[Remote] Manager VPN with AI & Digital Operations

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Lumen is a trusted network for the AI-powered world, providing secure connectivity through its expansive fiber network. The Manager of VPN with AI & Digital Operations will oversee the delivery of VPN services while leading digital transformation initiatives, focusing on AI and automation to enhance operational efficiency and service quality.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day VPN order delivery across multiple regions and customer segments
• Ensure timely, accurate provisioning aligned with customer SLAs and business goals
• Drive performance against key metrics including FTR (First Time Right), cycle time, and backlog health
• Identify process gaps and lead initiatives to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability
• Champion automation and simplification efforts to reduce manual work and errors
• Partner with cross-functional teams to implement sustainable solutions
• Establish clear performance expectations and track team productivity and quality
• Analyze operational data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities
• Deliver executive-level reporting with actionable insights and recommendations
• Collaborate closely with Design/TDG, Field Operations, Offnet/Build, and Customer Experience teams
• Act as a point of escalation for complex orders and customer-impacting issues
• Drive alignment across teams to ensure seamless order flow and issue resolution
• Build and maintain a prioritized AI/automation roadmap tied to business objectives (defect removal, cycle time, cost out, revenue enablement)
• Run structured ideation (workshops, office hours, intake) to capture high-value chat use cases across business functions
• Establish 'value by design': define hypotheses, baselines, and target benefits for each use case (e.g., hours saved, cost avoided, NPS impact), and ensure every release has measurable outcomes
• Translate ideas into clear user stories, success criteria, and risk/controls; create business cases with ROI, effort, and dependencies
• Rapidly prototype chat/agent flows (prompts, intents, orchestrations) and lead pilot experiments; document reusable patterns and standards
• Partner with Security, Compliance, and Data Governance to meet responsible AI standards (privacy, fairness, transparency) and regulatory obligations
• Build dashboards and operational scorecards (adoption, time saved, quality, compliance) to guide decisions and show value
• Identify automation opportunities and policy/role changes needed to unlock impact; partner to implement and measure improvements
• Lead cross-functional Kaizen/Lean sprints to remove waste (handoffs, rework, queue time) and instrument processes for observability
• Industrialize wins: standardize playbooks, reusable components, and reference architectures (e.g., agents, copilots, RPA, Power Platform)
• Achieve 18,000 hours of efficiency improvement across the organization
• Operate a tight release cadence (backlog hygiene, Definition of Ready/Done, change management) with clear entry/exit criteria
• Enforce quality gates (testing, security reviews, data quality) and manage operational readiness (runbooks, SLAs, on-call)
• Publish executive-ready updates (milestones, benefits realized vs. target, risks/mitigations) and maintain audit-ready documentation
• Create lightweight enablement (playbooks, prompt libraries, short demos) that make chat solutions stick
• Evangelize best practices; host 'art of the possible' sessions and help teams become data guardians of their content for AI use
• Coordinate with Security/Legal on responsible AI standards, access controls, and data classification
• Work closely with Operations leaders, Product owners, Engineering, Security, HR, and Finance to align roadmaps, budgets, and controls
• Translate business priorities into technical work; resolve trade-offs quickly with a bias to action and customer impact
• Provide executive-ready updates and evidence of impact; resolve blockers quickly and transparently
• Lead, coach, and develop an inclusive, high-performance team to achieve individual and organizational goals
• Set clear expectations, priorities, and performance standards aligned to business objectives
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and development planning
• Provide regular feedback, recognition, and career development support
• Identify skill gaps and enable training, mentoring, and career growth opportunities
• Monitor workload, capacity, and team health to ensure sustainable performance
• Cultivate a culture of experimentation with guardrails-failing fast, learning fast, scaling what works
• Foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement; recognize and reward strong performance and contributions

Skills

• Minimum: Bachelor's Degree and 3 years of related business operations management experience
• Strong discipline in maintaining a use-case backlog and governance process from intake triage discovery pilot production, including readiness across security, privacy, and data access
• Skilled at translating ideas into clear user stories with success criteria, risk/controls, ROI modeling, and dependency mapping
• Promotes a culture of accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement
• Excellent collaboration and effective listening skills
• Strong attention to detail and superior organizational skills
• Proven ability to present information to various levels in organizations
• Understanding of project management

Benefits

• 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.

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