Senior Network Specialist

Senior Network Specialist

Shoreham-by-Sea - Hybrid

Very Competitive Salary Package

(Internal Job Level Reference: Senior Specialist)

Are you a senior network specialist ready to lead from the front?

Focus Group is a £300m-revenue technology services company backed by Hg Capital, recently valued at $1bn and scaling fast. We serve 30,000 SME customers across the UK and we're investing heavily in the people and expertise that will define our next chapter. Right now, we're looking for an exceptional Senior Network Engineer to join our Networking & Security team.

The role

This is a senior, hands-on position for someone who genuinely loves networking — the kind of engineer who takes pride in owning the technical quality of complex, multi-site projects from first kick-off to final handover. Based from our Shoreham-by-Sea office on a hybrid basis, you'll be the technical authority on project delivery across our SD-WAN, SASE, firewall, and routing and switching portfolio, working with some of the UK's most interesting SME and Enterprise customers.

You'll lead implementations on customer sites, produce and own detailed technical documentation (Low-Level Designs, build documents, runbooks, and as-built handover packs), and act as the escalation point for delivery engineers during build, migration, and cut-over phases. You'll partner closely with our Solution Architects, turning High-Level Designs into deliverable LLDs, and you'll communicate technical decisions with confidence — both in writing and face to face — to customers and non-technical stakeholders.

What you'll bring

You'll hold a mid- to senior-level networking or security certification — Cisco CCNP, Fortinet NSE 4 or above, HP Aruba ACMP/ACSP, or equivalent — and you'll have the hands-on experience to back it up. Specifically, we're looking for:

• Deep, proven expertise across firewall and security platforms — FortiGate, SonicWall, WatchGuard, and/or Cisco — including centralised management and logging
• Strong design and delivery experience on at least one major SD-WAN platform (Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Meraki, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, or comparable)
• Practical experience delivering SSE or SASE solutions, such as FortiSASE, Zscaler, Cisco Secure Access, or Netskope
• Solid fundamentals across routing and switching, VLANs, BGP, OSPF, IPsec, QoS, DNS, DHCP, and wireless
• A strong track record leading multi-site network and security project delivery end to end
• The ability to produce clear, customer-facing documentation and translate technical complexity into plain language
• A calm, methodical approach under pressure, with a genuine commitment to mentoring the engineers around you

It'd be great if you also have

Fortinet NSE 7 or NSE 8, wider Cisco specialisations such as Meraki, Umbrella, Duo, or ISE, HP/Aruba experience, public cloud networking (Azure and/or AWS), or Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) design experience. Ambitions to grow into a Solution Architect role over time would fit well with where we're headed.

Why Focus Group?

Following our $1bn valuation in 2024, we're growing our technical teams and investing in the expertise that sets us apart. You'll have real ownership of your work, a talented team around you, and the backing to continue developing your skills and certifications. We take technical quality seriously — and so do you, which is why you'll fit right in.

We're offering a very competitive salary package, hybrid working from our Shoreham-by-Sea office, and genuinely interesting project work across a broad range of technologies and customers.

Let's connect. Let's grow.

We are looking for:

• Strong experience in some (if not all) of our core solutions which are SD-WAN (Meraki, Fortinet, Viptela) LAN and WLAN (Cisco, Meraki), Security (Fortinet, Firepower)
• Strong troubleshooting and diagnostic skills, with a knack for solving high-pressure network issues.
• Providing solid technical support for critical incidents, escalations, and change requests.
• Someone who will advance to become an expert in troubleshooting, optimizing, and managing advanced network solutions. 

At Focus Group you can be proud of what you do, how you do it and feel a true part of the team. We work hard to create an inclusive, collaborative and rewarding environment where you are inspired to achieve brilliant things and really make a difference to the future of our business.

We’re proud to have built an outstanding place to work where people thrive and are recognised for their achievements. We’re delighted to have been named one of the UK’s best 100 Companies to Work for 2021 and a British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) 2023 Vision Award Winner for London & South East for our commitment to culture and ESG.