Principal Engineer - Database Platform Engineering & SRE

Lumen is a connectivity and network infrastructure company enabling secure, high-performance connectivity across cloud, edge, and AI workloads. The Principal Engineer will transform the database organization into a modern Platform Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering operating model by leading standardization, automation, reliability, observability, lifecycle management, and cloud-readiness initiatives.

Responsibilities:

• 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
• 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
• 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
• Establish automation frameworks, standards, governance, and reusable engineering capabilities
• Drive Operational automation initiatives
• Improve provisioning, patching, upgrades, compliance remediation, and operational workflows through automation
• 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
• Develop scalable approaches for patching, upgrades, platform currency, and lifecycle management
• Improve compliance with security, supportability, and operational standards
• 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

Requirements:

• 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
• This role is designated as a fully remote position within the United States
• 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 large-scale infrastructure transformation initiatives
• Familiarity with AWS, Azure, GCP, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud environments
• Experience leveraging AI and intelligent automation to improve operational efficiency, engineering productivity, and service delivery