Lead Engineer – Networks Transport

The Infrastructure Engineering team design, develop, implement and operate all infrastructure used by Tesco Technology across our data centres, offices, stores and distribution centres. This encompasses multiple domains; private and public cloud, connectivity, end-user computing, CI/CD and monitoring toolkit. This includes both 3rd party and internally developed infrastructure applications and infrastructure that support the wider Tesco business.

As part of wider Infrastructure Team, Networks Transport Team design, develop, implement and operate all Network and Security infrastructure technologies that facilitate both Infrastructure and the rest of Tesco Technology

Key activities include:

·       Designs, develops, implements and operates the ­large-scale, high-capacity and highly resilient infrastructure solutions that allow the rest of Infrastructure, Technology development teams and business colleagues to consume Networks and Security Service.

·       Setting the strategy, objectives and high-level plans for Networks Infrastructure Service in order to best deliver requirements of Tesco Technology and thus the business.

·       Defining and continually overseeing standards and simplification across the entire Networks estate.

·       Driving innovation through transformation and Continual Service Improvement

·       Evaluating partners, software and hardware and finding the right mix to deliver the Technology and ultimately, business strategy

·       Designs, develops, implements and operates Networks solutions in line with modern automation technologies where possible through self-service APIs. These solutions will allow Networks and rest of Infrastructure to be consumed in a controlled, auditable and repeatable manner, automatically handling failure seamlessly.

·       Designing, delivering, implementing and operating new and re-usable infrastructure solutions to meet both technological, financial and business requirements. Collaborate with, and advise, development teams, to create appropriate infrastructure solutions to facilitate both their and ultimately the business requirements

The Lead Engineer will report directly into the Head Of System Engineering and whilst specific responsibilities will be dependent upon the changing needs of the Tesco business, the following provides an overview of the role’s key responsibilities and measures:

·       Architect, Design and Deliver solutions using existing Infrastructure components. Where new infrastructure technologies are being introduced, implement them and establish best practice for their adoption. Resolve incidents that have not been seen before and initiate change to ensure that issues can be easily dealt with in future.

·       Contribute to the Technology Roadmap for Tesco Technology Data Centres

·       Evaluate new tools and techniques being able to understand their value and impact.

·       Understand current application development techniques and their implications to Network and wider Infrastructure

·       Lead group design discussions on my area of expertise and be able to present with authority to a variety of audiences.

·       Collaborate with Software Engineers to understand their requirements and assist them consuming Infrastructure in the most seamless way possible.

·       Coach and mentor system engineers across Technology who are at a more junior level. Ensure that my own team’s designs are of a high quality and understand the impacts to any other areas of infrastructure.

·       Keep my technical skills up to date and keep track of new technologies, understanding how they might benefit the Technology team and wider Tesco.

·       Introduce automation to all aspects of my day-to-day work.

·       Ultimately, the Lead Engineer, will be the key technical and design authority for the Team and along with the HoSE, the main relationship holder with the Architecture and Product Team. They will work closely to both feed in design and business practicalities and limitations to sculpt architectural strategy and roadmaps as well as translate these into Networks and facilitate these goals into real-world designs the team can deliver.

This role will best suit an individual who enjoys working as part of a team, is well organised, pragmatic and a lateral thinker with an inquisitive mind who is motivated to make change for the better and, most importantly, puts our customers first.

• Experience designing and deploying solutions for large, complex global organisations

• Analytical and structured approach to design, process and advanced troubleshooting
• Understand Tesco Technology and business strategies and convert into technology roadmaps and innovative solutions that best achieve these goals
• Ability to produce and maintain high quality HLD/LLD and Standards documentation
• Well organised self-starter who takes personal ownership and accountability at required levels of the work stream and project life cycles; willing to go the extra mile at every opportunity
• Builds and maintains positive relationships within and across teams
• Provides technical leadership within teams and mentoring for individuals
• Communicates effectively, able to deliver and present both written and verbal, designs, strategies and concepts clearly and affectively to Senior & Jnr staff alike
• Take ownership, to keep up-to-date and embrace the latest industry technologies and associated supplier solutions like SDN and SDWAN

Required Technology Skills (Applicant should possess a min 3 of the below)

