Senior Lead Software Developer

Lumen; Richmond (VA); Remote; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Lumen is seeking an experienced Senior Lead Software Developer, AI Developer Enablement to shape AI-assisted software engineering across the organization. You will define, build, and scale reusable AI capabilities that accelerate productivity and reduce friction in engineering workflows.

The role requires deep expertise in modern software development, AI-enabled workflows, developer tooling, APIs, cloud platforms, and enterprise engineering practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of software development, platform engineering, or AI enablement.
• Experience with modern software solutions, APIs, and automation frameworks.
• Knowledge of AI-assisted development workflows and coding assistants.
• Understanding of SDLC, CI/CD, security, and production support.

Responsibilities

• Design AI-enabled developer workflows for code generation, reviews, testing, and documentation.
• Develop reusable prompts, agents, and workflow accelerators for productivity.
• Identify friction and translate into high-impact AI solutions with cross-team input.
• Define adoption metrics and measures for quality and delivery speed.
• Build and scale shared AI capabilities, templates, and playbooks.
• Ensure maintainability, observability, governance, and responsible AI practices.

Skills

AI enablement

Developer tooling

APIs

Automation

Cloud platforms

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IT/Engineering

Advanced degree or related experience preferred

Tools

LLM-based tools

AI coding assistants

Agent frameworks

Retrieval-augmented generation

Vector search

Job description

Lumen is the trusted network for the AI‑powered world, connecting people, data, and applications through our expansive fiber network and connected ecosystem. We enable secure, high‑performance connectivity across cloud, edge, and AI workloads for enterprises, governments, and communities.

At Lumen, you’ll work on infrastructure customers rely on today and build for what’s next, where performance, security, and resilience matter.

This is a high accountability environment where bold ideas drive real innovation for our customers, partners, and industry. The work is challenging, expectations are clear, and trust is built into how we operate. If you’re ready to take ownership, deliver meaningful impact, and help shape the future of AI‑ready connectivity, join us today.

The Role

This is a high-accountability environment where bold ideas drive real innovation for customers, partners, and the industry. . The successful candidate will take ownership, deliver meaningful impact, and help shape the future of AI-ready connectivity.

Lumen is seeking an experienced and hands‑on Senior Lead Software Developer, AI Developer Enablement to help shape the next chapter of AI‑assisted software engineering across the organization. This role will define, build, and scale reusable AI capabilities that accelerate developer productivity, reduce friction in everyday engineering work, and transform practical AI workflows into high‑impact accelerators for teams across the enterprise.

The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in modern software development, AI‑assisted engineering workflows, developer tooling, automation, APIs, cloud platforms, and enterprise engineering practices. This individual will work closely with engineering, platform, DevSecOps, security, product, and AI teams to translate developer pain points into secure, scalable tools, skills, agents, and patterns that teams are eager to adopt.

As the Senior Lead Software Developer, AI Developer Enablement, the candidate will play a visible role in helping engineers write, test, review, troubleshoot, document, and deliver software with greater speed and confidence. This is a builder role for an individual who enjoys progressing from bold ideas and working prototypes to production‑ready enablement capabilities that make AI useful in the daily flow of software delivery.

The ideal candidate should possess a strong understanding of generative AI principles, agentic AI workflows, prompt design, code generation, knowledge retrieval, software delivery practices, responsible AI, and secure enterprise adoption patterns. This role will help make AI enablement practical, measurable, and transformational for developers across Lumen.

Location

This is a work from home position within the US.

The Main Responsibilities

AI‑Assisted Development Enablement

• Design and implement AI‑enabled developer workflows for code generation, reviews, debugging, testing, documentation, research, incident triage, and platform navigation. Establish scalable, secure, and repeatable patterns for AI adoption across engineering teams.

• Develop reusable prompts, agents, integrations, and workflow accelerators that improve developer productivity while aligning with architecture, security, governance, and operational standards.

Developer Productivity & Experience

• Identify development friction and translate it into high‑impact AI solutions. Partner with engineering teams to reduce toil, accelerate delivery, improve onboarding, and enhance the developer experience from ideation through production.

• Define adoption metrics, feedback loops, and success measures to demonstrate improvements in quality, delivery speed, developer confidence, and overall performance.

Reusable AI Capabilities & Patterns

• Build and scale shared AI capabilities, reference architectures, prompt libraries, templates, and playbooks that teams can adopt quickly and consistently.

• Partner with platform, architecture, and security teams to ensure AI solutions are maintainable, discoverable, observable, governed, and aligned with responsible AI practices.

