Principal Architect, Network Research and Development

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 As a Principal Architect, Network Research & Development, you will serve as a senior technical leader focused on shaping Lumen’s future network capabilities through deep architectural expertise, disciplined experimentation, and practical evaluation of emerging technologies. This is an individual contributor role designed for a highly credible architect who can operate at the intersection of advanced networking, emerging technology, technical strategy, and enterprise decision-making. The Principal Architect will help define hypotheses, design experiments, evaluate vendor and partner capabilities, develop reference architectures, and provide clear technical guidance on whether emerging capabilities should be stopped, continued, scaled, or transitioned into future roadmap consideration. Location This is a remote opportunity open to candidates located anywhere in the U.S. The Main 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. What We Look For in a Candidate 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 busin