work

From science to technology, from meteorology to management, and from planning to communication, our expertise helps us stand out as the authority on weather accuracy and climate prediction. We help individuals, industries, and government to make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. This is the Met Office. This is who we are.

Together:

• We're a force for good - focusing on our environmental and social impact.

• We're experts by nature - always learning and developing to do things better.

• We live and breathe it - putting our purpose at the heart of decision-making.

• We're better together - understanding partnerships and inclusivity make us greater.

• We keep evolving - pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers.

  Your world of expertise

  Best-in-class technology expertise: As a Networks Infrastructure Engineer, you will work with cutting edge technology, helping to keep Met Office employees and contractors connected both internally and to the outside world and supporting our world-leading scientific capabilities.

  High caliber teamwork: as a key member of a vibrant team of circa 20 high skilled Network engineers, you will foster knowledge share, collaboration and continuous improvement.

  Exciting projects: you will get involved with a mix of complex, technical issues, and large-scale life cycle projects. There are opportunities for experiences in data centre networking, next generation firewalls, cloud-based security solutions and SD-WAN.

  Key Responsibilities:

  • Implement network designs and changes as required by the organisation to meet the demands of systems delivery.

  • The maintenance of the Met Office network, this includes administering and installing devices from industry leaders such as Cisco and Fortinet, DNS, and load balancing for Met Office services and products.

  • Respond to and take ownership of challenging problems. Investigating and diagnosing complex technical issues, working with colleagues, users, and suppliers as appropriate.

  • Assist in the supervision of network engineering works at Exeter HQ and remote sites.

  • Maintaining technical documentation and mentoring team members on technical issues.

  • Monitoring network performance, security, and integrity.

  • Work closely with technology experts and direct network specialists within the Met Office to deliver and improve services

  • Coach and mentor more junior colleagues.

    Why join us Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. The Met Office is accredited as a 'Great Place to Work UK 2023' and in addition has achieved a place on both the UK's 'Best Workplaces in Tech' and 'Best Workplaces for Women' lists.

    Your total reward package can be valued up to £49,174 annually, which includes:

    • £33,794 base pay

    • An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%

    • Recruitment Retention Allowance (RRA): you will be paid £2,200 p.a. as a market supplement to reflect the demand for your skills. Whilst in post, you will be paid this market driven allowance from April 2024 until September 2025 in your monthly pay

    • Relocation assistance if required

    • Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising to 32.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) after 5 years and option to buy or sell up to 5 days per year of annual leave

      Essential criteria, skills, and experience

      1. Current formal qualifications in networking (e.g., CCNA, CCNP) or equivalent knowledge and experience. (Keep evolving)

      2. Proven enterprise networking technical ability. (Expert by nature)

      3. An understanding of network security best practices and technologies with a demonstrable knowledge of firewalls, secure access, and secure configuration. (Better together)

      4. Proven analytical ability and problem-solving skills.

      5. Experience of working in an ITIL-based (or similar) support environment.

      6. Effective mentoring, planning, and experience communicating technical concepts, problems and solutions to colleagues and customer stakeholders. (Better Together)

         How to apply If you share our values, we'd love to hear from you. Apply below with your Career history and elaborate/ detail evidence for each of the essential criteria in the supporting statement questionnaire. We recommend you use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills. Think about what you did, how, why, and what has the outcome for each example you provide.

         Closing date Sunday 20/ 10/ 2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 04/ 11/ 2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

         How we can help If you are considering applying and need support to do so, you can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us via

         You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme. To be invited to interview/ assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

         We understand that great minds don't always think alike and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.

         We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK - please refer to GOV.UK for information. We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible.