United Kingdom · Technology and data · Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Head of Networks

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

Start my Head of Networks plan, free

Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

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Where should we send it?

One email: what AI is changing in this job, and where to start free. With a link back here. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

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Experience bandMid-Level (2-5 years)
Direct reportsNo direct reports
Reports toSenior Network Engineer or Lead Network Engineer
UK framework levelUsually a coordinator, or early in a professional job

Also advertised as Network Engineer · Mid-Level Network Specialist · Infrastructure Engineer (Networks) · Network Operations Engineer

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

EAL Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Engineering Manufacture Excellence, Achievement & Learning Limited · Level 4 · covers 1 of 10 standards

Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in IT-Networking Qualifi Ltd · Level 5 · covers 3 of 10 standards

Qualifi Level 5 Diploma in IT-Networking Qualifi Ltd · Level 5 · covers 3 of 10 standards

Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in Information Technology Qualifi Ltd · Level 5 · covers 3 of 10 standards

EAL Level 2 Certificate In Engineering Technologies Excellence, Achievement & Learning Limited · Level 2 · covers 1 of 10 standards

Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England Pearson Education Ltd · Level 5 · covers 1 of 10 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Lead Maintenance Activities EAL Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Engineering Manufacture

Network Design and Administration Qualifi Level 5 Extended Diploma in IT-Networking

Leading a team in Engineering EAL Level 2 Certificate In Engineering Technologies

Network Management Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England

The future skills this job leans on

Automation Fluency building AI into how work runs

Trust Fluency keeping the digital world safe

Start my Head of Networks plan, free

Your Plan Illustration

Built for Head of Networks

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

Lead Maintenance Activities Excellence, Achievement & Learning Limited · covers 1 of 10 standards Level 4
Network Design and Administration Qualifi Ltd · covers 3 of 10 standards Level 5
Leading a team in Engineering Excellence, Achievement & Learning Limited · covers 1 of 10 standards Level 2
Network Management Pearson Education Ltd · covers 1 of 10 standards Level 5

These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Head of Networks?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

Network Automation with Python & APIs
Cloud-Native Networking Concepts

Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

Automation Fluencybuilding AI into how work runs
Trust Fluencykeeping the digital world safe

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Head of Networks plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

Start my Head of Networks plan, free Ready to pay? Subscribe for £70 a month

3What this role really is

A Head of Networks keeps core network infrastructure running, owning specific segments and systems and fixing problems when they arise.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Cisco IOS-XE/NX-OS & Juniper Junos Intermediate

Executing configuration changes, troubleshooting interfaces and routing, gathering diagnostic data on our core network devices.

Ansible & Python (Netmiko/NAPALM) Basic

Running pre-written Ansible playbooks for routine tasks (e.g., patching, config backups). Using simple Python scripts to gather network data or automate small, repetitive checks.

SolarWinds NPM / Zabbix / Datadog Intermediate

Using dashboards to monitor network health, identify alerts, and gather initial diagnostic information during incidents.

AWS VPC / Azure VNet Basic

Understanding cloud network concepts, troubleshooting basic security group or Network Access Control List (NACL) issues within our cloud environments.

Palo Alto / Fortinet / Cisco Firepower Intermediate

Managing firewall rules based on approved requests, troubleshooting basic policy interactions, and reviewing logs for security events.

Infoblox / BlueCat / Microsoft DNS Intermediate

Managing IP address reservations, updating DNS records, and troubleshooting DNS resolution paths for internal and external services.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choice	Coming in	Where you are now	The step above
Troubleshooting Path for a P2 Incident	Follow a predefined runbook, escalate if the runbook doesn't resolve it.	Independently choose the most effective troubleshooting steps, consulting with a senior engineer if stuck or if it requires a non-standard approach.	Define the troubleshooting strategy for complex, multi-system incidents, guiding junior engineers.
Configuration Change to a Production Firewall	Execute pre-approved changes under direct supervision.	Prepare the change request and configuration script, get it peer-reviewed by a senior engineer, and then implement it during an approved change window.	Design the firewall policy, review junior engineers' changes, and approve the implementation plan.
Purchasing a New Network Tool/Software	Identify a need and report it to your supervisor.	Research potential solutions, present a basic business case (cost vs. benefit) for tools up to £1,000, and get manager approval.	Evaluate and recommend tools up to £10K, taking into account integration and long-term strategy, presenting to leadership.
Responding to a Security Alert on a Network Device	Follow documented procedures, escalate to a senior engineer or security team immediately.	Independently investigate the alert, gather evidence, and take initial containment steps (e.g., blocking an IP) after consulting with Security Operations.	Lead the response, coordinate with Security Ops, and make critical decisions on containment and eradication.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Ticket Resolution Rate (SLA Adherence)

How many network-related support tickets you resolve within their agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Target · 95% of assigned tickets resolved within SLA

If you're assigned 20 tickets in a month, you should be closing at least 19 of them before their SLA clock runs out. This shows you're on top of things.

