Network Manager

We're looking for an experienced Network Manager to join our award-winning Technology team on a permanent basis. Reporting to the Platform Services & Infrastructure Manager, you'll combine hands-on network engineering expertise with operational and people leadership, while taking ownership of supplier performance to ensure we deliver a secure, resilient and high-performing network estate across our business.

At Mitchells & Butlers, our technology underpins over 1,700 pubs, bars and restaurants, making reliable connectivity critical to both the colleague and guest experience. You'll play a key role in ensuring our networks and Wi-Fi services remain secure, scalable and always available, supporting day-to-day trading while enabling future growth and transformation across the business. Significant hands-on experience with Cisco Meraki networking and enterprise wireless technologies is essential for success in this role.

As the technical authority for network services, you'll lead a team of network professionals, drive service excellence from our suppliers and hold partners accountable for delivering against contractual and technical commitments. You'll challenge assumptions, identify opportunities for improvement and ensure our network estate remains supportable, resilient and ready to meet the evolving needs of M&B's IT roadmap.

Based at our Birmingham City Centre Head Office, this role offers a flexible hybrid working approach.

You’ll be rewarded with:

• 33% discount across all M&B brands.
• 20% Friends & Family discount for up to five people.
• Annual bonus scheme.
• Option to buy up to two additional weeks of holiday.
• Matched pension contributions (up to 1.5x your contribution).
• Private healthcare and dental plan.
• Cycle to Work and wellbeing schemes.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Hybrid working and flexible approach.
  
  
  

What you’ll be doing in this Network Manager role

• Directly manage and develop the network team, setting technical and service standards, objectives, regular 1-2-1s and development plans; manage performance and succession.
• Own M&B’s operational network performance across LAN, WAN, WLAN, internet, VPN, SD-WAN, routing, switching, firewalls and cloud connectivity. Suppliers retain their contracted delivery obligations.
• Act as the hands-on network technical authority: personally diagnose complex Cisco Meraki issues across Dashboard, wireless, switching and security appliances; validate templates, configurations and firmware.
• Lead Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 design and optimisation: pre- and post-deployment RF surveys, spectrum analysis, channel/power planning, interference, capacity, roaming and client compatibility.
• Maintain SSIDs, VLANs, guest access, segmentation, 802.1X, NAC, BYOD and WPA3/PMF controls with security colleagues; test access, isolation and legacy client compatibility.
• Own monitoring, capacity, QoS and failover; measure availability, latency, loss and Wi-Fi connection success against agreed service and user-experience targets; act on degradation.
• Control hardware refresh, firmware, security updates, licensing and support lifecycle risks through BC&T Change processes, testing and rollback plans.
• Develop network roadmaps and investment cases aligned to M&B’s IT Roadmap; lead approved refresh, improvement and remediation within funding and delivery controls.
• Own operational network standards and configuration baselines with Enterprise Architecture; drive safe API and automation use for deployment, monitoring and compliance checks.
• Lead major network incidents and provide hands-on second- and third-line diagnosis, directing internal engineers and suppliers, restoring service and communicating business impact.
• Use RF evidence, wired and wireless packet captures, protocol analysis, logs and controlled tests to isolate faults; own root-cause investigations and verify permanent corrective actions.
• Maintain and test disaster recovery and continuity plans, including recovery targets, failover, configuration recovery and supplier dependencies; verify outcomes and close gaps.
• Maintain diagrams, configurations, IP address records, inventories and runbooks in ServiceNow; establish configuration history and recovery procedures appropriate to each platform.
• With Security, govern network vulnerabilities, audit findings, privileged and supplier access, MFA, access reviews and logging; maintain accountable owners and verify remediation.
• Lead technical product and support-model evaluation; challenge vendor designs and test proposed solutions against business requirements, client compatibility and agreed acceptance criteria.
• Manage SLA and contract reviews, renewals, budgets and total cost of ownership with Vendor Managers; make commitments within delegated authority and approval processes.
• Drive supplier performance through service reviews, scorecards, SLAs and KPIs covering reliability, restoration, repeat incidents and technical quality; assign owners and deadlines.
• Challenge supplier diagnoses, root-cause reports and remediation using technical evidence; escalate underperformance, demand measurable recovery plans and independently verify results.
• Agree clear internal and supplier responsibilities for support and change. Require suppliers to fulfil delivery commitments; hands-on intervention does not transfer their obligations to M&B.
• Maintain risk treatment plans and escalate material service, security, supplier and lifecycle risks through the line manager and agreed BC&T governance.
• Provide stakeholders with clear service, risk, roadmap and investment updates; translate technical findings into business impacts, options and decisions.
• Agree support models, SLAs and acceptance with Service Management, Service Design and the Change Manager; verify security, RF, client and failover tests before handover.
• Plan workload and agreed support coverage, delegate delivery and coach complex investigations; retain hands-on technical oversight and escalate resource or capability gaps.

