Head of Networking
Possible
Sponsorship likelihood
This employer issued few or no visas recently
Not disclosed
Salary
Not disclosed by employer
£45,600
Going rate
Skilled Worker going rate
This role likely qualifies for a Skilled Worker visa
SOC 2137 (73% match) is an eligible occupation, with a going rate of £45,600, and SOVEREIGN AI OPERATIONS LIMITED is a licensed sponsor. That is our reading of the rules. Whether they issue a Certificate of Sponsorship is still their call.
This could also be SOC 2132 (IT managers) or SOC 1137 (Information technology directors). We read the code off the advert, so it is our best guess, not the employer's.
New graduate or PhD holder? Pick one of the lower rates.
What each route needs for this job
| Occupation code | New entrant 70% of going rate | STEM PhD 80% of going rate | Relevant PhD 90% of going rate | Standard rate 100% of going rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2137 IT network professionals Most likely code | £33,400 | £36,500 | £41,100 | £45,600 |
2132 IT managers Also possible | £38,500 | £44,000 | £49,500 | £55,000 |
1137 Information technology directors Also possible | £60,200 | £68,800 | £77,400 | £86,000 |
We use the lowest threshold across the plausible codes. Likelihood is Possible at most when the pay clears only a lower rate, or only under a less likely code. How the Home Office picks the code
About the role
Head of Networking
RHAELM | Infrastructure & SRE | EMEA & APAC | Flexible location, HQ preferred
About RHAELM
RHAELM is the sovereign AI cloud built to accelerate secure AI deployment at scale, combining power and infrastructure pipelines with global capability and local, in-country operations. Headquartered in London, with deployments across Europe and APAC, we deliver ring-fenced compute, networking, and storage infrastructure alongside a sovereign platform and flexible Bare Metal, Kubernetes, and AI-as-a-Service models. Focused on regulated and mission-critical sectors including Government, Defence, Healthcare, and Financial Services, we give organisations sovereign control over their AI infrastructure, platform, and data.
This Role
You will own RHAELM’s network architecture and define how the network is run, from design standards and change control to monitoring and incident response. That covers our bare metal, Kubernetes and GPU/AI hosting environments across every site and region.
This is a technical leadership seat within the SRE team, reporting to the SVP of Operations. You will work closely with Engineering to design the platform, set shared standards and establish escalation paths as Operations scales. In the interim, you will also own infrastructure design, architecture and escalations. You will build the Network Engineering team from a standing start, and shape its structure and playbook. Expect regular travel across EMEA and APAC, including to network infrastructure locations and our Global NOC hub in Poland.
Key Responsibilities
Own network architecture end-to-end, designing a consistent topology across bare metal, Kubernetes and GPU/AI environments
Define change control and approval procedures, monitoring and alerting standards, incident response playbooks and network runbooks
Build and lead the Network Engineering team, hiring and developing engineers as the function scales
Own the network side of client-facing escalations from Support, with clear response expectations
Partner with Engineering on shared technical standards, documentation practices and escalation paths
Represent the Network function in cross-team design and escalation work
Report on network health and performance
Build a culture of technical rigour, documentation-first thinking and continuous improvement from day one
Experience
7+ years of hands-on network engineering experience, including several years in a leadership role at a hosting, colocation, cloud infrastructure or managed services company
Deep background in data centre network architecture and design: routing and switching, topology and capacity planning at multi-site scale
Experience defining network change management, monitoring and incident response from scratch, rather than only within an established framework
Familiarity with bare metal provisioning, Kubernetes and GPU/AI hosting, enough to ground architecture and staffing decisions in the platform
Comfortable owning hands-on triage of non-client-facing infrastructure incidents beyond pure networking, and coordinating with adjacent teams such as Storage & Backup Engineering
Experience working with IT and customer support teams on incident escalation and change coordination
Skills
Technical leadership and the ability to scale a function from a single leader into a dedicated team
Network design, routing and switching, and capacity planning
Clear communication, including reporting progress to senior leadership
Cross-functional partnership without direct line management
Experience with ITSM, ticketing or network monitoring and observability platforms (desirable)
Experience with GPU/AI infrastructure (desirable)
Polish and/or Japanese language skills (desirable)
Qualifications
CCNP, CCIE or equivalent data centre networking credentials (desirable)
This description is the source posting as it read when we added it. We are not affiliated with SOVEREIGN AI OPERATIONS LIMITED, so check their own site for the current details.
Where this offer sits in the market
IT network professionals (SOC 2137) · UK · ONS ASHE 2025 · basic pay · ~39k in sample- Middle half £36,348–60,788
- Median £46,176
- Going rate £45,600
- Threshold £41,700
- New entrant £33,400–41,100
Similar sponsored roles
See all UK visa jobsNo close matches live right now.
Browse more sponsored jobs at SOVEREIGN AI OPERATIONS LIMITEDAbout sponsorship for this role
Does this job guarantee visa sponsorship?
Not necessarily. SOVEREIGN AI OPERATIONS LIMITED holds a sponsor licence, but sponsorship for a specific hire is always the employer's decision. Be upfront in your application that you'll require it.
What salary is needed for this role to be eligible?
The offer must clear both the general threshold and the SOC 2137 going rate of £45,600. New-entrant and shortage discounts can lower it.