PRINCIPAL FORWARD DEPLOYED ENGINEER (Alkira)
LumenLumen 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
Alkira, a Lumen Connect Solution
One network. Every cloud. Total control, globally.
In this role, you will serve as the trusted technical advisor and hands-on deployment lead for Alkira’s strategic enterprise customers. Partnering with network, cloud, and platform teams, you will own the technical customer journey from initial evaluation and architecture design through production deployment, adoption, and expansion.
This is a highly customer-facing role that combines solutions architecture, cloud networking, automation, and technical consulting. You will work closely with customer stakeholders and internal Product and Engineering teams to deliver successful outcomes while providing field-based insights that help shape future product capabilities.
The Main Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary technical owner for strategic customer engagements from evaluation through production deployment and ongoing adoption.
- Lead architecture discussions with customers and partners, providing guidance on networking, cloud connectivity, security, and infrastructure modernization.
- Design, build, and deploy Alkira-based solutions in customer environments using established best practices.
- Develop automation, integrations, and deployment tooling using Terraform, APIs, scripting, and infrastructure-as-code methodologies.
- Partner directly with customer networking, cloud, and platform engineering teams to accelerate successful implementations.
- Deliver technical workshops, architecture reviews, whiteboard sessions, and enablement programs for customers and partners.
- Troubleshoot complex technical challenges and collaborate with Engineering teams to drive issue resolution and customer success.
- Collaborate with Product Management to provide customer feedback, influence roadmap priorities, and drive key feature requests through implementation.
What We Look For in a Candidate
- 3+ years of experience in a customer-facing technical role, such as Solutions Architect, Sales Engineer, Solutions Consultant, Professional Services Consultant, or Technical Advisor.
- Strong networking fundamentals with expertise in routing technologies, network connectivity, and network security.
- Hands-on experience architecting and deploying cloud solutions across AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and/or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
- Experience designing and implementing hybrid cloud and public cloud infrastructure solutions.
- Working knowledge of automation and infrastructure-as-code technologies, including Terraform, Ansible, Python, and REST APIs.
- Ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues across networking and cloud environments.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and business stakeholders.
- Ability and willingness to travel as business needs require.
Preferred
- Experience designing and deploying large-scale enterprise network environments.
- Understanding of multi-cloud networking architectures and cloud connectivity services.
- Experience developing deployment standards, reference architectures, and technical best practices.
- Familiarity with network automation and operational tooling.
- Relevant cloud, networking, or security certifications.
- Experience delivering technical workshops, customer training, and enablement sessions.
- Strong customer focus with a passion for building long-term trusted relationships.
- BA/BS/MS degree in a technical field.
What to Expect Next
Requisition #: 343625
The above job definition information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. Job duties and responsibilities are subject to change based on changing business needs and conditions.
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