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
Hybrid - Newbury (2-3 days per week onsite, remainder remote)
£400 per day (Outside IR35)
SC Clearance Essential