Principal Technical Consultant

AT&T • San Jose, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

AT&T is hiring a Principal Technical Consultant in its Technology Sector to serve as the lead customer-facing technical expert for high-capacity fiber solutions supporting AI and compute infrastructure. The role focuses on wavelength and managed optical services, DWDM, optical transport network (OTN), Carrier Ethernet, dark fiber, and data center interconnect (DCI). The consultant works with sales, product, engineering, network, and delivery teams from discovery through proposal and delivery handoff to shape solutions and support customer decisions. This is an individual-contributor role for a networking expert with deep fiber and optical infrastructure knowledge who can lead customer technical engagements and mentor others.

The position is full-time and onsite at the designated work location five days per week. Listed locations are Bellevue, Washington; Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles, Pleasanton, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, California. No relocation is offered. The role has a 40-hour workweek and a stated annual salary range of $174,100 to $279,800, with individual starting salary dependent on geography, experience, expertise, and education or training.

Requirements

• Typically 8 or more years of relevant network-infrastructure experience, including significant customer-facing work in solutions architecture, sales engineering, consulting, or technical presales supporting large, complex opportunities.
• Extensive experience with optical transport or fiber-based network solutions and strong knowledge of DWDM, wavelength services, OTN, and Carrier Ethernet.
• Understanding of optical link budgets, fiber loss, amplification, regeneration, protection, and route diversity.
• Experience with high-capacity metro, long-haul, or DCI architectures.
• Demonstrated ability to lead discovery, develop proposals, and explain complex designs to technical and business audiences.
• Strong consultation and cross-functional collaboration skills, including supporting implementation across customer and internal stakeholder groups.
• Sound judgment on solution cost, feasibility, risk, and customer outcomes, with strong problem-solving and data-driven decision-making under changing conditions.
• Proactive, action-oriented mindset and a proven ability to influence buying decisions, shape opportunities, and contribute to revenue growth.
• Bachelor's degree (BS/BA) in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical lead on pursuits for optical transport, wavelength, Ethernet, dark fiber, and DCI solutions addressing AI-driven network demand.
• Lead discovery and technical workshops, translating customer bandwidth, location, diversity, service-date, and growth needs into network requirements such as capacity, latency, route diversity, resiliency, and interfaces.
• Architect optical transport, wavelength, Ethernet, Managed Optical Fiber Networks, DCI, and dark fiber solutions.
• Evaluate existing fiber and capacity, route alternatives, and new-build requirements; compare technical and economic trade-offs among dark fiber, wavelengths, Ethernet, and managed transport.
• Create architecture diagrams, technical and proactive proposals, and RFP responses that specify assumptions, risks, timelines, and cost or ROI inputs.
• Present recommendations to engineering, business, and executive stakeholders, explaining complex technology clearly to executives while maintaining credibility with network architects.
• Partner with sales, product, construction and engineering, operations, and delivery teams; identify technical and implementation risks, support high-priority escalations, and ensure effective post-sale handoff.
• Create reusable solution patterns, mentor other technical-sales professionals, and bring recurring customer needs and emerging demand patterns into product and network plans.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) plan
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Paid time off and holidays, including at least 23 vacation days each year and 9 company-designated holidays, based on date of hire
• Paid parental leave
• Paid caregiver leave
• Additional sick leave may be available beyond what state and local law require
• Adoption reimbursement
• Short- and long-term disability benefits
• Life and accidental death insurance
• Supplemental critical illness, accident, hospital indemnity, and group legal benefit programs
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Employee wellness programs
• Employee discounts of up to 50% on eligible AT&T mobility plans and accessories, AT&T internet and fiber where available, and AT&T phone

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal