Principal Software Architect
Lumen Technologies27 days ago
Remote, United StatesStaff+
Base Salary
$152k - $223k/yr
Responsibilities
- Apply software architecture principles including distributed systems, event-driven patterns, API-first design, and domain-driven design.
- Lead architecture design sessions and reviews, challenge assumptions, evaluate tradeoffs, and address non-functional requirements.
- Produce solution designs, architecture decision records, integration specifications, and architecture standards.
- Define and govern architecture quality standards, design review processes, and exception handling.
- Evaluate and adopt modern architecture patterns and methodologies.
- Apply LLM-assisted design, agentic workflow architecture, and safe, observable AI integrations.
- Design for operational excellence through observability, chaos-engineering readiness, and runbook-aligned failure handling.
- Remain involved through implementation to validate architectural intent and identify gaps.
- Mentor architects and engineers on architecture fundamentals, design patterns, and rigorous system design.
- Partner with cloud, IAM/security, and domain architects on cross-cutting concerns.
- Identify and challenge technical debt patterns while supporting conscious delivery decisions.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field with 12+ years of software architecture experience, or a master’s degree with 10+ years of software architecture experience.
- Current hands-on use of AI tools such as LLMs, coding assistants, and AI-powered analysis and design tools, with specific examples of impact.
- Classically trained software architecture background with formal education or structured architecture practice exposure.
- Deep expertise in distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architecture, saga patterns, CQRS, and asynchronous messaging.
- Strong API design expertise across REST, gRPC, and GraphQL, including versioning and governance.
- Experience with domain-driven design, bounded-context modeling, non-functional requirements, performance engineering, reliability patterns, and scalability modeling.
- Observability architecture experience including OpenTelemetry instrumentation, metrics, distributed tracing, and alerting standards.
- Security architecture integration experience including threat modeling, secure design patterns, and data classification.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to produce clear, decision-quality architecture artifacts.
- Track record of delivering production systems that were built and operated.
- Preferred experience with AI/ML-augmented systems, LLM integration, RAG architecture, and agentic workflows.
- Preferred cloud-native architecture experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP.
- Telecom, network automation, or NaaS experience is preferred.
- Preferred platform architecture, multi-team architecture governance, technical standards, open-source architecture framework, or published architecture experience.
Benefits
- Remote opportunity open to candidates located anywhere in the U.S.
- Comprehensive health, life, voluntary lifestyle, and other benefits supporting physical, mental, emotional, and financial wellbeing.
- Additional bonus-structure information is available during the selection process.
Tech Stack
Categories
About Lumen Technologies
Lumen Technologies provides fiber-based network connectivity, internet, edge cloud, and managed security/IT services to enterprises, carriers, and government agencies. It operates an extensive global metro and long-haul fiber network and offers SD-WAN, wavelength, CDN, voice, and cloud on-ramps sold through contracted subscriptions. Headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, Lumen is a public company on the NYSE (LUMN) and rebranded from CenturyLink in 2020.