What you’ll need to bring to this Network Manager role

• Demonstrable strength in all three areas—hands-on network engineering, network operations and people leadership, and supplier performance and technical challenge.
• Deep hands-on Cisco Meraki expertise across Dashboard, wireless access points, switching and security appliances, including templates, firmware and advanced diagnostics.
• Deep Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 expertise in 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz; RF design, surveys, spectrum analysis, interference, channel/power planning, roaming, authentication and client compatibility.
• Substantial multi-site network engineering experience across LAN, WAN, SD-WAN, routing, switching, firewalls, internet, cloud connectivity, DNS and DHCP.
• Practical expertise in wired and wireless packet capture and protocol analysis, correlated with RF measurements and logs to isolate faults and validate lasting fixes.
• Proven operational accountability, major incident leadership, problem management, monitoring, capacity, resilience, disaster recovery and controlled change delivery.
• Proven management of network suppliers against contractual commitments, SLAs and KPIs, with measurable improvements through governance, escalation and verified remediation.
• Direct people management of technical engineers, including coaching, performance management, workload planning, capability development and succession.
• Technical credibility to challenge internal engineers and senior supplier specialists; independently assess designs, configurations, diagnoses and root-cause evidence.
• Strong network security knowledge across IPsec/TLS VPNs, segmentation, 802.1X, NAC, WPA3/PMF, secure BYOD, guest and remote access, and privileged access controls.
• Clear communication, sound judgement and calm incident leadership; explain business impact, prioritise work and build accountable partnerships across teams.
• Budget, licensing, renewal and value management within delegated authority; ability to assess and govern API-based network automation and operational tooling.

Qualifications

• Degree level or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• ITIL Foundation or equivalent practical service management knowledge.
• CCNP, Cisco Meraki and recognised wireless qualifications are desirable; proven equivalent expertise is accepted. Qualifications do not replace the essential skills above.

What makes Mitchells & Butlers a great place to work?

At M&B we value the unique perspectives each person brings. We believe that by fostering a culture of inclusion, respect, and allyship, we create a sense of belonging, engagement and teamwork which are essential to delivering great guest experiences.

Join us and be a part of a great team!

Closing Date: Friday 6th November 2026 at 11:59pm 

Grade - Management 
Line Manager -  Giovanni Fineschi 
Mobility - Office Flexible

We're looking for an experienced Network Manager to join our award-winning Technology team on a permanent basis. Reporting to the Platform Services & Infrastructure Manager, you'll combine hands-on network engineering expertise with operational and people leadership, while taking ownership of supplier performance to ensure we deliver a secure, resilient and high-performing network estate across our business.

At Mitchells & Butlers, our technology underpins over 1,700 pubs, bars and restaurants, making reliable connectivity critical to both the colleague and guest experience. You'll play a key role in ensuring our networks and Wi-Fi services remain secure, scalable and always available, supporting day-to-day trading while enabling future growth and transformation across the business. Significant hands-on experience with Cisco Meraki networking and enterprise wireless technologies is essential for success in this role.

As the technical authority for network services, you'll lead a team of network professionals, drive service excellence from our suppliers and hold partners accountable for delivering against contractual and technical commitments. You'll challenge assumptions, identify opportunities for improvement and ensure our network estate remains supportable, resilient and ready to meet the evolving needs of M&B's IT roadmap.

Based at our Birmingham City Centre Head Office, this role offers a flexible hybrid working approach.

You’ll be rewarded with:

• 33% discount across all M&B brands.
• 20% Friends & Family discount for up to five people.
• Annual bonus scheme.
• Option to buy up to two additional weeks of holiday.
• Matched pension contributions (up to 1.5x your contribution).
• Private healthcare and dental plan.
• Cycle to Work and wellbeing schemes.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Hybrid working and flexible approach.
  
  
  

