AI Connect Principal Project Management Engineer

When you join Verizon

You want more out of a career. A place to share your ideas freely — even if they’re daring or different. Where the true you can learn, grow, and thrive. At Verizon, we power and empower how people live, work and play by connecting them to what brings them joy. We do what we love — driving innovation, creativity, and impact in the world. Our V Team is a community of people who anticipate, lead, and believe that listening is where learning begins. In crisis and in celebration, we come together — lifting our communities and building trust in how we show up, everywhere & always. Want in? Join the #VTeamLife.

What you’ll be doing…

Verizon is aggressively expanding and modernizing its core fiber infrastructure to power next-generation artificial intelligence workloads, hyperscale compute clusters, and high-performance cloud connectivity. Under the AI Connect initiative, delivering physical transport routes on schedule and within budget is vital to securing critical interconnect milestones for our enterprise and hyperscale customers. As a Principal Technical Project Manager and senior individual contributor, you will take end-to-end accountability for delivering high-profile Ultra Long Haul (ULH) and metro fiber route builds. You will partner shoulder-to-shoulder with Principal Network Engineers to track civil build progression, proactively identify field bottlenecks, and drive complex Outside Plant (OSP) and In-Line Amplifier (ILA) shelter construction programs across the finish line. Combining technical fluency with operational execution, you will forecast delivery milestones, solve cross-functional roadblocks, and deliver high-impact readouts to executive stakeholders and customers.

• Owning schedule integrity and driving milestones from route feasibility through final fiber splice, testing, and active handoff across high-capacity ULH and metro corridors.
• Partnering closely with Principal Network Engineers and field operations to monitor daily construction velocity, review route updates, and quickly resolve design discrepancies or field engineering change orders.
• Anticipating and aggressively clearing build challenges unique to civil infrastructure, including municipality right-of-way (ROW) permitting, railroad/bridge crossing hold-ups, utility pole make-ready, conduit congestion, and contractor resource deficits.
• Overseeing site preparation, power delivery, HVAC, and civil construction for In-Line Amplifier (ILA) regeneration huts and colocation facilities supporting active ULH optical transport paths.
• Building, tracking, and maintaining detailed, critical-path project schedules; providing rigorous forecasting on ready-for-service (RFS) dates, conduit completion, and optical turn-up.
• Aligning internal teams including Sourcing, Real Estate, Environmental/Permitting, Inside Plant (ISP), and external general contractors to keep parallel build streams moving in sync.
• Delivering crisp, transparent status reporting, risk assessments, and executive-level presentations on build progress to senior Verizon leadership and strategic AI Connect customers.

This role can be located in any US based Verizon hub location.

What we’re looking for…

You’ll need to have:

• Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.
• Six or more years of relevant experience required, demonstrated through one or a combination of work and/or military experience, or specialized training.
• Relevant experience managing complex infrastructure, network deployment, or technical engineering projects.
• Demonstrated track record managing Outside Plant (OSP) civil construction, fiber optic deployment, or long-haul terrestrial transport projects.
• Experience building and managing critical-path project schedules, identifying operational dependencies, and forecasting delivery milestones.
• Proven ability to coordinate with cross-functional technical teams (network engineers, construction crews, sourcing specialists, and permitting authorities).
• Willingness to travel up to approximately 25% of the time.

Even better if you have one or more of the following:

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Civil/Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, or Business Administration.
• Deep technical familiarity with terrestrial Ultra Long Haul (ULH) routes, high-count microduct/fiber architectures, and ILA hut facility deployment (power, backup generators, grounding).
• Strong presentation and communication skills with experience delivering project status readouts to senior management and external customers.
• Demonstrated experience resolving municipality permitting bottlenecks, DOT right-of-way challenges, and utility joint-use/pole attachment delays.
• Experience using geospatial/GIS tools (e.g., ArcGIS, Google Earth Pro) to assess route progress and verify field milestones against engineering plans.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent credentials in Waterfall and Agile project management methodologies.
• Familiarity with telecom workflow tools and tracking platforms (e.g., Jira, Smartsheet, Oracle/SAP PPM, or proprietary OSP project tracking systems).

If Verizon and this role sound like a fit for you, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every “even better” qualification listed above.

Scheduled Weekly Hours

Equal Employment Opportunity

Verizon is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to veteran status, disability or other legally protected characteristics.

Benefits and Compensation

Our benefits are designed to help you move forward in your career, and in areas of your life outside of Verizon. From health and wellness benefit options including: medical, dental, vision, short and long term disability, basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, AD&D insurance, identity theft protection, pet insurance and group home & auto insurance. We also offer a matched 401(k) savings plan, up to 8 company paid holidays per year and up to 6 personal days per year, paid parental leave, adoption assistance and tuition assistance, plus other incentives, we’ve got you covered with our award-winning total rewards package. Depending on the role, employees have the opportunity to receive compensation in the form of premium pay such as overtime, shift differential, holiday pay, allowances, etc. Newly hired employees receive up to 15 days of vacation per year, which grows with additional service. For part-timers, your coverage will vary as you may be eligible for some of these benefits depending on your individual circumstances.

About Us

You want more out of a career. A place to share your ideas freely — even if they’re daring or different. Where you can learn, grow, and thrive. At Verizon, we power and empower how people live, work and play by connecting them to what brings them joy. We do what we love — driving innovation, creativity, and impact in the world. Our V Team is a community of people who anticipate, lead, and believe that listening is where learning begins. In crisis and in celebration, we come together — lifting our communities and building trust in how we show up, everywhere & always. Welcome to the V Team Life.