Principal Network R&D Architect - Remote Innovator

Lumen

Columbus (OH)

Remote

USD 152,000 - 203,000

Full time

14 days+

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Job summary

Join Lumen, a trusted network for the AI‑powered world, as a Principal Architect, Network Research & Development. You will shape future network capabilities with architectural expertise, experiments, and strategic guidance, influencing enterprise decisions and partner collaborations.

This senior individual contributor role requires deep experience in optical/IP networks, cloud-native infrastructure, AI-enabled systems, and disciplined governance to steer R&D toward tangible roadmap impact.

Qualifications

12+ years of experience in network architecture, network engineering, advanced technology strategy, R&D, product engineering, platform engineering, security architecture, or a related technical discipline.
Deep technical expertise in one or more advanced network domains such as optical and transport systems, IP networking, programmable networks, cloud-native infrastructure, automation, AI-enabled infrastructure, edge/distributed compute, security architecture, or next‑generation access technologies.
Demonstrated ability to evaluate emerging technologies and convert technical uncertainty into structured experiments, architectural options, decision points, and business‑relevant recommendations.
Ability to operate in ambiguity, quickly learn new technical domains, separate signal from noise, and make sound recommendations with incomplete or evolving information.
Strong executive and technical communication skills, including the ability to explain highly complex concepts to senior leaders, peer architects, engineering teams, vendors, and non‑technical stakeholders.
Proven ability to influence without direct authority and work effectively across matrixed teams, technical SMEs, external partners, and leadership stakeholders.
Commitment to disciplined experimentation, including defining hypotheses, success measures, learning milestones, technical constraints, and kill criteria.
Ability to mentor other technical contributors and help elevate architectural thinking, documentation quality, and technical decision‑making across the organization.

Responsibilities

Serve as a senior technical authority for Network R&D initiatives, providing architectural direction across emerging network technologies, advanced infrastructure concepts, and future capability exploration.
Evaluate emerging technologies such as quantum networking, post-quantum cryptography, next-generation optical and fiber systems, autonomous networks, AI infrastructure, programmable networks, edge and distributed compute, digital twins, and advanced security capabilities.
Develop reference architectures, technical design patterns, proof-of-concept approaches, and decision frameworks that help determine whether emerging capabilities have relevance for Lumen’s future network strategy.
Lead deep technical analysis of vendor, startup, academic, national lab, open-source, and consortium-led innovation opportunities, ensuring external partnerships produce actionable insight and usable learning.
Design and guide experiments, pilots, lab validations, simulations, and technical assessments that test feasibility, interoperability, scalability, resiliency, security, cost, and operational fit.
Translate ambiguous technical findings into clear architecture implications, risk assessments, trade-off analyses, and recommendations for senior technical and business stakeholders.
Collaborate with Network Engineering, Architecture, Product, Security, Operations, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and external partners to connect R&D work to enterprise priorities and future customer needs.
Identify technical dependencies, integration considerations, standards implications, operating model impacts, and commercialization pathways for validated capabilities.
Provide thought leadership on future network evolution, including how emerging technologies may influence network architecture, product enablement, automation, resilience, security, and customer differentiation.
Help establish disciplined technical governance for R&D work, including architecture reviews, documentation standards, learning milestones, technical exit criteria, and stop/continue/scale recommendations.
Represent Network R&D in technical forums, partner discussions, internal architecture reviews, standards conversations, and executive-level technical briefings.
Maintain a strong external view of technology shifts, market signals, standards activity, partner ecosystems, and competitive innovation that may create future strategic advantage for Lumen.