Sr. Principal Autonomous Networks & Agentic AI Architect – 5G Mobile Core

AT&T•Bothell, WA

5d•$208,600 - $313,000•Onsite

About The Position

AT&T is seeking a senior technical leader to set technical direction and lead the architecture, engineering, and delivery of autonomous capabilities across its 5G Mobile Core. The role brings together Mobile Core architecture, network automation, AIOps, intent-driven networking, and agentic AI to advance network operations toward closed-loop autonomy and TM Forum Autonomous Network maturity Levels 1–5. The position involves work across architecture, software engineering, AI/ML, telecom standards, network operations, and large-scale execution. The architect will define intent-driven systems and reference architectures for agentic network operations; design closed-loop self-healing capabilities and real-time network-data pipelines; operationalize AI/LLM agents; and build AI-assisted testing and automation frameworks. The role also establishes governance, security, and responsible-automation controls, measures autonomy outcomes, influences supplier roadmaps, and represents AT&T in relevant standards organizations. The position includes technical mentorship and leadership across teams. This is a full-time, onsite role performed at the designated work location five days per week. The listed location is Bothell, Washington. No relocation is offered. The role is listed as Sr Principal Member of Technical Staff 2, with a salary range of $208,600–$313,000 USD annually. Individual starting salary may depend on geography, experience, expertise, and education or training.

Requirements

Extensive experience in network automation, system architecture, AI/ML engineering, or telecom software engineering.
Deep expertise in telecommunications network architecture and automation, ideally in large-scale Mobile Core environments.
Strong understanding of 5G Standalone Core architecture, network functions, protocols, lifecycle management, configuration management, and operational workflows.
Advanced knowledge of 5G SA Mobile Core technologies, protocols, and procedures, including HTTP/2 and mTLS.
Demonstrated expertise in TM Forum Autonomous Networks and intent-driven network management.
Hands-on experience designing agentic AI and closed-loop automation systems, including LLM-based agents, tool integration, guardrails, evaluation, and governance.
Strong background in AIOps, ML-enabled automation, observability, network analytics, and production AI/ML architectures.
Ability to bridge traditional network engineering with cloud-native software engineering, AI/ML, GitOps, APIs, telemetry, and automation.
Experience architecting highly available, scalable distributed systems focused on reliability, performance, security, and operational efficiency.
Hands-on development experience with Python and/or Go.
Experience implementing and scaling machine-learning models and AI-enabled applications in production environments.
Practical experience with LLMs, agentic AI architectures, AI agents, tool/function integration, guardrails, and model evaluation.
Experience building intent-driven and closed-loop automation systems.
Demonstrated experience using GitOps for lifecycle management and configuration management.
Experience with engineering workflows including Git, CI/CD, automated testing, AI-assisted development, debugging, and code management.
Experience delivering telecom capabilities on cloud-native platforms.
Understanding of network observability, telemetry, event processing, network topology, APIs, and data pipelines.
Experience with AI and automation security controls, identity, least-privilege access, authentication, secrets management, and automated policy enforcement.
Experience participating in or contributing to TM Forum, 3GPP, ETSI, or comparable telecommunications standards initiatives.
Demonstrated ability to lead technically complex initiatives across distributed engineering and operational organizations.
Strong communication skills and the ability to influence technical and senior-leadership stakeholders.
A hands-on, execution-oriented mindset and ability to turn emerging AI and autonomous-network concepts into production-grade solutions.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture and engineering of Autonomous Network capabilities for AT&T's Mobile Core, advancing use cases across TM Forum Autonomous Network Levels 1–5.
Define intent-driven architectures that translate business and operational intent into policies, decisions, and automated network actions.
Establish the reference architecture for agentic network operations, including agent interactions with network functions, OSS platforms, observability systems, APIs, and automation tools.
Design and deploy closed-loop, self-healing systems that detect network conditions, determine and execute corrective actions, and validate outcomes.
Architect real-time telemetry, topology, event, and network-data pipelines to provide autonomous systems with accurate network state.
Apply network analytics and digital twins to predict issues, simulate network behavior, and validate automated actions before production deployment.
Develop and operationalize LLM and AI agents, including model selection, tuning, evaluation, tool integration, orchestration, and lifecycle management.
Build AI-assisted testing and automation frameworks to accelerate certification, improve defect detection, and increase deployment confidence.
Establish responsible automation controls, including policy-as-code, human-in-the-loop approvals, blast-radius limits, automated rollback, explainability, and auditability.
Design security controls for agentic environments, including agent identity, least-privilege access, token-based authentication, secrets management, credential lifecycle management, and protection against prompt injection and tool misuse.
Perform technical troubleshooting and root cause analysis using logs, network KPIs, telemetry, and packet-level diagnostics.
Define and measure autonomy outcomes, including touchless operations, MTTD/MTTR, false-positive rates, and automated-change success.
Influence supplier roadmaps so network functions provide automation-ready APIs, telemetry, and control points.
Represent AT&T in standards organizations including TM Forum, 3GPP SA5, and ETSI ZSM, translating emerging standards into implementable network architectures.
Mentor engineers and establish technical direction across teams adopting AI-driven and autonomous network operations.
Drive complex, cross-functional engineering initiatives from architecture through production and influence engineering, operations, suppliers, standards organizations, and senior leadership.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision coverage
401(k) plan
Tuition reimbursement program
Paid parental leave
Paid caregiver leave
Additional sick leave may be available beyond what state and local law require; it is unprotected
Adoption reimbursement
Short- and long-term disability benefits
Life and accidental death insurance
Supplemental benefits, including critical illness, accident, hospital indemnity, and group legal 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
Long-term grants and deferred compensation
Paid time off and holidays, including at least 28 days of vacation each year and nine company-designated holidays, based on date of hire