Principal Engineer - Database Platform Engineering & SRE (Remote, US)

About this role

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. 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.

Principal Engineer – Database Platform Engineering & SRE

The Principal Engineer is a senior technical leader responsible for driving the transformation of Lumen's database organization from a traditional operations-focused model to a modern Platform Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) operating model.

This role focuses on standardization, automation, operational excellence, reliability, toil reduction, lifecycle management, observability, and continuous improvement across the existing database estate. The Principal Engineer will lead initiatives that reduce operational complexity, improve service reliability, accelerate cloud readiness, and increase engineering productivity through automation and process optimization.

Location

This role is designated as a fully remote position within the United States.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Transformation & SRE Enablement

• Lead the transformation of DBA teams toward Platform Engineering and SRE practices.

• Drive adoption of automation-first and reliability-focused operating models.

• Develop engineering standards, operational processes, and best practices that improve consistency and scale.

Toil Reduction & Continuous Improvement

• Identify and eliminate repetitive manual activities across database operations.

• Analyze ServiceNow incidents, requests, and recurring work patterns to identify automation and optimization opportunities.

• Drive reductions in ticket volume, operational overhead, and technical debt.

Platform Standardization & Cloud Readiness

• Lead brownfield modernization, standardization, and simplification initiatives across database platforms.

• Improve operational consistency, platform resiliency, and migration readiness.

• Establish reusable engineering patterns that support modernization and cloud adoption initiatives.

Automation & Engineering Excellence

• Establish automation frameworks, standards, governance, and reusable engineering capabilities.

• Drive Operational automation initiatives.

• Improve provisioning, patching, upgrades, compliance remediation, and operational workflows through automation.

Reliability Engineering & Observability

• Establish proactive monitoring, observability, and performance management practices.

• Drive improvements in platform reliability, availability, resiliency, and operational health.

• Lead initiatives focused on performance optimization, capacity management, and operational risk reduction.

Lifecycle Management

• Develop scalable approaches for patching, upgrades, platform currency, and lifecycle management.

• Improve compliance with security, supportability, and operational standards.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance across engineering and operational teams.

• Partner with Operations, Security, Cloud, and Architecture teams to operationalize transformation initiatives.

• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, engineering excellence, and operational discipline.

What We Look For in a Candidate

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.

• 12+ years of experience in database engineering, platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, site reliability engineering (SRE), cloud engineering, or related technical disciplines.

• Proven experience leading large-scale engineering, automation, operational excellence, or transformation initiatives in complex enterprise environments.

• Experience driving standardization, process optimization, reliability improvements, and operational efficiency across large-scale technology platforms.

• Strong experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), automation, CI/CD, and modern engineering practices.

• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional technical initiatives and influencing engineering teams.

• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience transforming traditional DBA or operations organizations into Platform Engineering, DevOps, or SRE operating models.

• Experience with enterprise database platforms including Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, or similar technologies.

• Experience establishing automation standards, governance frameworks, reusable patterns, and self-service capabilities.

• Hands-on experience with Terraform, Ansible, AWX, GitOps, CI/CD pipelines, scripting, and enterprise automation platforms.

• Experience analyzing ServiceNow incident, request, and change data to identify service improvement and automation opportunities.

• Experience implementing observability, proactive monitoring, reliability engineering, performance optimization, and operational health management practices.

• Experience driving database lifecycle management programs including patching, upgrades, platform currency, vulnerability remediation, and technical debt reduction.

• Experience leading brownfield standardization and optimization initiatives to simplify legacy environments and accelerate cloud migration readiness.

• Experience supporting cloud migration, datacenter exit, modernization, or…