Network Engineer - Tooling SME

Location: Remote (UK-based)
Travel: Occasional site travel as required (eg site surveys, workshops)
Day Rate: £400-£500 per day (Inside IR35)
Duration: Initial 6 months
Start: ASAP

We are seeking an experienced Network Engineer - Tooling SME to support a large-scale network modernisation and 100% Cloud migration programme.

This role provides subject matter expertise on network tooling strategy and best practices across current and future platforms. The focus is on tooling analysis, integration, and observability to support the migration from on-premise infrastructure into a modernised, cloud-aligned network environment.

This is a specialist SME role, suited to an engineer who enjoys shaping tooling strategy and improving visibility and integration across complex enterprise networks.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide subject matter expertise on network tooling strategy and best practices

• Perform market-wide tooling analysis and produce outputs to guide strategic tooling decisions and selection

• Design and implement integrations between network monitoring tools and ServiceNow

• Enable a holistic single pane of glass dashboard for the Operations Centre

• Configure and optimise observability solutions across both on-premise and cloud environments

• Support tooling configuration and optimisation during the migration to 100% Cloud

• Collaborate with network engineering teams to ensure seamless tool deployment and performance

• Support continuous improvement of tooling as the network modernisation programme evolves

Essential Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as a Network Engineer with tooling/observability focus

• Hands-on experience with SolarWinds on-prem and SolarWinds HCO (including migration to HCO)

• Experience designing or supporting integrations with ServiceNow

• Familiarity with Palo Alto Strata Cloud Manager/ADEM

• Experience working with Meraki network environments

• Ability to operate across both on-premise and cloud network estates

• Strong collaboration skills and ability to work across engineering teams