Lead Network Engineer
Kroll · London
Senior Lead Network Engineer
The Senior Lead Network Engineer will serve as a senior technical authority within Kroll’s global network function, designing, implementing, supporting, and optimising secure, resilient, and scalable network services across on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. The role is primarily hands-on network engineering, with responsibility for complex project delivery, operational support, technical standards, and continuous improvement. As part of this remit, the postholder will champion practical network automation and NetDevOps practices that reduce repetitive effort, improve consistency, and lower operational risk, while collaborating closely with global network, cloud, infrastructure, and information security teams.
Key Responsibilities
Lead the design, implementation, maintenance, and optimisation of highly available, secure, and resilient LAN, WAN, wireless, data centre, remote-access, and cloud network services.
Develop network architectures that integrate on-premises environments with public cloud platforms, including Azure and AWS, and support Kroll’s business, security, and availability requirements.
Lead network segmentation initiatives at macro and micro levels, applying security best practices, Zero Trust principles, and identity-based access controls where appropriate.
Administer and optimise Cisco networking technologies, Palo Alto firewalls, VPN services, SD-WAN platforms, and cloud-native networking services.
Translate business and technical requirements into supportable network designs, implementation plans, test plans, migration approaches, and operational documentation.
Monitor and validate network health, performance, capacity, availability, security, resilience, and business continuity across Kroll’s global environments.
Provide Tier 3 escalation support for complex network and security incidents, lead root-cause analysis, and implement sustainable corrective actions.
Plan and deliver network upgrades, migrations, office deployments, acquisition integrations, and other infrastructure projects, including testing, cutover, and transition to support.
Identify and champion practical opportunities to automate repeatable network engineering and operational tasks, working with the wider team to introduce proportionate NetDevOps practices that improve consistency, efficiency, and risk reduction.
Contribute to reusable network automation workflows using tools such as Ansible, Python, APIs, Terraform, and source control, while maintaining primary responsibility for network design, implementation, optimisation, and operational support.
Apply appropriate peer review, testing, validation, documentation, and rollback controls to automated and manual network changes.
Maintain accurate network diagrams, standards, configurations, procedures, and support documentation.
Collaborate with cloud, infrastructure, information security, application, and service management teams to deliver secure and supportable end-to-end solutions.
Manage technical relationships with network vendors, telecommunications providers, and support partners, including escalation and service improvement activities.
Champion Kroll’s change, security, audit, and governance requirements for production network services, ensuring changes are controlled, traceable, and appropriately approved.
Provide technical guidance and knowledge sharing to other engineers, promoting consistent engineering standards and continuous improvement across the global network team.
Qualifications
A minimum of seven years’ experience in enterprise network engineering, including substantial experience designing and supporting complex, highly available environments.
Strong knowledge of enterprise routing and switching, including BGP, OSPF, VLANs, VRFs, QoS, high-availability design, and resilient WAN connectivity.
Hands-on expertise with Cisco networking technologies, Palo Alto firewalls, VPNs, and SD-WAN platforms such as Cisco SD-WAN/Viptela or Prisma SD-WAN.
Demonstrable experience with cloud networking in Azure and AWS; experience with GCP or OCI is advantageous.
Strong understanding of network security principles, including segmentation, encryption, secure remote access, threat prevention, and security policy enforcement.
Proven experience supporting 24x7 production environments with demanding availability, incident response, disaster recovery, and change-control requirements.
Experience leading technical delivery through the full lifecycle, from requirements and design through implementation, testing, documentation, and operational handover.
Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, documentation, and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to work effectively across global and cross-functional teams, manage competing priorities, and take ownership of complex technical outcomes.
Ability to travel for work within the EMEA region up to a few times per month.
Preferred Skills
Relevant certifications such as Cisco CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Security, CCIE, Palo Alto PCNSE, AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty, or Microsoft Azure Network Engineer Associate.
Practical experience with, or a strong interest in developing, network automation and NetDevOps practices using Ansible, Python, APIs, Terraform, Git, and structured data formats such as JSON or YAML.
Experience using source control, peer review, automated validation, or CI/CD concepts to support safe and repeatable infrastructure changes.
Experience with network monitoring, observability, configuration compliance, inventory, or source-of-truth platforms.
Exposure to Zero Trust architecture and advanced network security technologies, including Cisco ISE or other network access control platforms.
Familiarity with Microsoft Windows Server, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and identity-management services.
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to influence technical improvements through collaboration rather than direct authority.
Professional fluency in English.
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