This is not the latest approved version of this apprenticeship. View the latest version
This apprenticeship is in revision
A revised version of this apprenticeship standard and EPA plan has been agreed and is available for information only at present whilst waiting for funding decision.
Proposal approved
Occupational standard approved
End-point assessment plan approved
Funding approved
This occupation is found in large, medium and small businesses, across all sectors, and within public, private, and voluntary bodies. Network engineers are a key occupation in most organisations, which are increasingly dependent on their physical and virtual networks. Digital technologies are increasingly being applied across business functions, to maximise productivity. Organisations of all types are increasingly applying digital technologies across all their business functions to maximise productivity.
The demand for people who can manage, build, maintain on-site, cloud and hybrid networks are increasing. This is due to technological developments and emerging new technologies. The broad purpose of the occupation is to install networks, maintain them, and to offer technical support to users, where necessary.
Small organisations may require the network engineer to work alone or as part of a team to securely monitor performance, maintain functionality and to troubleshoot virtual, local area network or respective components which may include Wi-Fi configuration.
Within a medium sized organisation, the network engineer will typically be part of a team but may work individually on network tasks to securely monitor, troubleshoot and maintain a local or wide area network infrastructure or components (remotely or on site). This may include Wi-Fi configuration.
Within a large organisation, the network engineer will typically be part of a team and may be involved physically or remotely in the use of up-to-date technologies and techniques, whilst securely maintaining, troubleshooting, monitoring, and changing, complex networks, this may include Wi-Fi configuration.
A network engineer provides networks and systems to deliver the objectives of their organisation. They will make sure that systems are working at optimum capacity and problem solve where needed. To be able to do this effectively a network engineer must interpret technical information and understand organisational requirements and expectations. They support delivery of legislatively compliant solutions to challenges in network infrastructure.
Network engineers may deal with both hardware and software issues. They are a key part of resolving issues when networks fail, helping to troubleshoot and resolve identified problems and performance issues with the network, to ensure service is resumed and downtime minimised. Network engineers help customers, both technical and non-technical to install networks, maintain them, and offer technical support to users where necessary.
Network engineers can be both customers facing or internal. In their daily work, an employee in this occupation may interact with a wide variety of stakeholders, face to face or remotely, by using a range of technologies. They may be working independently or collaboratively as part of a team. They will be aware of their organisational escalation structure and understand their role in their team.
| Duty | KSBs |
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Duty 1 Install, configure, and test physical or virtual network components or devices securely to well-defined specifications. |
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Duty 2 Monitor and analyse network performance data. |
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Duty 3 Optimise, upgrade and maintain the performance of physical or virtual network systems, services or components in line with well-defined specification. |
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Duty 4 Investigate and problem solve to address technical performance issues in networks to return the network to successful operation and escalate as necessary. |
K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K8 K9 K10 K11 K12 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K19 K20 K21 |
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Duty 5 Interpret written requirements and technical specifications in relation to delivery of network systems or services. |
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Duty 6 Use operational data to deliver and manage weekly work schedule in an efficient and cost-effective way whilst maintaining a high-quality service under pressure. |
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Duty 7 Consider the impact and risks when implementing network changes and maintain accurate logical records in line within organisational policy. |
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Duty 8 Communicate technical network requirements effectively and professionally with a range of stakeholders. |
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Duty 9 Take responsibility for continuous self-learning to ensure that network engineering activities are carried out effectively. |
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Duty 10 Ensure all network engineering activity complies with organisational policies, technical standards, Health and Safety legislation, data security requirements, professional ethics, privacy and confidentiality. |
K1: Causes and consequences of network and IT infrastructure failures.
Back to Duty
K2: The architecture, physical and virtual, of typical IT systems, including hardware, operating systems , server, virtualisation, voice and applications.
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K3: The tools and techniques for optimising network performance.
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K4: Diagnostic techniques and tools to interrogate and gather information regarding systems performance.
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K5: Organisational policies and procedures to ensure accurate recording and management of information.
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K6: Service level agreements, SLAs, contractual obligations and customer service when delivering network engineering activities.
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K7: Business continuity and disaster recovery and their role within in, including preservation of system configurations.
Back to Duty
K8: The purposes and uses of sockets pair and protocols.
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K9: Devices, applications, protocols and services at their respective open systems interconnection or, transmission control protocol or internet protocol models or layers.
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K10: The concepts and characteristics of routing and switching.
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K11: The characteristics of network topologies, types, technologies and network modelling and or diagrams
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K12: Wireless networks technologies and configurations.
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K13: Concepts of cloud and cloud services.
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K14: Functions of network services such as domain name system and dynamic host configuration protocol.
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K15: Types of network maintenance.
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K16: Legislation and standards in the workplace and the impact on their role including sustainability, e.g. energy-efficient networking, hardware longevity, and e-waste reduction.
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K17: Troubleshooting methodologies and root cause analysis techniques for network issues.
Back to Duty
K18: Approaches to integrate services into a network.
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K19: Types of security threats to digital networks and risk mitigation.
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K20: Approaches to network automation such as use of artificial intelligence.
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K21: Approaches to change management, Secure Access Service Edge SASE and Zero-trust networking when operating in a network environment.
Back to Duty
S1: Apply tools and techniques when securely operating and testing networks.
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S2: Install and configure network components.
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S3: Implement tools and techniques to monitor, identify, analyse and record systems performance in line with defined specifications.
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S4: Maintain security of the network against potential threats.
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S5: Apply tools and or techniques to gather information to troubleshoot issues and or isolate, repair or escalate faults.
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S6: Communicate outcomes of tasks and record actions in line with organisational procedures.
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S7: Upgrade, apply and test components to systems configurations ensuring that the system meets the organisation’s requirements and minimises downtime.
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S8: Interpret information and or specifications received from a manager, customer or technical specialist and accurately implement the defined requirements.
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S9: Implement techniques to optimise systems or component performance in line with defined specifications.
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S10: Apply the required level of responsibility when organising and prioritising work tasks, clients’ or stakeholders’ requests in line with SLAs and organisation processes.
Back to Duty
S11: Explain their job role within the business context to stakeholders to enable a clear understanding on both sides of what their remit is and convey technical constraints.
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S12: Operate securely, and apply process, policies and legislation within their business responsibilities.
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S13: Configure and maintain network addressing in line with customer requirements.
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S14: Ensure compliance of network engineering outputs with change management processes including Secure Access Service Edge SASE or Zero-trust networking .
Back to Duty
B1: Work independently and demonstrate initiative, being resourceful when faced with a problem and taking responsibility for solving complex problems within their own level of responsibility.
Back to Duty
B2: Work within the goals, vision and values of the organisation.
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B3: Work to meet or exceed customers’ requirements and expectations.
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B4: Commit to continued professional development, in order to ensure growth in professional skill and knowledge.
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B5: Work under pressure showing resilience.
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B6: Work collaboratively with external stakeholders and others across the organisation.
Back to Duty
English and maths qualifications must be completed in line with the apprenticeship funding rules.
This standard aligns with the following professional recognition:
| Version | Change detail | Earliest start date | Latest start date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revised version awaiting implementation | Not set | Not set | |
| 1.2 | Standard, funding band and end-point assessment plan revised | 01/06/2021 | Not set |
| 1.1 | The funding band for this standard has been reviewed as part of the apprenticeship funding band review. The new funding band is £17000 | 04/03/2019 | 31/05/2021 |
| 1.0 | Retired | 12/11/2014 | 03/03/2019 |
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