Technical Knowledge & AI‑Driven Support

• Improve access to engineering knowledge through AI‑powered search, summarization, technical Q&A, documentation generation, and context‑aware support.

• Transform tribal knowledge, coding standards, platform guidance, and operational playbooks into scalable AI‑assisted experiences.

AI Adoption & Community Enablement

• Drive AI adoption through demos, training, office hours, onboarding resources, reusable examples, and engineering community engagement.

• Coach developers and technical leaders on practical AI usage, safe experimentation, measurable outcomes, and responsible engineering practices.

Technical Delivery & Project Execution

• Lead AI enablement initiatives from discovery through production. Define plans, milestones, dependencies, user validation, and production readiness.

• Identify and mitigate risks related to security, data access, hallucinations, quality, compliance, integrations, user experience, and operational support.

Measurement & Continuous Improvement

• Measure AI impact through adoption, usage, cycle time reduction, automation, developer satisfaction, and quality improvements.

• Use data and feedback to refine AI enablement strategies, retire low‑value initiatives, and scale high‑impact capabilities.

Leadership & Technical Influence

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship for AI developer enablement. Foster innovation, accountability, collaboration, experimentation, and continuous improvement.

• Guide teams on architecture, prompt engineering, agent workflows, integration patterns, responsible AI, and safe implementation of AI‑powered developer solutions.

What We Look For in a Candidate

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field. Advanced degree or equivalent practical experience preferred.

• 10+ years of experience in software development, platform engineering, developer productivity, AI enablement, automation, or related technical disciplines.

• Strong hands‑on experience designing, building, and supporting modern software solutions, developer tools, APIs, integrations, automation frameworks, or internal platforms.

• Experience with AI‑assisted development workflows, coding assistants, generative AI capabilities, prompt engineering, agentic workflows, or applied AI solutions for engineering teams.

• Deep understanding of the software development lifecycle, code quality, testing, documentation, secure coding, CI/CD, operational reliability, and production support practices.

• Proven ability to translate ambiguous developer needs into practical, secure, scalable, and reusable technical solutions.

• Experience partnering with cross‑functional teams including engineering, platform, security, product, architecture, operations, and business stakeholders

• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts, demonstrate AI‑enabled workflows, influence adoption, and create clear enablement materials.

• Strong understanding of responsible AI, data protection, security considerations, governance, and risk management for enterprise AI adoption.

• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, lead technical initiatives, and drive measurable improvements in developer productivity and engineering outcomes.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with LLM‑based developer tools, AI coding assistants, agent frameworks, retrieval‑augmented generation, vector search, tool calling, or workflow orchestration.

Requisition #: 342834

Life at Lumen

Life at Lumen is human and connected, even in a fast moving, AI‑focused organization. We set clear expectations and trust people to meet them. With real support and shared accountability, teams collaborate better, move faster, and deliver meaningful outcomes.

Our Lumen 8 behaviors guide how we interact, make decisions, and work together, shaping a culture built to perform and win.

To learn more about Life at Lumen and how we live the Lumen 8, please visit:

https://jobs.lumen.com/global/en/life-at-lumen

Background Screening

If you are selected for a position, there will be a background screen, which may include checks for criminal records and/or motor vehicle reports and/or drug screening, depending on the position requirements. For more information on these checks, please refer to the Post Offer section of our FAQ page (https://jobs.lumen.com/global/en/faq) . Job‑related concerns identified during the background screening may disqualify you from the new position or your current role. Background results will be evaluated on a case‑by‑case basis.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Equal Employment Opportunities

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, religion, veteran status, disability, genetic characteristic or information, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, family status, pregnancy, or other legally protected status (collectively, “protected statuses”). We do not tolerate unlawful discrimination in any employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, discipline, termination, job assignments or training.

Privacy Notice

Lumen is committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal information collected during the recruitment and hiring process. Our Applicant Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect applicant information, as well as how individuals may request access to or deletion of their personal data.

To review Lumen’s Global Employment Applicant and Talent Community Privacy Notice, please visit:

https://jobs.lumen.com/global/en/privacy-notice

Disclaimer

The job responsibilities described above indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not intended to include a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities for this job. Job duties and responsibilities are subject to change based on evolving business needs and conditions.

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age‑identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Please be advised that Lumen does not require any form of payment from job applicants during the recruitment process. All legitimate job openings will be posted on our official website or communicated through official company email addresses. If you encounter any job offers that request payment in exchange for employment at Lumen, they are not for employment with us, but may relate to another company with a similar name.