Senior Manager of Release Train Engineering

 

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.

The Role

The Senior Manager of Release Train Engineers is a people and delivery-operations leader responsible for managing Release Train Engineers (RTEs) and Senior Release Train Engineers (Sr. RTEs) within Lumen’s Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This role ensures Agile Release Train execution operates with consistent standards, clear accountability, strong coaching, measurable impact, continuous optimization, including AI agentic leverage across complex technology initiatives and Agile Release Trains. 

This leader builds and manages a high-performing RTE organization, aligns ART execution practices across the portfolio, improves delivery transparency, strengthens escalation discipline, and ensures teams focus on outcomes, flow, predictability, risk and dependency management, and relentless improvement. The role partners closely with TPMO leadership, Product, Engineering, Architecture, Business Owners, and portfolio stakeholders to ensure ART execution supports business priorities and enterprise outcomes. The leader also identifies opportunities to optimize delivery systems through intelligent automation, AI-enabled workflows, experimentation, and agentic approaches that augment planning, coordination, decision-making, and continuous improvement. 

Location

This is a remote opportunity open to candidates located anywhere in the U.S.

The Main Responsibilities

• People Leadership: Manage, coach, develop, and evaluate RTEs and Sr. RTEs; set expectations, provide feedback, support career growth, and ensure the team operates with clear priorities, role clarity, and accountability.
• RTE Operating Model Ownership: Define and maintain standards, playbooks, templates, dashboards, cadence expectations, governance routines, and escalation models for ART execution.
• Portfolio Execution Alignment: Align RTE and Sr. RTE work with business priorities, PI planning calendars, portfolio objectives, product roadmaps, delivery commitments, and leadership expectations.
• Risk, Dependency & Escalation Governance: Establish consistent methods for managing ART risks, impediments, dependencies, escalation paths, accountability, and executive visibility.
• Metrics & Performance Management: Monitor ART health, RTE effectiveness, predictability, flow metrics, milestone confidence, dependency trends, and operating-model adoption.  Use insights to drive improvement actions.
• Optimization & Agentic Creativity: Continuously improve ART operating models using systems thinking, Lean-Agile practices, experimentation, intelligent automation, and agentic AI. Encourage RTEs to develop innovative, responsible approaches that reduce administrative effort, improve decision quality, accelerate issue resolution, and strengthen delivery outcomes.
• Stakeholder Leadership: Partner with senior Product, Engineering, Architecture, TPMO, Operations, and business leaders to resolve delivery issues, clarify ownership, improve planning quality, and strengthen cross-functional execution. 

What We Look For in a Candidate

• 10+ years of experience in Agile delivery, release-train leadership, SDLC operations, project management, platform delivery, systems delivery, or enterprise technology delivery.
• 3+ years of people-leadership experience managing RTEs, Sr. RTEs, Scrum Masters, Agile delivery leaders, or comparable roles.
• Experience establishing ART standards, governance routines, dashboards, planning calendars, escalation models, dependency-management practices, and reporting mechanisms.
• Strong knowledge of Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean-Agile principles, SAFe, PI Planning, ART operations, SDLC execution, software delivery, and portfolio governance.
• Demonstrated ability to coach RTEs and delivery leaders, manage performance, resolve organizational impediments, and influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to translate ART health, delivery data, risk, dependency exposure, and milestone confidence into executive-ready insights and improvement plans.
• Demonstrated experience optimizing delivery systems through continuous improvement, automation, AI-enabled capabilities, or agentic workflows; ability to foster responsible experimentation and creative problem-solving.
• Advanced experience with Jira, Jira Align, Confluence, Clarity,  ServiceNow SPM, Power BI, AI tools, Agile dashboards, roadmap tools, flow metrics, and executive reporting preferred.
• SAFe RTE, SPC, SAFe Agilist, PMI-ACP, CSM, CSPO, PMP, or equivalent experience preferred. 

Compensation

This information reflects the anticipated base salary range for this position based on current national data. Minimums and maximums may vary based on location. Individual pay is based on skills, experience and other relevant factors.

Location Based Pay Ranges

$132,232 - $176,310 in these states: AL  AR  AZ  FL  GA  IA  ID  IN  KS  KY  LA  ME  MO  MS  MT  ND  NE  NM  OH  OK  PA  SC  SD  TN  UT  VT  WI  WV  WY 
$138,844 - $185,124 in these states: CO  HI  MI  MN  NC  NH  NV  OR  RI 
$145,456 - $193,940 in these states: AK  CA  CT  DC  DE  IL  MA  MD  NJ  NY  TX  VA  WA 

Lumen offers a comprehensive package featuring a broad range of Health, Life, Voluntary Lifestyle benefits and other perks that enhance your physical, mental, emotional and financial wellbeing. We're able to answer any additional questions you may have about our bonus structure (short-term incentives, long-term incentives and/or sales compensation) as you move through the selection process.   Learn more about Lumen's: Benefits Bonus Structure

Requisition #: 343109

Life at Lumen

Life at Lumen is human and connected, even in a fast moving, AI‑focused organization. We set clear expectations and trust people to meet them. With real support and shared accountability, teams collaborate better, move faster, and deliver meaningful outcomes. 

Our Lumen 8 behaviors guide how we interact, make decisions, and work together, shaping a culture built to perform and win.  

To learn more about Life at Lumen and how we live the Lumen 8, please visit:  
https://jobs.lumen.com/global/en/life-at-lumen

Background Screening

If you are selected for a position, there will be a background screen, which may include checks for criminal records and/or motor vehicle reports and/or drug screening, depending on the position requirements. For more information on these checks, please refer to the Post Offer section of our FAQ page. Job-related concerns identified during the background screening may disqualify you from the new position or your current role. Background results will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Equal Employment Opportunities

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, religion, veteran status, disability, genetic characteristic or information, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, family status, pregnancy, or other legally protected status (collectively, “protected statuses”). We do not tolerate unlawful discrimination in any employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, discipline, termination, job assignments or training.

Privacy Notice

Lumen is committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal information collected during the recruitment and hiring process. Our Applicant Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect applicant information, as well as how individuals may request access to or deletion of their personal data.

To review Lumen’s Global Employment Applicant and Talent Community Privacy Notice, please visit:
https://jobs.lumen.com/global/en/privacy-notice

Disclaimer

The job responsibilities described above indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not intended to include a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities for this job. Job duties and responsibilities are subject to change based on evolving business needs and conditions.

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Please be advised that Lumen does not require any form of payment from job applicants during the recruitment process. All legitimate job openings will be posted on our official website or communicated through official company email addresses. If you encounter any job offers that request payment in exchange for employment at Lumen, they are not for employment with us, but may relate to another company with a similar name.