Principal Software Engineer Data

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. The Principal Software Engineer serves as a senior technical leader responsible for advancing Lumen's next-generation software architecture strategy, with a focus on AI-native engineering, agentic systems, intelligent automation, and large-scale distributed software solutions. This role operates at the intersection of software architecture, information architecture, and emerging AI technologies.
The individual will drive the design and adoption of reusable architectural patterns, engineering frameworks, and intelligent capabilities that enable teams to build innovative customer-facing solutions while accelerating software delivery and operational effectiveness. Working across organizational boundaries, this role helps transform complex information assets, software services, and emerging technologies into scalable products, automation capabilities, actionable intelligence, and differentiated customer experiences. The Principal Software Engineer partners with Engineering, Product, Architecture, Security, and Operations teams to establish technical direction, guide strategic technology investments, and ensure solutions are scalable, resilient, secure, and aligned with long-term business objectives. This is a remote postion open to candidates based anywhere in the US. AI-Native Engineering and Intelligent Systems Lead the adoption of AI-native engineering practices that improve software quality, engineering productivity, and delivery velocity. Design architectures that incorporate intelligent agents, automation capabilities, and AI-assisted workflows into enterprise solutions. Guide the development of AI-enabled capabilities that improve customer experiences, operational effectiveness, service intelligence, and business outcomes. Evaluate emerging AI technologies and establish practical adoption patterns across multiple engineering organizations. Software Architecture and Distributed Systems Architect scalable distributed systems supporting mission-critical enterprise services and customer-facing applications. Guide technology decisions involving cloud-native services, event-driven architectures, large-scale information processing, and intelligent automation frameworks. Design reusable software components, integration patterns, and shared capabilities that accelerate solution delivery across the enterprise. Design information architectures that enable efficient discovery, integration, governance, and consumption of enterprise information assets. Establish patterns for real-time information exchange, analytics, automation, and AI-enabled decision support capabilities. Guide the development of information-intensive services that support operational insights, customer intelligence, and intelligent application experiences. Promote interoperability, governance, and reusable architectural standards across software, information, and intelligent systems. Serve as a trusted advisor to engineering and technology leaders on strategic technical initiatives. Mentor engineers, architects, and technical leads while fostering a culture of engineering excellence and innovation. AI, Automation, and Intelligent Systems Experience designing and implementing production-grade intelligent systems, agentic applications, or AI-enabled software solutions. Strong understanding of modern AI orchestration frameworks, workflow automation, tool integration, and AI-assisted software delivery. Experience applying AI technologies to improve customer-facing products, operational decision-making, service intelligence, or engineering effectiveness. Software Architecture and Distributed Systems Deep expertise designing large-scale distributed applications and enterprise software systems. Experience with cloud-native architectures, event-driven systems, streaming technologies, and highly scalable software services. Strong understanding of software architecture principles, system reliability, observability, performance optimization, and operational excellence. Information Architecture and Data-Driven Systems Experience designing information architectures and data-intensive systems that support analytics, automation, AI-enabled capabilities, and customer-facing solutions. Understanding of data governance, interoperabili