Senior Network R&D Architect — Remote Innovation Leader

Lumen; Denver (CO); Remote; USD 160,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Life insurance

Lifestyle benefits

Job summary

Lumen is seeking a Principal Architect for Network Research & Development to lead architectural direction for future network capabilities and guide enterprise decisions. This senior role is an individual contributor expected to operate across advanced networking, emerging technology, and technical strategy.

You will design reference architectures, run experiments, evaluate vendors, and translate findings into actionable roadmaps.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related technical field; advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years of experience in network architecture and related disciplines.
• Deep technical expertise in 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 translate uncertainty into structured experiments, architectural options, decision points, and business-relevant recommendations.
• Strong executive and technical communication skills, including explaining complex concepts to senior leaders, architects, vendors, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority and collaborate across matrixed teams and external partners.
• Commitment to disciplined experimentation with hypotheses, success metrics, milestones, and kill criteria.
• Ability to mentor others to elevate architectural thinking and decision-making across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior technical authority for Network R&D initiatives, providing architectural direction across emerging network technologies and future capability exploration.
• Evaluate technologies such as quantum networking, post-quantum cryptography, AI infrastructure, autonomous networks, edge computing, and advanced security capabilities.
• Develop reference architectures, design patterns, proof-of-concept approaches, and decision frameworks for future roadmap relevance.
• Lead deep technical analyses of vendor, startup, academic, and open-source opportunities for actionable insights.
• Design experiments, pilots, lab validations, simulations, and assessments testing feasibility, interoperability, scalability, and security.
• Translate findings into architecture implications, risk assessments, and recommendations for senior stakeholders.

Job description

Lumen is seeking a Principal Architect for Network Research & Development to lead architectural direction for future network capabilities and guide enterprise decisions. This senior role is an individual contributor expected to operate across advanced networking, emerging technology, and technical strategy.

You will design reference architectures, run experiments, evaluate vendors, and translate findings into actionable roadmaps.