Remote Principal Architect, Network R&D & AI Infrastructure

Lumen; Frankfort (KY); Remote; USD 152,000 - 203,000; Full time

Job summary

Lumen, a leader in AI-ready connectivity, is seeking a Principal Architect, Network Research & Development, to shape future network capabilities through deep architectural expertise and disciplined experimentation. This individual contributor role operates at the intersection of advanced networking, technology strategy, and enterprise decision-making.

The Principal Architect will help define hypotheses, design experiments, evaluate capabilities, and provide clear guidance on roadmap alignment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, telecommunications, applied science, or a related technical field; advanced degree preferred.
• 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.

Skills

Bachelor's degree in engineering

12+ years experience

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Job description

Lumen, a leader in AI-ready connectivity, is seeking a Principal Architect, Network Research & Development, to shape future network capabilities through deep architectural expertise and disciplined experimentation. This individual contributor role operates at the intersection of advanced networking, technology strategy, and enterprise decision-making.

The Principal Architect will help define hypotheses, design experiments, evaluate capabilities, and provide clear guidance on roadmap alignment.