Enterprise Network Team Lead, Hamburg
Up to 100,000 EUR
Permament employment basis. Hybrid – 3 days per week in Central Hamburg office, 2 days remote
We are partnering with a premier European financial technology and digital services group as they appoint an Network Team Lead to spearhead their European network infrastructure from their central Hamburg office.Operating across 30+ European sites and hybrid data centres, the group is executing an ambitious modernization mandate, transitioning core routing and security into AWS while automating operations through Infrastructure as Code (Terraform). In this high-impact 60/40 leadership role, you will guide an established 5-engineer pod across mentoring, architecture, and vendor governance, while remaining hands-on directing cloud routing, enterprise firewalls (Fortinet, Palo Alto, Check Point), and SD-WAN rollouts. Excellent opportunity for a technical mentor passionate about modern network-as-code platforms.
Lead, mentor, and technically direct a dedicated international engineering pod managing the mission-critical European network estate for a market-leading financial services group. Operating with roughly 60% people leadership and 40% hands-on architecture, you will report directly to the Head of Infrastructure and own the modernization roadmap. You will guide the transition from traditional, ticket-driven operations into an automated, proactive platform model, delivering high-availability AWS cloud network connectivity (Transit Gateways, Gateway Load Balancers), robust Next-Generation Firewall standards (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Check Point), and enterprise SD-WAN fabric. This role offers genuine autonomy to influence architectural strategy, eliminate operational toil, and coach seasoned senior engineers into modern cloud-first practices.
Essential duties and responsibilities:
- Lead, mentor, and coach an international pod of 5 network engineers across Hamburg and nearshore hubs, fostering technical excellence, conducting regular appraisals, and managing workload delegation.
- Own the architecture, reliability, and security of the European hybrid network estate across 30+ European locations, hybrid data centre interconnects, and AWS cloud environments.
- Architect and implement enterprise AWS networking infrastructure, including multi-account Transit Gateways (TGW), Gateway Load Balancers (GWLB), VPC routing, and Route 53 Resolvers.
- Drive the adoption of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) by migrating manual network and firewall administration toward automated Terraform pipelines and GitOps workflows.
- Oversee enterprise Next-Generation Firewall lifecycle, policy design, and operational health across Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, and Check Point estates.
- Direct enterprise SD-WAN rollout, dynamic routing (BGP, OSPF), and carrier circuit optimization across European branch offices.
- Act as escalation authority for complex network incidents, driving postmortems and establishing monitoring standards that reduce operational noise and alert fatigue.
- Partner closely with the Head of Infrastructure, internal security bodies, external data centre partners, and hardware vendors.
Other requirements:
- Proven track record in a Team Lead, Technical Lead, or senior mentorship capacity guiding network engineers within complex enterprise environments.
- Deep, hands-on architectural experience with AWS cloud networking constructs (VPCs, Transit Gateway, Gateway Load Balancer, Direct Connect, Route 53).
- Strong background in enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls (hands-on depth in Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, or Check Point; multi-vendor familiarity is highly valued).
- Solid expertise in enterprise WAN, multi-site SD-WAN implementations, and core dynamic routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, MPLS, IPsec VPNs).
- Practical commitment to automation and Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Git, and CI/CD pipelines.
- Pragmatic leadership style with the diplomatic ability to bridge legacy network operations with modern cloud-native practices.
- Excellent communication skills in English; conversational or professional German proficiency is an advantage but fluent English is the primary working language.
- Willingness to work on-site at the central Hamburg office 3 days per week (60% on-site hybrid model).
What the company offers:
- High-impact architectural and team leadership mandate within an established, well-capitalised corporate group offering long-term stability and modern engineering culture.
- Competitive base salary of €90,000 – €100,000 plus comprehensive corporate benefits package.
- Direct reporting line to a highly technical, anti-bureaucracy Head of Infrastructure who values ownership, innovation, and pragmatic engineering.
- Modern hybrid working framework (3 days in a centrally located Hamburg office right by the station, 2 days remote).
- Generous training, certification budgets, and dedicated resources for ongoing professional development.
- 30 days annual leave, company pension schemes, public transit ticket subsidy, and wellness programs.
If you are an experienced Network Leader or Lead Network Architect looking to shape an enterprise cloud network transformation in Hamburg, we would welcome a confidential discussion.
Please get in touch with Paul Turner on +44 203 8544 8002 or email paul.turner@digitechsearch.com