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

This is a full-time onsite role based in the location(s) posted and is performed from the designated work location five days per week. No relocation is offered.

At AT&T, we're building the next generation of autonomous network operations. We're looking for a senior technical leader who can bring together 5G Mobile Core, network automation, AIOps, intent-driven networking, and agentic AI to move network operations toward true closed-loop autonomy.

As a Sr. Principal Member of Technical Staff , you'll set technical direction and lead the architecture, engineering, and delivery of autonomous capabilities across AT&T's Mobile Core. You'll help advance Mobile Core use cases across the TM Forum Autonomous Network maturity model , designing systems capable of understanding intent, evaluating network conditions, making governed decisions, taking action, and continuously learning from outcomes.

This is a highly technical leadership role for someone who can move comfortably between architecture, software engineering, AI/ML, telecom standards, network operations, and large-scale execution .

What You'll Do:

• Lead the architecture and engineering of Autonomous Network capabilities for AT&T's Mobile Core, advancing use cases across TM Forum AN 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 how AI agents interact with network functions, OSS platforms, observability systems, APIs, and automation tools.
• Design and deploy closed-loop, self-healing systems capable of detecting network conditions, determining corrective actions, executing changes, and validating outcomes.
• Architect real-time telemetry, topology, event, and network-data pipelines that 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/AI agents , including model selection, tuning, evaluation, tool integration, orchestration, and lifecycle management.
• Build AI-assisted testing and automation frameworks that accelerate certification, improve defect detection, and increase deployment confidence.
• Establish responsible automation controls through 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 protections against prompt injection and tool misuse .
• Perform deep 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 industry 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 .

What You'll Bring:

• Deep expertise in telecommunications network architecture and automation , ideally within large-scale Mobile Core environments.
• Strong understanding of 5G Standalone Core architecture, network functions, protocols, lifecycle management, configuration management, and operational workflows .
• 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 modern cloud-native software engineering, AI/ML, GitOps, APIs, telemetry, and automation .
• Experience architecting highly available, scalable distributed systems with a focus on reliability, performance, security, and operational efficiency .
• Proven ability to establish technical direction and drive complex, cross-functional engineering initiatives from architecture through production.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence engineering, operations, suppliers, standards organizations, and senior leadership.
• A hands-on, execution-oriented mindset with the ability to turn emerging AI and autonomous-network concepts into production-grade solutions.

What You'll Need:

• Extensive experience in network automation, system architecture, AI/ML engineering, or telecom software engineering .
• Advanced knowledge of 5G SA Mobile Core technologies, protocols, and procedures, including HTTP/2 and mTLS .
• 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 (LCM) and configuration management (CM) .
• Experience with contemporary 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/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.

Our Sr Principal Member of Technical Staff 2 jobs earn between $208,600.00 - $313,000.00 USD Annual. Not to mention all the other amazing rewards that working at AT&T offers. Individual starting salary within this range may depend on geography, experience, expertise, and education/training.

Joining our team comes with amazing perks and benefits:

• Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
• 401(k) plan
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Caregiver Leave
• Additional sick leave beyond what state and local law require may be available but is unprotected
• Adoption Reimbursement
• Disability Benefits (short term and long term)
• Life and Accidental Death Insurance
• Supplemental benefit programs: critical illness/accident hospital indemnity/group legal
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Extensive employee wellness programs
• Employee discounts up to 50% off 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 (based on date of hire, at least 28 days of vacation each year and 9 company-designated holidays

Weekly Hours:

40

Time Type:

Regular

Location:

USA:WA:Bothell / 20309 North Creek Pkwy - Adm (bothell 7):20309 N Creek Pkwy @ Bldg L

Salary Range:

$208,600.00 - $313,000.00