Network Engineer

Network Engineer (SC Cleared) – ACI Specialist

Hybrid – Newbury (2–3 days per week onsite, remainder remote)

£400 per day (Outside IR35)

SC Clearance Essential

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Network Engineer with strong Cisco ACI expertise to join our team on a contract basis. This role is ideal for someone who has deep hands-on experience with Cisco Nexus 9000 (NX-OS & ACI) environments and can take a lead role in designing, implementing, and supporting modern data centre networks, while also navigating legacy infrastructure where required.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation, and support of Cisco ACI-based network environments
• Manage and optimise Cisco Nexus 9000 (NX-OS & ACI) infrastructure within on-prem data centres
• Ensure network security best practices are applied and maintained across ACI and traditional environments
• Work closely with application teams to support connectivity, segmentation, and performance requirements within ACI fabrics
• Plan and deliver data centre migrations, including transitioning workloads into ACI environments
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex network issues across both ACI and legacy architectures
• Provide technical leadership for low-level design and implementation activities
• Organise and manage network allocations (VLANs, IP addressing, subnets, security zones), ensuring accurate documentation
• Support and maintain legacy hardware environments alongside modern ACI deployments

Key Skills & Experience

• Strong, hands-on experience with Cisco ACI (ESSENTIAL)
• Deep knowledge of Cisco Nexus 9000 (NX-OS & ACI) in enterprise data centre environments
• Proven experience designing and supporting ACI fabrics and policies (tenants, VRFs, EPGs, contracts)
• Solid understanding of data centre networking principles and segmentation within ACI
• Experience with data centre migrations, particularly involving ACI adoption or integration
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills across complex network environments
• Ability to operate independently in a hybrid working model

Additional Experience (Desirable)

• Firewalls: Fortigate & Juniper
• F5 Load Balancing (LTM & GTM)
• Cisco routing technologies
• Experience working with legacy network hardware and systems
• MPLS/IPVPN (Nokia & Cisco)
• VMware networking
• Avamar backup
• Exposure to cloud networking