Principal Innovation Enterprise Architect

The Role

The Principal Innovation Enterprise Architect (PIEA) is a senior technical strategist responsible for validating, disqualifying, and proving solution fit across complex enterprise environments. This role is not about selling—it’s about seeing the full web of technical dependencies and constraints that others can’t. The PIEA ensures that what we build is not only visionary but viable, and that it lands with precision inside the customer’s architecture. This role is ideal for a systems-level thinker who can influence both up and down the stack—from C-level technologists to implementation teams. 

In the early stages of our business development efforts, the PI/ EA will help ensure we are targeting the right use cases, personas, and business outcomes. They will be a critical bridge between our customers and product management teams. The PI/ EA will work hand in glove with our customer and delivery team, ensuring that each beta program delivers value for our customers and Lumen.
 

Location

This is a Hybrid position with expectations of being in the Lumen office located at 10401NE 8th Street  Bellevue Washington 98004 an estimated 2 to 3 times weekly.

The Main Responsibilities

• Evaluate and qualify/disqualify opportunities based on architectural fit, feasibility, and long-term viability.
• Serve as the technical conscience of the pursuit—ensuring that proposed solutions are grounded in reality and aligned with customer environments.
• Build trusted relationships with senior technologists (e.g., CTOs, enterprise architects) to understand their architecture, constraints, and strategic direction.
• Translate high-level “why” into actionable “how” for internal teams, ensuring adoption rather than organ rejection.
• Collaborate with Solution Architects, Product Managers, and Innovation Principals to shape offerings that are both desirable and deployable.
• Provide architectural leadership across multi-cloud, networking, data center, and Gen AI domains.
• Influence product roadmaps by surfacing patterns, blockers, and opportunities observed in the field.

What We Look For in a Candidate

• 10+ years in enterprise architecture, solution architecture, or technical strategy roles.
• Deep experience across cloud, networking, data center, and emerging technologies (e.g., Gen AI).
• Proven ability to assess technical fit and disqualify misaligned opportunities early.
• Strong consultative skills and ability to influence senior technical stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills—able to translate between business value and technical feasibility.

Preferred:

• Experience in innovation programs, beta programs, or early-stage product incubation.
• Familiarity with design thinking, agile delivery, and hypothesis-driven development.

Compensation

This information reflects the anticipated base salary range for this position based on current national data. Minimums and maximums may vary based on location. Individual pay is based on skills, experience and other relevant factors.

Location Based Pay Ranges

$163,993- $218,657 in this state:   WA 

Lumen offers a comprehensive package featuring a broad range of Health, Life, Voluntary Lifestyle benefits and other perks that enhance your physical, mental, emotional and financial wellbeing. We're able to answer any additional questions you may have about our bonus structure (short-term incentives, long-term incentives and/or sales compensation) as you move through the selection process.

Learn more about Lumen's:

• Benefits
• Bonus Structure

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