Network Change Success Rate

The percentage of network changes you implement that go live without causing a new incident or service disruption.

Target · >99.8% successful changes (less than 1 incident per 500 changes)

If you make 50 changes over a quarter, we'd expect all of them to go through without a hitch. One small mistake can take down a whole office, so precision is key.

Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) for Assigned Incidents

The average time it takes you to diagnose and restore service for network incidents you're assigned.

Target · Reduce MTTR for P1/P2 incidents by 15% year-over-year (e.g., from 60 mins to 51 mins)

If a core switch goes down, we're looking at how quickly you can get it back up. Every minute counts when the business is impacted.

Network Device Uptime for Owned Systems

The percentage of time that the specific network devices or segments you're responsible for are fully operational.

Target · 99.9% uptime for core access switches and firewalls you manage

If you're looking after the network for our London office, we expect those devices to be available almost all the time. Downtime is a big deal.

Documentation Quality & Completeness

How well you maintain and update network diagrams, configuration guides, and troubleshooting procedures for the systems you own.

Regular updates to Confluence/Wiki
diagrams match reality
junior engineers can follow your guides
positive feedback from peers during handovers.

Proactive Issue Identification

Your ability to spot potential network problems before they become major incidents, often by noticing trends in monitoring data.

Reporting potential capacity issues before they hit
flagging unusual traffic patterns
suggesting preventative maintenance based on observations
fewer 'surprise' outages.

Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing

How effectively you work with other teams (like servers, security, and IT support) and share your network knowledge with colleagues.

Positive feedback from other teams
active participation in team knowledge sessions
helping junior engineers get unstuck
clear communication during incidents.

Problem Solving Rigour

The systematic and logical approach you take to troubleshooting, ensuring root causes are identified rather than just applying quick fixes.

Detailed post-mortems for incidents you've led
asking for data (p-caps, logs) before making changes
demonstrating a clear thought process during incident calls
incidents not recurring due to proper fixes.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy

Solving Tricky Puzzles

You get a real kick out of figuring out why something isn't working when it 'should' be. That deep dive into logs, packet captures, and config files to find the one misconfigured setting that's causing chaos – that's your happy place.

Spending an afternoon tracking down an asymmetric routing issue across multiple firewalls and then seeing traffic flow perfectly again.

Keeping Things Running Smoothly

There's a quiet satisfaction in knowing the network you manage is stable, performant, and reliable. You enjoy the feeling of contributing to the foundational stability of the business, even if it's often invisible.

Monitoring dashboards showing green lights across all your devices, knowing you've prevented potential outages.

Continuous Learning & Improvement

The network world changes constantly, and you love staying on top of it. You're always keen to learn about new technologies, better ways to automate, or more efficient troubleshooting techniques.

Spending an evening experimenting with a new Ansible module for network configuration or diving into a new cloud networking concept.

What frustrates people

The 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent' Protocol: Every application slowdown or glitch seems to default to 'it's the network,' forcing you to spend hours proving otherwise with packet captures and latency graphs.
Vendor Support Black Holes: Getting stuck in endless loops with Tier 1 support for critical circuit issues, only to be asked basic questions you've already answered.
The Invisibility Tax: When the network is running perfectly, no one notices. You only get attention when something breaks, which can feel like thankless work.
Legacy Gear in a Dark Closet: Having to maintain that one ancient switch or router that's out of support, can't be automated, and is critical to some obscure service, but can't be replaced due to budget or political battles.

What this role does not give you

A quiet, predictable routine: Expect urgent requests and unexpected outages to disrupt your plans regularly.
Immediate, visible glory: Your best work often goes unnoticed because it means things are just working as they should.
Complete autonomy over budget: While you'll propose solutions, budget approval for significant purchases will sit with your manager or lead.

8Who you work with

Your work directly underpins almost every business function. If the network isn't working, our staff can't work, our customers can't access our products, and frankly, we lose money. You're a critical part of keeping the lights on and the business moving.

Inside the business

Internal IT Support Team (they'll be calling you about network issues)
Server and Storage Teams (you'll need to work with them on connectivity)
Application Development Teams (they'll need network access for new services)
Project Managers (they'll be chasing you for network deliverables)
Security Operations (you'll work together on firewall policies)

Outside the business

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Telcos (for circuit issues)
Hardware Vendors (Cisco, Juniper, Palo Alto support)
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) for specific tools

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

At least 2-3 years of hands-on experience as a Network Engineer or similar role, where you've been responsible for configuring and troubleshooting production networks.
Proven experience with Cisco IOS-XE/NX-OS or Juniper Junos in a live environment – we're not looking for purely lab experience here.
A solid understanding of routing protocols (OSPF, BGP) and switching technologies (VLANs, Spanning Tree, LACP).
Experience with network monitoring tools (e.g., SolarWinds, Zabbix, Datadog) to identify and diagnose issues.
Demonstrable experience taking ownership of network incidents and driving them to resolution, including clear communication during outages.
A good grasp of network security fundamentals, including firewall concepts and policy management.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Network Observability & AIOps

Just monitoring if a device is up or down isn't enough anymore. We need to understand network performance, user experience, and predict failures. AIOps tools are changing how we do this.

Network telemetry (NetFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) · Log aggregation and analysis (ELK Stack, Splunk) · Time-series databases (Prometheus, InfluxDB) · Custom dashboarding (Grafana) · Machine learning for anomaly detection

This week: Dive deeper into our existing monitoring tools and understand how alerts are configured.
This month: Learn how to build a custom dashboard in Grafana using existing data sources.
Month 2: Research different network telemetry types and how they can be used for deeper insights.
Month 3: Explore basic concepts of AIOps platforms and how they use machine learning.

Quick win: Improve one existing network dashboard to show more meaningful performance metrics, not just uptime.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

The old 'trust everyone inside the firewall' model is dead. Zero Trust is the future of network security, and you'll need to understand how to implement and manage it.

Micro-segmentation principles · Identity-based access control · Context-aware policies (user, device, location) · Software-Defined Perimeters (SDP) · Continuous verification

This week: Read up on the core principles of Zero Trust Architecture.
This month: Understand how our current firewalls could support basic micro-segmentation.
Month 2: Research ZTNA vendors and their approaches (e.g., Palo Alto Prisma Access, Zscaler).
Month 3: Think about how ZTNA would impact our existing network design and user access.

Quick win: Identify one small internal application where you could apply stricter, identity-based network access controls, even if it's just a conceptual exercise.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up

Regularly follow industry blogs and news sources (e.g., Packet Pushers, EtherealMind) to stay current with network trends and technologies.
Participate in online network communities or forums to learn from others and share your knowledge.
Attend webinars or virtual conferences on specific network technologies or security topics.
Dedicate time each week to labbing up new configurations or troubleshooting scenarios in a virtual environment (e.g., EVE-NG, GNS3).

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Network Automation with Python & APIs

Manual configuration is slow, prone to errors, and just doesn't scale anymore. Our competitors are automating everything, and so should we. Knowing how to script network tasks means you can do in minutes what used to take hours.

Network APIs (RESTCONF, NETCONF)
Python libraries (Netmiko, NAPALM, Nornir)
Idempotency in automation scripts
Version control for network configurations (Git)
Basic CI/CD pipelines for network changes

Cloud-Native Networking Concepts

More and more of our infrastructure is moving to the cloud. You can't just apply on-prem network thinking directly. Understanding how cloud networks are designed and managed is becoming non-negotiable.

Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) and Virtual Networks
Security Groups and Network Access Control Lists (
Cloud routing (Transit Gateway, Virtual WAN)
Identity and Access Management (IAM) for network r
Hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect, ExpressRoute)

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

Advanced Routing & Switching
Data Centre & Campus Architecture
SD-WAN & Hybrid Cloud Connectivity
Network Security Principles
ITIL Framework Application
Capacity Planning & Performance Tuning (Basic)

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

1
Associate Network Engineer / Junior Network Engineer
2-3 years
Skills to master
- Mastering basic configuration, troubleshooting Layer 2/3 issues, understanding network monitoring, and diligently following change control processes.
You're ready to move on when
- Consistently resolving assigned tickets within SLA.
- Successfully implementing routine network changes without supervision.
- Proactively identifying and escalating potential network issues.
- Demonstrating a strong grasp of core networking concepts (OSI, TCP/IP, basic routing/switching).
2
Network Support Specialist / IT Support with Network Focus
3-4 years
Skills to master
- Deep troubleshooting of end-user network issues, understanding network services (DNS, DHCP), and basic firewall rule management.
You're ready to move on when
- Ability to diagnose and resolve complex connectivity problems for users.
- Experience interacting with network team for escalations and providing useful diagnostic data.
- Demonstrating an eagerness to learn and take on more network-specific responsibilities.
3
Systems Administrator with Network Responsibilities
3-5 years
Skills to master
- Managing network interfaces on servers, understanding virtual networking, and basic network services configuration.
You're ready to move on when
- Comfortable configuring network settings on Linux/Windows servers.
- Experience with virtualisation networking (VMware, Hyper-V).
- A clear desire to specialise in dedicated network engineering.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This role can lead into deep technical specialism, network leadership, or a wider IT career, starting from a solid grounding in network engineering.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Head of Networks is actually changing.

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Lead Maintenance Activities, worked against Head of Networks.

Lead Maintenance Activities Level 4

Applied to your work in Head of Networks

The objective of this unit is to enable learners to lead maintenance activities, ensuring efficient and effective operations. Learners will develop an understanding of planning, resource allocation, and team management within the context of maintenance, allowing them to organise, manage, and evaluate maintenance operations.

How the thinking builds

1 Remember
2 Understand
3 Apply
4 Analyse
5 Evaluate
6 Create

An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

Start my Head of Networks plan, free

See Your Progress Grow Illustration

Head of Networks

Advanced Routing & Switching
Data Centre & Campus Architecture
SD-WAN & Hybrid Cloud Connectivity
Network Security Principles
ITIL Framework Application
Capacity Planning & Performance Tuning (Basic)

This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Head of Networks is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

Senior Network Engineer (Level 003)
3-5 years in this role

You'll move from owning specific systems to leading entire workstreams and projects, mentoring junior engineers, and making significant technical decisions.
- Network Design Principles Moving beyond implementation to understanding the 'why' behind design choices.
- Advanced Automation Developing and maintaining complex Ansible roles and Python tools for network automation.
- Vendor Management Engaging directly with vendors for technical issues and product evaluations.
- Security Architecture Deeper involvement in designing and implementing network security solutions (e.g., Zero Trust).

Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, a lot of network engineering involves repetitive tasks, sifting through logs, and drafting reports. What if you could offload a good chunk of that to AI? We're building an AI Hub to do just that, giving you back precious time to focus on the really interesting, complex problems.

For a Head of Networks (Level 002), AI isn't about replacing you; it's about making you incredibly more efficient. Imagine spending less time debugging and more time designing. Our AI Hub is designed to help you automate the mundane, predict the unpredictable, and communicate more effectively.

AI-Powered Anomaly Detection

Use AIOps platforms like Datadog or BigPanda to analyse network telemetry in real-time. This helps you automatically spot weird deviations from normal traffic patterns or unusual latency spikes that often predict an outage before it actually happens. No more sifting through millions of log lines manually.

Predictive Capacity Planning

Feed your historical bandwidth usage, anticipated business growth, and circuit costs into an AI model. This can forecast exactly when and where your network links might get saturated, giving you data-driven insights to make proactive budget requests for upgrades, rather than reactive scrambles.

Automated Firewall Policy Audit

Use AI-driven tools to scan your firewall rule sets. These tools can compare your rules against security best practices, compliance frameworks (like PCI-DSS), and actual traffic flows. This helps you quickly identify risky, redundant, or completely unused rules that need cleaning up – a task that usually takes ages.

Incident Report Auto-Drafting

After an incident, use a Large Language Model (LLM) to parse through your Slack channels, alert streams, and ticket timelines. It can generate a structured first draft of a post-mortem report, saving you hours of administrative overhead. You can then focus on the actual root cause analysis and corrective actions, not just writing it all down.

Common questions

How do you become a Head of Networks?

Common routes in include Associate Network Engineer / Junior Network Engineer (2-3 years), Network Support Specialist / IT Support with Network Focus (3-4 years) and Systems Administrator with Network Responsibilities (3-5 years). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Head of Networks progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior Network Engineer (3-5 years in this role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Head of Networks?

Increasingly, Network Automation with Python & APIs and Cloud-Native Networking Concepts. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my Head of Networks plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.

Head of Networks

Where should we send it?

Two short quizzes about you

Will AI change your work as a Head of Networks?

What's rising in its place

Network Automation with Python & APIs

Cloud-Native Networking Concepts

Skills this role draws on

Technical

How you actually get there, here

Associate Network Engineer / Junior Network Engineer

Network Support Specialist / IT Support with Network Focus

Systems Administrator with Network Responsibilities

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

Roles this leads to

One to one, on the work you already do

Everything else the record holds

The career path, and where it branches

Senior Network Engineer (Level 003)

Where AI is starting to help

AI-Powered Anomaly Detection

Predictive Capacity Planning

Automated Firewall Policy Audit

Incident Report Auto-Drafting

Common questions

Want a read on where you stand?