• Excellent/CCDP levels of practical experience in designing/building, operating large-scale, Multilayer Switching and Routing using CISCO or preferably Arista and Juniper equipment and OS in a WAN and LAN environment using technologies like Multicast, Port Channelling, EIGRP, CDP, GLBP, VRF, QoS
• Very good knowledge of Wide Area Networking technologies and protocols, such as MPLS, WAN Optimisation (Riverbed Steelhead or Cisco WAS), CoS, DWDM. Ideally, with experience of dealing with major Global Comms suppliers
• Excellent technical knowledge of OSI network topologies, troubleshooting and design eg Routing Protocols (BGP, OSPF, iGRP), DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management and TCP/UDP Port RFC & IEEE 802-based standards.
• Cisco/Arista switches deployed in Spine/Leaf topology
• High levels of VPN experience along with associated technologies and protocols eg IPSec, Public/Private Key Encryption, TLS/SSL, digital cert techniques like ISA/KMP GRE and DMVPN
• High levels of Load balancing & Global/DNS balancing technologies and techniques, preferably F5 hardware and/or software appliances/cloud versions like Akamai/AWS Elastic as well as Cisco ACE or Citrix Netscaler
• Good understanding of Internet/Web Technologies both hardware and cloud based, like CDN, Proxy/Caching, SSL Offloading/Interception, URL forwarding/re-direction from suppliers like Akamai, Bluecoat, Zscaler,
• Good understanding of browser-based technologies and protocols like HTML, HTTP/HTTPS and XML
• Good understanding of Network Management technologies and protocols like SNMP, Netflow, IPSLA, along with practical experience of associated Network Management & Alerting Tools

Desired Technical Skills (on top of the above mandatory skills)

• Good technical knowledge of Firewalls Platforms and Technologies, including build/configuration of some of the following Palo Alto (pref) and Cisco ASA/FirePower (pref), also Checkpoint, Fortinet along with associated Management Systems and Firewall rule analysis tools eg Skybox, Tufin
• High levels of knowledge of remote access and two factor authentication technologies and AAA solutions, eg RSA, Juniper/Pulse, Cisco ACS, Radius
• Sound knowledge of the main Cloud/Hyper-Scalers technologies from likes of Azure, AWS and Google and associated Private and Hybrid Cloud solutions especially when it comes to network connectivity like Express Route and Direct Connect and how these function over CoLo provider technology like Equinix Cloud Exchange
• High levels of experience of Threat prevention and detection techniques and associated technologies like IPS, IDS, APT/SEIM, Secure Proxy.
• SDN/automation technologies/configuration tools/ ZTP and rom likes of Juniper/MIST along with more open source/Technology-wide solutions like GIT, Chef, Anisble or Puppet, preferably in a DevOps environment
• Latest 802.11-based WiFi standards and technologies with practical design and installation of provider solutions and tools eg Juniper/MIST Edge, Cisco, Aruba or Meraki and all associated survey techniques
• General good understanding of how other areas of Infrastructure work, specifically technologies like Client/Server OS eg Windows, Unix/Linux and MAC, Database technologies like SQL, Platform Infra from Dell, HP and Main Frame like IBM and SAN technologies like 3PAR, NetAPP and Nimble.
• Automation and Scripting knowledge (eg Python, Unix/Linux or PowerShell & Batch)
• Familiarity with VMware NSX and wider VMware software stack (vCentre, vRealize)

We offer excellent benefits that help make Tesco a great place to work!  These include but are not limited to:

• Annual bonus scheme
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (and bank holidays)
• Great colleague discounts and deals, saving you money on everyday purchases, utility bills for the home and more
• Retirement savings plan – save between 4% and 7.5% and Tesco will match your contribution
• Buy as you earn and Save as you earn share schemes
• Opportunities to get on – take advantage of our ongoing learning opportunities and award-winning training to help you achieve the career you want

Our vision at Tesco is to become every customer’s favourite way to shop, whether they are at home or out on the move.  Our core purpose is “Serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day”.  Serving means more than a transactional relationship with our customers.  It means acting as a responsible and sustainable business for all stakeholders, for the communities we are part of, and for the planet.

We are proud to have an inclusive culture at Tesco where everyone truly feels able to be themselves.  At Tesco, we not only celebrate diversity, but recognise the value and opportunity it brings.  We’re committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued, and make sure that all colleagues are given the same opportunities.  We’re a big business with diverse working patterns and many business areas which means that we can find something that works for you.  Everyone is welcome at Tesco.

We have recently announced that we are moving to a more blended working week – combining office and remote working.  Our offices continue to be where we connect, collaborate and innovate.  Talk to us about how this can work for you.

Note: Should you be successful in your application, your employment will be subject to and conditional upon you providing your bank account details on your agreed start date.