Network Operations Engineer

The Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) purpose is to have a global impact by fundamentally reimagining the way science and technology translate into end-to-end solutions and delivering these solutions in programmes and platforms that respond to humanity’s most challenging problems.

EIT will ensure scientific discoveries and pioneering science are turned into products for the benefit of society that can have high-impact worldwide and, over time, be commercialised to ensure long-term sustainability.

Led by a world-class faculty of scientists, technologists, policy makers, economists and entrepreneurs, the Ellison Institute of Technology aims to develop and deploy commercially sustainable solutions to solve some of humanity’s most enduring challenges. Our work is guided by four Humane Endeavours: Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology, Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change & Managing Atmospheric CO2 and Artificial Intelligence & Robotics.

Set for completion in 2027, the EIT Campus in Littlemore will include more than 300,000 sq ft of research laboratories, educational and gathering spaces. Fuelled by growing ambition and the strength of Oxford’s science ecosystem, EIT is now expanding its footprint to a 2 million sq ft Campus across the western part of The Oxford Science Park. Designed by Foster + Partners led by Lord Norman Foster, this will become a transformative workplace for up to 7,000 people, with autonomous laboratories, purpose-built laboratories including a plant sciences building and dynamic spaces to spark interdisciplinary collaboration.

EIT is committed to cultivating a community where excellence is achieved through collaboration, trust, innovation and tenacity. We foster an environment where everyone’s experience and expertise are valued. We are curious and resilient in our efforts to drive long-term, sustainable innovation to meet humanity’s most enduring challenges.

We are seeking a Network Engineer to design, build, and maintain the network infrastructure to help support our world-class research. You'll be responsible for the performance, reliability, and security of our LAN, WAN, wireless, and cloud networking environments — working across projects and day-to-day operations to ensure our people and systems stay connected. The role is responsible for maintaining, configuring and monitoring our network estate including switches, firewalls, wireless and cloud infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities:

Network Design & Implementation

• Design, deploy and maintain enterprise LAN, WAN, wireless and network security infrastructure.
• Configure and support routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers and wireless platforms.
• Support and evolve cloud networking within Oracle Cloud environments.
• Implement network segmentation, VLANs and routing architectures aligned to security and operational requirements.

Operations & Support

• Monitor network performance, availability and capacity across the estate.
• Proactively identify and resolve issues before user impact.
• Act as an escalation point for complex network incidents and problem management.

Provide out-of-hours support where required for critical issues.

Roadmap & Continuous Improvement

• Contribute to and help deliver a campus-wide network infrastructure roadmap.
• Lead implementation of agreed initiatives, coordinating internal teams and external partners.
• Identify opportunities to improve standardisation, resilience and operational efficiency.

Third-Party & Stakeholder Coordination

• Coordinate technical delivery with third-party vendors, installers and integrators.
• Work closely with cybersecurity, security operations, and facilities teams to align infrastructure and delivery.

Standards & Documentation

• Maintain network documentation, diagrams and configuration standards.
• Apply and evolve network standards, patterns, and best practices.
• Support knowledge-sharing across support teams.

• Experience delivering or operating networks in large campus, research, healhcare, or industrial environments.

• Cloud networking experience, particularly Oracle Cloud.
• Experience with HPE Aruba technologies and ecosystem.
• Familiarity with network access control solutions (e.g. ClearPass).
• Relevant industry certifications (Cisco, HPE Aruba, Juniper, etc.).
• Collaborative and comfortable working across multidisciplinary teams.
• Delivery-focused with a pragmatic approach to solving problems.
• Technically confident and willing to be hands-on when needed.Clear and effective communicator.
• Terms of Appointment
• You must be eligible to work in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary.
• You must be based in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford.
• During peak periods, some longer hours may be required and some working across multiple time zones due to the global nature of the programme.

• Competitive salary + travel allowance + bonus

• Enhanced holiday + options to buy additional days
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme
• Childcare benefit

Working Together – What It Involves:

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate)