Job vacancy: Network Architect, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 317 Regent Point

Job summary

Main area: 317 IT - Telecommunications
Grade: Band 7
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 317-2025-15-26-DR-A

Employer: The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Regent Point
Town: 317 Regent Point
Salary: £46,148 - £52,809 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 06/07/2025 23:59
Interview date: 30/07/2025

Network Architect

Band 7

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 15,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.6 billion.

We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.

We’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country, supporting people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts each day, delivering high standards of healthcare.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will support the Network Manager & Senior Infrastructure Architect and:

Manage the evaluation and documentation of Trust business needs/processes both operational and financial, including current process analysis and proposed revisions.
Manage the design and documentation of infrastructure functional requirements in proscribed formats.
Lead Trust staff, partners, and vendor/supplier staff in the deployment of production infrastructure.
Provide on-going troubleshooting, support and maintenance of production applications. Includes 24/7 on call coverage.
Works with Service Desk Manager and other specialist Managers to design, test and deploy appropriate hardware solutions including system access devices, connectivity requirements and interface solutions.
Ensures that assigned projects are completed to time and budget constraints.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Person specification

Qualifications & Education

Essential criteria

Possess a higher Degree/Masters in an IT related subject OR has acquired skills and knowledge via an extensive portfolio of practical experience and IT related training

Desirable criteria

Hold Cisco certifications
Hold a project management qualification
Experience of writing business cases
Experience of cloud technologies including Microsoft Azure technologies

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

Possess highly developed specialist knowledge in the following areas: Enterprise network design and implementation
Practical experience of securing & managing network through centrally managed services; DNA Spaces and Centre, Prime, ISE
Next Generation Firewalls and internet/remote access technologies
Network device security & threat hardening
SDA & SDWan/DNS/DHCP
Able to improve system design and/or performance
Be skilled in conflict management and effectively managing the most challenging relationships among partner organisations, vendors/suppliers and other team members
Mentor peers to acquire the finer points of professional practice

Desirable criteria

Knowledge of the full product development lifecycle
Experience of working in an NHS environment

Skills & Abilities

Essential criteria

Have the ability to converse fluently, logically, and confidently with a wide range of levels of staff
Have analytical skills including the ability to handle numerical data and statistics
Have experience in project management techniques
Have effective organisational and coordination skills, combined with ability to work to deadlines under pressure
Have experience of realising business benefits derived from project deliverables

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.