Principal PM, AI-Ready Data Center Networks

Lumen; Columbia (SC); Remote; USD 152,000 - 203,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Bonus structure

Remote-friendly work

Job summary

Lumen is seeking a Principal Product Manager to shape the architecture and expansion strategy for our data center metro networks. This highly visible role combines product leadership, technical diligence, and program execution to ensure network investments deliver meaningful business value.

You will own the roadmap for internal network products that enable external services, evaluate whether proposed expansion efforts offer the right technical solution and expected return, and lead

Qualifications

• 8-10+ years in product management, program management, network planning, or network engineering.
• 3+ years of experience supporting metro, data center, optical, packet transport, or related network infrastructure.
• Strong knowledge of metro network architecture, including ring and mesh topologies, route and fiber diversity, PoP siting, and protection/restoration strategies.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional technical programs through planning, decision-making, and delivery.
• Ability to build and defend quantitative demand, investment, and ROI models using incomplete or evolving data.
• Understanding of capital economics, including cost trade-offs, payback, IRR, utilization, and unit cost.
• Experience translating complex technical and financial analysis into concise, decision-ready recommendations for senior leaders.
• Ability to influence across Product, Engineering, Planning, Finance, Operations, and Sales in a matrixed environment.

Responsibilities

• Own the product strategy, requirements, and multi-year architectural roadmap for data center metro network solutions and expansion programs.
• Translate topology, diversity, capacity, transport, optical-layer, and PoP decisions into repeatable configurations and reference designs.
• Lead cross-functional expansion programs from evaluation through delivery, coordinating teams, dependencies, milestones, risks, and executive status reporting.
• Evaluate proposed network investments using demand, utilization, capital efficiency, revenue potential, and ROI analysis.
• Establish a consistent framework for prioritizing, approving, deferring, or redesigning metro network upgrades and expansion efforts.
• Build demand models that combine contracted demand, pipeline, market signals, customer architecture plans, and forecast scenarios.
• Assess whether existing internal products and architectural solutions remain the right platforms for future growth, including lower-cost alternatives and trade-offs.
• Partner with Product, Network Planning, Engineering, Finance, Operations, Service Delivery, and Sales to drive decisions and execution.

Skills

Metro topology

Cross-functional leadership

Financial modeling

ROI analysis

Data center networks

Expansion programs

Strategic roadmaps

Executive communication

Tools

Excel

Power BI

SQL

Python

Job description

Lumen is seeking a Principal Product Manager to shape the architecture and expansion strategy for our data center metro networks. This highly visible role combines product leadership, technical diligence, and program execution to ensure network investments deliver meaningful business value.

You will own the roadmap for internal network products that enable external services, evaluate whether proposed expansion efforts offer the right technical solution and expected return, and lead