What you’ll be doing in this Network Manager role

• Directly manage and develop the network team, setting technical and service standards, objectives, regular 1-2-1s and development plans; manage performance and succession.
• Own M&B’s operational network performance across LAN, WAN, WLAN, internet, VPN, SD-WAN, routing, switching, firewalls and cloud connectivity. Suppliers retain their contracted delivery obligations.
• Act as the hands-on network technical authority: personally diagnose complex Cisco Meraki issues across Dashboard, wireless, switching and security appliances; validate templates, configurations and firmware.
• Lead Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 design and optimisation: pre- and post-deployment RF surveys, spectrum analysis, channel/power planning, interference, capacity, roaming and client compatibility.
• Maintain SSIDs, VLANs, guest access, segmentation, 802.1X, NAC, BYOD and WPA3/PMF controls with security colleagues; test access, isolation and legacy client compatibility.
• Own monitoring, capacity, QoS and failover; measure availability, latency, loss and Wi-Fi connection success against agreed service and user-experience targets; act on degradation.
• Control hardware refresh, firmware, security updates, licensing and support lifecycle risks through BC&T Change processes, testing and rollback plans.
• Develop network roadmaps and investment cases aligned to M&B’s IT Roadmap; lead approved refresh, improvement and remediation within funding and delivery controls.
• Own operational network standards and configuration baselines with Enterprise Architecture; drive safe API and automation use for deployment, monitoring and compliance checks.
• Lead major network incidents and provide hands-on second- and third-line diagnosis, directing internal engineers and suppliers, restoring service and communicating business impact.
• Use RF evidence, wired and wireless packet captures, protocol analysis, logs and controlled tests to isolate faults; own root-cause investigations and verify permanent corrective actions.
• Maintain and test disaster recovery and continuity plans, including recovery targets, failover, configuration recovery and supplier dependencies; verify outcomes and close gaps.
• Maintain diagrams, configurations, IP address records, inventories and runbooks in ServiceNow; establish configuration history and recovery procedures appropriate to each platform.
• With Security, govern network vulnerabilities, audit findings, privileged and supplier access, MFA, access reviews and logging; maintain accountable owners and verify remediation.
• Lead technical product and support-model evaluation; challenge vendor designs and test proposed solutions against business requirements, client compatibility and agreed acceptance criteria.
• Manage SLA and contract reviews, renewals, budgets and total cost of ownership with Vendor Managers; make commitments within delegated authority and approval processes.
• Drive supplier performance through service reviews, scorecards, SLAs and KPIs covering reliability, restoration, repeat incidents and technical quality; assign owners and deadlines.
• Challenge supplier diagnoses, root-cause reports and remediation using technical evidence; escalate underperformance, demand measurable recovery plans and independently verify results.
• Agree clear internal and supplier responsibilities for support and change. Require suppliers to fulfil delivery commitments; hands-on intervention does not transfer their obligations to M&B.
• Maintain risk treatment plans and escalate material service, security, supplier and lifecycle risks through the line manager and agreed BC&T governance.
• Provide stakeholders with clear service, risk, roadmap and investment updates; translate technical findings into business impacts, options and decisions.
• Agree support models, SLAs and acceptance with Service Management, Service Design and the Change Manager; verify security, RF, client and failover tests before handover.
• Plan workload and agreed support coverage, delegate delivery and coach complex investigations; retain hands-on technical oversight and escalate resource or capability gaps.

What you’ll need to bring to this Network Manager role

• Demonstrable strength in all three areas—hands-on network engineering, network operations and people leadership, and supplier performance and technical challenge.
• Deep hands-on Cisco Meraki expertise across Dashboard, wireless access points, switching and security appliances, including templates, firmware and advanced diagnostics.
• Deep Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 expertise in 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz; RF design, surveys, spectrum analysis, interference, channel/power planning, roaming, authentication and client compatibility.
• Substantial multi-site network engineering experience across LAN, WAN, SD-WAN, routing, switching, firewalls, internet, cloud connectivity, DNS and DHCP.
• Practical expertise in wired and wireless packet capture and protocol analysis, correlated with RF measurements and logs to isolate faults and validate lasting fixes.
• Proven operational accountability, major incident leadership, problem management, monitoring, capacity, resilience, disaster recovery and controlled change delivery.
• Proven management of network suppliers against contractual commitments, SLAs and KPIs, with measurable improvements through governance, escalation and verified remediation.
• Direct people management of technical engineers, including coaching, performance management, workload planning, capability development and succession.
• Technical credibility to challenge internal engineers and senior supplier specialists; independently assess designs, configurations, diagnoses and root-cause evidence.
• Strong network security knowledge across IPsec/TLS VPNs, segmentation, 802.1X, NAC, WPA3/PMF, secure BYOD, guest and remote access, and privileged access controls.
• Clear communication, sound judgement and calm incident leadership; explain business impact, prioritise work and build accountable partnerships across teams.
• Budget, licensing, renewal and value management within delegated authority; ability to assess and govern API-based network automation and operational tooling.

Qualifications

• Degree level or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• ITIL Foundation or equivalent practical service management knowledge.
• CCNP, Cisco Meraki and recognised wireless qualifications are desirable; proven equivalent expertise is accepted. Qualifications do not replace the essential skills above.

What makes Mitchells & Butlers a great place to work?

At M&B we value the unique perspectives each person brings. We believe that by fostering a culture of inclusion, respect, and allyship, we create a sense of belonging, engagement and teamwork which are essential to delivering great guest experiences.

Join us and be a part of a great team!

Closing Date: Friday 6th November 2026 at 11:59pm