Senior Lead Network Architect

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. If you’re ready to take ownership, deliver meaningful impact, and help shape the future of AI‑ready connectivity, join us today.
Join Lumen as a Senior Lead Network Architect and help transform our large-scale network infrastructure. You will design resilient, scalable architectures across Internet and MPLS core networks, VPN edge services, and Metro Ethernet technologies. You will also advance network automation, streaming telemetry, closed-loop assurance, and AI-enabled operations to improve service reliability, performance, security, and operational efficiency.
Own the architecture and evolution of resilient, scalable Internet, MPLS core, VPN edge, and Metro Ethernet networks.
Develop architecture standards and roadmaps for routing, switching, MPLS, multicast, carrier Ethernet, merchant-silicon platforms, optics, and high-speed interfaces.
Design and govern network automation using model-driven interfaces, open APIs, infrastructure as code, reusable service models, automated testing.
Design and develop streaming telemetry and observability solutions for network health, performance, capacity, service-level assurance, and compliance.
Evaluate and apply AI-enabled capabilities for anomaly detection, predictive analytics, capacity forecasting, incident correlation, root-cause analysis, and guided operations.
Lead proof-of-concepts, technical and economic evaluations, platform selection, and cross-functional architecture decisions.
Provide technical leadership across IP, Optical/Transport, operations, security, data, and software engineering teams.
You must be a US Citizen or Permanent Resident/Green Card for consideration.
A Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related discipline
10+ years of architecture and engineering experience in large-scale carrier, web-scale, or service-provider networks.
~ Strong knowledge of routing and switching platforms, merchant silicon, optics, SERDES, and MPLS forwarding and control-plane mechanisms.
~ Hands-on experience with production network automation and telemetry using Python, Ansible, NETCONF/YANG, RESTCONF, gNMI, gRPC, APIs, event-driven workflows, automated testing.
~ Life at Lumen is human and connected, even in a fast moving, AI‑focused organization. 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. 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.
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:
It is not intended to include a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities for this job. 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. All legitimate job openings will be posted on our official website or communicated through official company email addresses.