Network Development Specialist

Job Details

Job title

Network Development Specialist (Network)

Reports to (job)

Senior Manager, Network Development

Team

Converged Core Network Development

Location

Adastral

Job Dimensions

Driving and supporting one or more large network functions or products

Hours

37.5

No. Direct Reports

0

Career Level

D

Why BT Group?

We’ve always been an organisation with purpose; we connect for good.   You can trace this back to our beginning as pioneers of the world’s first telecommunications company.  At our heart, we’re a technology company with research and innovation in our bones, and a desire to be personal, simple, and brilliant for our customers - the values we live by. Creating an inclusive working environment where people from all backgrounds can succeed.

Our pursuit of progress over the past 180 years has established BT as a strong, successful brand, with huge scale, capable of achieving great things.  From supporting emergency services, hospitals, banks and keeping economies around the world online, safe, and secure, to delivering large scale innovative technology infrastructure like the creation of BT Sport. 

Today, in this fast changing, always on, digital world, our purpose remains true. Yet the market conditions, regulation and competition we face are tougher than ever before.  So if you have the drive, optimism, and resilience to help propel us forward, we’ll offer unrivalled personal development, a wealth of opportunities to learn, experience new things, and pursue new careers.  If that’s you, and what you’re looking for. 

We’d love you to be part of our future.

Why this job matters

This team is responsible for the technical design and validation of the UK's largest IP/MPLS core network, which carries 40% of UK broadband traffic, 70% of UK mobile traffic, and over 100,000 government and business services.

As an infrastructure platform, we must consistently offer the best performance at a competitive cost. Given the industry's evolution, we need to stay at the forefront of new technologies and practices to maintain our competitive edge. This role will lead the development and deployment of detailed strategic network solutions to support the evolution and operation of BT's converged core network, using software engineering to deliver changes faster and more accurately. This ensures the network can support BT's capacity, product development, and customer experience requirements while delivering best-in-class cost efficiency.

What you’ll be doing – your accountabilities

The skills you’ll need to succeed

·        Owns and leads strategic network developments, designs & their associated artefacts for new products or platform improvements, in particular the technical design and deployment architecture of Nokia’s Element Manager (NSP) for BT’s Converged Core in alignment with the Platform’s roadmap and strategy

·        Champion the security of Nokia’s NSP for BT’s Converged Core (e.g. executes penetration testing, evaluate vulnerabilities, advises on security matters from the underlying Operating System to the  application itself, etc.)

·        Holds Nokia to account for the quality of their product development, proposed testing cycle and deployment strategy

·        As a Subject Matter Expert on Nokia’s NSP platform, sets direction and contributes to wider technical roadmap through assessment of technologies and equipment advancements.

·        Advises on how NSP fits in BT’s overall IT system architecture and how changes may impact upstream systems and coordinates stakeholders to ensure seamless integration

·        Proactively identifies and pursues opportunities for software adoption, in the context of network automation but not excluding other uses

·        Generates and leads on ideas for improvement in process and ways of working

·        Works with stakeholders to understand, interpret and shape requirements for network deliverables

·        Support for Live and OSS Test issues

·        Scopes, reviews and executes tests to ensure network designs & their associated artefacts meet business and technical requirements

·        Mentors more junior staff in technical expertise and engineering professionalism within and beyond immediate team, using official channels such as the Tech Fellowship

Systems

·        Virtualisation: Understanding of hypervisors & platforms (VMware ESXi and vCenter preferred), VM provisioning and resource allocation

·        Containerisation: Understanding of containers and container orchestration (Kubernetes)

·        Knowledge of Nokia’s NSP platform, its architecture and its capabilities

·        A comprehensive understanding of system security, coupled with the ability to implement security measures that comply with the latest TSA requirements.

·        Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Operating System

Network Engineering

·        Networking: demonstrates good understanding in IP/MPLS, Routing protocols (e.g. OSPF/ BGP) and network services (e.g. VPWS/ VRFs) – CCNA/NRS1 level preferred

Software Engineering

·        Ability to write/interpret simple programmes using software engineering best practices (Python preferred)

·        Understanding of version control (e.g. GitLab)

Other

·        Strategic thinking with regards to network evolution and automation adoption

·        Ability to communicate complex technical topics clearly to business stakeholders

·        Understanding of Agile working methodologies

Leadership accountabilities

Experience you’d be expected to have

·        Owning outcomes – take the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation

·        Delivering for the customer – execute brilliantly on clear priorities that add value to our customers and the wider business

·        Growth mindset – Experiment and identify opportunities for growth for both myself and the organisation

Implementing and managing virtualised solutions using VMWare ESXi and vCenter, ensuring optimal performance and resource utilisation

Assessing system vulnerabilities to ensure compliance with industry standards

Engaging with Vendor and stakeholders to create solutions  that are aligned with defined roadmaps and strategy

Managing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) servers, including installation, configuration, and maintenance.

Evidence of creating and implementing process improvements

Key decisions

The BT way

This job does not have key decision rights

Compliance with all BT policies is mandatory and applies to all BT employees. Policies can be accessed via the Policy Portal and should be adhered to in-line with Standards of Behaviour Policy & Procedure and the Being trusted: our code.