Network Architect - NCA - SEO

Belfast; Birmingham; Bristol; Calder (Normanton); Leicester; London ; Warrington

For roles based in London, your contractual place of work will be Stratford. While the Stratford site is expected to become operational from November 2025 - March 2026, you will be required to carry out your contractual duties from Vauxhall or another reasonable location on a temporary basis during the interim period. Please note that, as Stratford will be your contractual place of work, any subsequent move from a temporary location will not entitle you to payments for travel time or costs under the Relocation and Excess Travel Policy.

We are currently looking to recruit a Network Architect to support the design, assurance and evolution of the NCA's network infrastructure in support of its mission-critical services. This role is essential in enabling secure, resilient and scalable connectivity across on-premise, cloud and hybrid environments.

You will help shape the Agency's network strategy and ensure that all network solutions align with enterprise architecture, security standards, and operational requirements. The role includes responsibility for embedding network considerations within architectural governance and assurance processes, ensuring that network designs are reviewed, compliant and appropriately challenged at key design stages.

Working across programmes and delivery teams, you will provide technical leadership, mitigate risk and guide the transition to modern, future-proof network solutions.

If you would like to find out more about this role and the application process we will be holding a virtual opening evening via MS Teams on Wednesday 17th September 2025 at 6.00pm. This event is by invitation only. To register, please ensure you spell your name and email address correctly. Registration will close on Tuesday 16th September at 12:00pm. You will not be able to register after this date and time. Please see our Privacy Policy for details on how your data is handled.

The Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Directorate is responsible for creating a cutting-edge technology and information environment that connects, empowers and enhances our Officers' crimefighting capabilities.

We are responsible for defining and delivering our data and technology strategy, policy and architecture, building and sustaining resilient services which are critical to our mission success. We work closely with our operational teams to help them do their job in the most effective and efficient way, understanding their challenges and combining this with emerging technologies/techniques to obtain and exploit data in innovative ways to ensure we stay ahead of the criminals who are committing some of most serious crimes and inflicting harm to our society.

Are you ready to join the team?

• Support the architectural design and strategic oversight of all network-related systems and services across the Agency, ensuring alignment with operational, technical and business needs.
• Develop, maintain, and govern network architecture blueprints, design standards, and multi-year roadmaps that support the Agency's digital transformation and strategic IT direction.
• Provide expert guidance and assurance on network design across technologies including LAN/WAN, cloud networking, VPN, SD-WAN and zero-trust models, ensuring suitability for a multi-GSC tier environment.
• Ensure all network solutions meet required levels of security, resilience, performance and scalability, and that they are subject to appropriate architectural governance and design assurance.
• Act as a subject matter expert on networking within major programmes, actively contributing to architecture reviews, transition planning and technical assurance activities.
• Collaborate closely with the Security Architect to embed secure networking principles, controls, and threat mitigations within design and implementation phases.
• Monitor and evaluate emerging networking technologies, industry trends, and innovation opportunities, applying them where appropriate to improve capability, agility and cost-effectiveness.
• Contribute to architectural governance forums and design authorities, ensuring that network services are aligned with wider architectural standards and Agency objectives, and that assurance checkpoints are effectively met.

• Experience in designing, delivering, and assuring enterprise-grade network architectures, including cloud-native, hybrid, and multi-site environments that support high-availability and secure operations.
• Technical knowledge of core networking technologies and protocols, including routing, switching, firewalls, DNS, load balancing, VPN and network segmentation, with the ability to apply them to complex, mission-critical infrastructures.
• Experience in designing and supporting tiered secure network environments, including cross-domain connectivity, segmentation between classification levels, and the design of secure network boundaries for sensitive or air-gapped systems.
• Understanding of secure and resilient network design principles, with experience applying government or regulated sector security frameworks, such as those from NCSC, ISO, or equivalent standards.
• Experience in implementing and assuring secure and controlled data transfer mechanisms between trusted and untrusted network zones, including one-way and brokered transfer patterns where required.
• Experience in network performance tuning, telemetry, monitoring and fault diagnosis across distributed environments, ensuring reliability, scalability and alignment with operational SLAs and architectural best practices.

Desirable criteria, only to be assessed in the event of a tie break:

Have an understanding of most of the following network technologies: LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network), wifi, data-centre LAN, SD (software-defined) networks, telephony, mobile solutions infrastructure, unified comms, network management solutions, network-specific security and remote access technologies and approaches.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Experience in network performance tuning, telemetry, monitoring, and fault diagnosis across distributed environments, ensuring reliability, scalability and alignment with operational SLAs and architectural best practices.
• Experience in designing, delivering, and assuring enterprise-grade network architectures, including cloud-native, hybrid, and multi-site environments that support high-availability and secure operations.