(SC cleared) Senior Network Architect - Cisco

Role overview

Workplace and clearance

• The role is based in Bristol with no remote working.
• A minimum of UK SC clearance is required.

Salary

• Salary is stated as between £70,000 and £80,000; no pay cadence is specified.

What you will do

• Review live network implementations, configurations, and legacy design materials across both data centres; identify gaps between documentation and operation.
• Produce current-state High Level and Low Level Designs with topology diagrams, connectivity flows, and technical dependencies.
• Review Cisco ACI, routing, firewall, and load-balancing arrangements with Architecture and Network support teams.
• Produce a Network Review and Recommendation Report identifying practical improvements with minimal risk to live services.
• Assess Cisco ACI application-centric capabilities, including application relationships, segmentation, and policy design.
• Create a prioritized roadmap and a Network Disaster Recovery Capability Report for active/active connectivity.
• Explain connectivity limitations, implementation approaches, service risks, and any additional hardware, software, or licensing needs.
• Lead technical reviews, resolve design comments, secure design sign-off, and maintain controlled documentation and supporting evidence.

Required experience

• Strong enterprise network architecture experience, including assessing implementations and producing accurate High Level and Low Level Designs.
• Hands-on Cisco ACI experience covering fabric architecture, tenants, VRFs, bridge domains, endpoint groups, contracts, and application-centric policy design.
• Strong Cisco routing knowledge, including IP addressing, routing protocols, segmentation, and data-centre connectivity.
• Experience reviewing Cisco ASA firewall configurations, traffic flows, access policies, NAT, and high availability.
• Experience with F5 load balancers, including traffic management, health monitoring, resilience, and service dependencies.
• Experience assessing disaster recovery and active/active designs, including failure scenarios, failover, routing symmetry, and stateful service dependencies.
• Ability to safely investigate live configurations and recommend proportionate changes with clear operational impacts.
• Strong technical writing, diagramming, and stakeholder communication skills, including formal design reviews and approvals.

Desirable experience

• Multi-data-centre Cisco ACI deployments and migration toward application-centric policies.
• CCNA certification; network resilience testing, recovery planning, and assessment of hardware, software, and licensing options.
• Defence, government, or other regulated-environment experience with controlled technical data and formal configuration management.
• Relevant Cisco, F5, or network architecture certifications such as CCNP or CCIE.

Benefits

• The posting mentions autonomy, development and training access, supportive leadership, and a collaborative environment.
• Benefits include 25 days of annual leave with an option to purchase extra leave, pension salary exchange, life assurance, private medical insurance, and worldwide travel insurance.
• The employer also describes an employee assistance programme and social activities.